Would you like to follow outgoing links on WordPress?

Outbound links are the links that distract users from your website. These can be links to affiliate products, social media, or just other websites that you want to link your articles to.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to easily track outbound links on WordPress to see which outbound links get the most clicks.

But before, if you have never installed WordPress discover How to Install a WordPress Blog in 7 Steps et How to search, install and activate a WordPress theme on your blog 

Then back to why we are here.

Track outgoing links on wordpress

Why follow outgoing links on WordPress?

After building your website, you need to learn how people interact with it so that you can improve it. The best way to do this is to use Google Analytics.

It lets you see where users are coming from, what pages they are viewing and how much time they are spending on your website. This information helps you adjust your strategy and improve your website Consequently.

See also: How to distinguish external links on a WordPress blog

Likewise, learning internal or external links can help you understand which outbound links are clicked more often. If you are recommending affiliate products, outbound link tracking will help you know which products are performing best with your audience.

Track all outbound links in Google Analytics

First, you will need to install and activate the plugin MonsterInsights. It also has a free version that you can use.

For more details, check out our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin .

MonsterInsights is the most popular Google Analytics plugin on WordPress. It allows you to connect your website to Google Analytics.

After activating this plugin, you must visit the page " Insights> Settings "On your WordPress dashboard and click on the" Tracking ».

Google tracking links wordpress google analytics

In the section "CommitmentYou will see the option "Track outbound clicks and download links? ". You must select the option "Using Javascript», Then click on the button« Save Settings Â».

That's it, you have enabled outbound link tracking on your WordPress website.

Track internal affiliate links as outbound links

Many WordPress website owners use plugins from affiliate marketing to manage and block affiliate links. This allows them to use nice links like this:

http://exemple.com/refer/produit/

By default, Google Analytics does not follow these URLs as outbound links, so they do not appear in your reports.

MonsterInsights allows you to easily solve this.

Go to the page « Settings ", Then click on the" Tracking" The tracking page is divided into different sections. Click on the section " Affiliate Links " to continue.

Track down wordpress affiliate links

Here you need to provide the path you use for your affiliate links. This is the prefix added by your affiliate link management plugin.

See also our 10 WordPress plugins to create an affiliate system

Then you must provide a label for these links. This tag will be added to your Google Analytics report and will help you identify those links in your reports.

Do not forget to click on the button « Save Changes To save your settings.

Viewing outbound link reports on Google Analytics

If you have just enabled outbound link tracking on your WordPress website, allow Google Analytics at least 24 hours to collect the data.

Then you can sign in to your Google Analytics dashboard and click on " Behavior> Events> Top Events ».

You will see your outgoing links listed in an event category "outbound linkAnd your affiliate links will be listed with the tag you added in the plugin settings.

Category external links google analytics

Clicking on it will display the users of the URLs that have clicked on your website.

Outgoing links wordpress google anlaytics

You can also view outbound link activity in real time. Inside your Google Analytics dashboard, simply navigate to the " Real time events Â».

Real-time event wordpress google analytics

You will see your outgoing links and your outgoing affiliate links will also be listed.

Discover also some premium WordPress plugins  

You can use other WordPress plugins to give a modern appearance and to optimize the handling of your blog or website.

We offer you here some premium WordPress plugins that will help you do that.

1. W8 Contact Form

W8 Contact Form is one of the premium plugins of Contact form the most popular on WordPress. 

W8 contact form wordpress contact form wordpress plugin

It offers lots of features such as submission to multiple recipients, animation support, unlimited creation of forms, different styles, and a wide variety of additional customization options.

See also How to create a sitemap on your WordPress blog

In addition, it gives your website or blog a professional system to make it easier to get in touch with your customers. You will be able to customize all of your forms according to your needs and your tastes.

Download | Demo | Web hosting

2. WordPress Comment Rating Plugin

It's about a comment evaluation system. It allows you to let users rate the different comments. They will just have to click on the preview button and scroll down to the comments section to see the WordPress Plugin premium in action.How WordPress Plugin Rating

In its functionalities we find mainly: ease of use, support for ccustom icon tools, ranking comments according to the notes, the personalization of the tgo icons, custom CSS support, the cIP encryption (for European users), the possibility to translate this plugin and more.

Download | Demo | Web hosting

3. Ajax Search Pro for WordPress

Ajax Search Pro is one of the best real-time search bar plugins on WordPress. It is highly customizable, with many features and options, and delivers the best possible results.

Ajax search pro live wordpress search filter wordpress plugin
You can replace the WordPress search bar with a more efficient and dynamic search engine. Furthermore, this WordPress Plugin has over 60 colorful, fully customizable themes that will save you time.

See our article on 10 WordPress plugins to improve the visual of your website

So you can focus more on the visual presentation of your search form.

Download | Demo | Web hosting

Other recommended resources

We also invite you to consult the resources below to go further in the grip and control of your website and blog.

Conclusion

Here is ! That's it for this tutorial. We hope it will allow you to better track your outbound links on WordPress.

However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation or the one on Divi: the best WordPress theme of all time.

If you have some Comments or suggestions, do not hesitate to let us know in the reserved section But in the meantime, share this article on your different social networks

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