Action Tracking

Third Party Click Tracking

Advanced Click Tracking

Applets

Support for tracking clicks with Applets is built into the ad server. Your Applet must be programmed in a specific way to take advantage of that support though. More specifically, your Applet must accept a click-through URL as a parameter named clickTAG like this:

<PARAM name="clickTAG" value="%%CLICKTAG%%">

Assuming that you are creating an Applet banner, you must then set the real click-through URL as the value of the ClickTAG URL field. If you're creating an Applet advertisement as another media type, such as a HTML banner or dynamic media, you must include your click-through URL in the parameter instead like this:

<PARAM name="clickTAG" value="%%CLICKTAG%%http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gotohere.com%2F">

Note

You'll probably notice that the click-through URL in the <PARAM> tag looks really funky. That's ok. What we did was URL encode it to ensure that the ad server does not misinterpret it. Don't worry, URL encoding is not that hard to do because there is a URL encoding tool in the control panel.

Flash

Implementing the clickTAG

A click-through tracking standard for rich media creatives designed with Flash has been created by Adobe and is fully supported by the ad server.

In short, you need to create a button in your Flash creative and assign it an onrelease action by copying and pasting the following ActionScript code exactly as it appears:

Flash 4, 5, 6, and 7

on (release) {
  if (clickTAG.substr(0,5) == "http:") {
    getURL(clickTAG, "_blank");
  }
}

Flash 8 and 9

on (release) {
  if (_root.clickTAG.substr(0,5) == "http:") {
    getURL(_root.clickTAG, "_blank");
  }
}

For more detailed step-by-step instructions, please click here to view our Flash clickTAG Tutorial.

You may also wish to refer to the Adobe Flash documentation for your version of Flash:

Creating the Media

After implementing the click tracking method in your Flash creative, you will need to create a new Flash banner media in the ad server. In the new Flash banner wizard, directly below the Movie URL field where you can upload your SWF file, you will see a field called ClickTAG URL. In that field, you should enter the URL where you want visitors to be redirected to after clicking on the banner.

You may also need to change the value of the ClickTAG Parameter field if you used a variable that is not named clickTAG exactly. Flash 7 and higher treat variable names with case sensitivy. If you entered the variable name as ClickTAG or clickTag then you must enter it exactly the same way in the ClickTAG Parameter field.

If you're creating another type of media, such as a HTML banner or dynamic media, you must include your click-through URL in the parameters within the HTML code you have to display your Flash creative like this:

<OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" WIDTH="250" HEIGHT="350" id="filename">
<PARAM NAME="movie" VALUE="http://www.yoursite.com/flash/filename.swf?clickTAG=%%CLICKTAG%%http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gotohere.com%2F">
<PARAM NAME="quality" VALUE="high">
<PARAM NAME="bgcolor" VALUE="#FFFFFF">
<EMBED src="http://www.yoursite.com/flash/filename.swf?clickTAG=%%CLICKTAG%%http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gotohere.com%2F" quality="high" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" WIDTH="250" HEIGHT="350" NAME="filename" ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></EMBED>
</OBJECT>

Note

You'll probably notice that the click-through URL in the <PARAM> and <EMBED> tags looks really funky. That's ok. What we did was URL encode it to ensure that the ad server does not misinterpret it. Don't worry, URL encoding is not that hard to do because there is a URL encoding tool in the control panel. In some cases you may actually need to run your click-through URL through a URL encoder twice to double encode it. If you're not sure, encode it once and test it out. The preview in the control panel runs through the ad server in a test mode, so if you can't click on the ad or don't get to the correct destination you'll know that you need to double encode the click-through URL.

Forms

The ad server is able to automatically track clicks with HTML forms in most cases. The only cases where it cannot track clicks is if the HTML also contains <SCRIPT>, <IFRAME>, or <ILAYER> tags. If any of those tags are contained within the HTML, you will have to embed tracking macros into your form manually as in the following example.

<FORM action="http://www.yoursite.com/cgi-bin/example.pl" method="POST">
First Name: <INPUT type="text" name="firstname" size="35">
Last Name: <INPUT type="text" name="lastname" size="35">
<INPUT type="submit" value="Submit">
</FORM>

Assuming that the above is the HTML code for your form, you'd need to change it to look like the example below.

<FORM action="%%CLICKFORM%%" method="POST">
First Name: <INPUT type="text" name="firstname" size="35">
Last Name: <INPUT type="text" name="lastname" size="35">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="cid" value="%%CID%%">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="mid" value="%%MID%%">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="pid" value="%%PID%%">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="zid" value="%%ZID%%">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="default" value="%%DEFAULT%%">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="random" value="%%RANDOM%%">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="timestamp" value="%%TIMESTAMP%%">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="referrer" value="%%REFERRER%%">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="redirect" value="http://www.yoursite.com/cgi-bin/example.pl">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="variables" value="firstname,lastname">
<INPUT type="submit" value="Submit">
</FORM>

Warning

Make sure that none of the parameter names in your form conflict with those used by the ad server!!!

Tip

The ad server can accept form submissions using both GET and POST requests, so feel free to use POST if you need to submit a large amount of data.
If you do not want clicks on your form to be tracked, simply add a NOTRACK attribute to the end of the <FORM> tag (i.e. <FORM action="..." method="POST" NOTRACK>). This will instruct the ad server not to process the form. It will also not output the attribute when serving the ad in order to preserve HTML compliance.

JavaScript

The ad server is not able to automatically track clicks on links embedded within JavaScript. If you wish to track clicks, you will have to embed tracking macros into your links manually as in the following example.

<SCRIPT language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
document.write('<P>');
document.write('<A href="http://www.gotohere.com/" target="_blank">Your Link Here</A>');
document.write('</P>');
</SCRIPT>

Assuming that the above is the HTML code for your JavaScript link, you'd need to change it to look like the example below.

<SCRIPT language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
document.write('<P>');
document.write('<A href="%%CLICKLINK%%http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gotohere.com%2F" target="_blank">Your Link Here</A>');
document.write('</P>');
</SCRIPT>

Note

You'll probably notice that the click-through URL in the <A> tag looks really funky. That's ok. What we did was URL encode it to ensure that the ad server does not misinterpret it. Don't worry, URL encoding is not that hard to do because there is a URL encoding tool in the control panel.

Links

The ad server is able to automatically track clicks on links in most cases. The only cases where it cannot track clicks is if the HTML also contains <SCRIPT>, <IFRAME>, or <ILAYER> tags. If any of those tags are contained within the HTML, you will have to embed tracking macros into your links manually as in the following example.

<A href="http://www.gotohere.com/" target="_blank">Your Link Here</A>

Assuming that the above is the HTML code for your link, you'd need to change it to look like the example below.

<A href="%%CLICKLINK%%http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gotohere.com%2F" target="_blank">Your Link Here</A>

Tip

If you do not want clicks on your link to be tracked, simply add a NOTRACK attribute to the end of the <A> tag (i.e. <A href="..." NOTRACK>example</A>). This will instruct the ad server not to process the link. It will also not output the attribute when serving the ad in order to preserve HTML compliance.

Note

Maps

The ad server is able to automatically track clicks on image maps in most cases. The only cases where it cannot track clicks is if the HTML also contains <SCRIPT>, <IFRAME>, or <ILAYER> tags. If any of those tags are contained within the HTML, you will have to embed tracking macros into your image maps manually as in the following example.

<img src="http://www.w3schools.com/tags/planets.gif" width="145" height="126" alt="Planets" usemap="#planetmap">

<map id="planetmap" name="planetmap">
<area shape="rect" coords="0,0,82,126" href="http://www.w3schools.com/tags/sun.htm" target="_blank" alt="Sun">
<area shape="circle" coords="90,58,3" href="http://www.w3schools.com/tags/mercur.htm" target="_blank" alt="Mercury">
<area shape="circle" coords="124,58,8" href="http://www.w3schools.com/tags/venus.htm" target="_blank" alt="Venus">
</map>

Assuming that the above is the HTML code for your image map, you'd need to change it to look like the example below.

<img src="http://www.w3schools.com/tags/planets.gif" width="145" height="126" alt="Planets" usemap="#planetmap">

<map id="planetmap" name="planetmap">
<area shape="rect" coords="0,0,82,126" href="%%CLICKLINK%%http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3schools.com%2Ftags%2Fsun.htm" target="_blank" alt="Sun">
<area shape="circle" coords="90,58,3" href="%%CLICKLINK%%http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3schools.com%2Ftags%2Fmercur.htm" target="_blank" alt="Mercury">
<area shape="circle" coords="124,58,8" href="%%CLICKLINK%%http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3schools.com%2Ftags%2Fvenus.htm" target="_blank" alt="Venus">
</map>

Tip

If you do not want clicks on your image map to be tracked, simply add a NOTRACK attribute to the end of the <AREA> tags (i.e. <AREA href="..." NOTRACK>). This will instruct the ad server not to process the linked area. It will also not output the attribute when serving the ad in order to preserve HTML compliance.

Note

You'll probably notice that the click-through URL in the <AREA> tag looks really funky. That's ok. What we did was URL encode it to ensure that the ad server does not misinterpret it. Don't worry, URL encoding is not that hard to do because there is a URL encoding tool in the control panel.

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