Link tracking FAQ

Last update: Mon Oct 30 2023 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Topics:
Activity Map

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User
Admin

Frequently asked questions about link tracking in Activity Map.

CAUTION

By turning on Activity Map tracking, you may be collecting personally identifiable information (PII) data. This data can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.

Here are some known cases where PII data might be collected using Activity Map Tracking:

Mailto links. A mailto link is a type of HTML link that activates the default mail client on the computer for sending an e-mail.
User ID links that may show up in the header/footer of a website once the user has logged in.
For financial institutions, the account number may be shown as a link. Clicking it will collect the text of the link.
Healthcare websites may also have PII data shown as links. Clicking these links will collect the text of the link, thereby collecting PII data.

When does link tracking occur?

Activity Map link and region identification occurs when users click on a page.

What is tracked by default?

If a click event occurs on an element, the element has to pass some checks to determine if AppMeasurement will treat it as a link. These are the checks:

Is this an A or AREA tag with an href property?
Is there an onclick attribute that sets a s_objectID variable?
Is this an INPUT tag or SUBMIT button with a value or child text?
Is this an INPUT tag with type IMAGE and a src property?
Is this a BUTTON?

If the answer is Yes to any of the questions above, then the element is treated as a link and will be tracked.

IMPORTANT

Button tags with the attribute type=“button” are not considered to be links by AppMeasurement. Consider removing type=“button” on the button tags and adding role=“button” or submit=“button” instead.

IMPORTANT

An anchor tag with an “href” that starts with “#” is considered an internal target location by AppMeasurement, not a link (since you do not leave the page.) By default, Activity Map does not track these internal target locations. It tracks only links that navigate the user to a new page.

How does Activity Map track other visual HTML elements?

a. Via the s.tl() function.

If the click occurred via an s.tl() invocation, then Activity Map will also receive this click event and determine if a linkName string variable was found. During s.tl() execution, that linkName will be set as the Activity Map Link ID. The element clicked that originated the s.tl() call will be used to determine the region. Example:


<img onclick="s.tl(true,'o','abc')" src="someimageurl.png"/>

b. Via the s_objectID variable. Example:

```

  <img onclick="s_objectID='abc';" src="someimageurl.png"/>
  <a href="some-url.html" onclick="s_objectID='abc';" >
  Link Text Here
  </a>

```

IMPORTANT

A trailing semicolon (;) is required when using s_objectID in Activity Map.

Can you give me some examples of links that will be tracked?

Example 1


  <a href="/home>Home</a>

Example 2


 <input type="submit" value="Submit"/>

Example 3


  <input type="image" src="submit-button.png"/>

Example 4


    <p onclick="var s_objectID='custom link id';">
      <span class="title">Current Market Rates</span>
      <span class="subtitle">1.45USD</span>
    </p>

Example 5

    <div onclick="s.tl(true,'o','custom link id')">
      <span class="title">Current Market Rates</span>
      <span class="subtitle">1.45USD</span>
    </div>

Can you give me some examples of links that will NOT be tracked?

Reason: Anchor tag does not have a valid href:
<a name="innerAnchor">Section header</a>

Reason: Neither s_ObjectID nor s.tl() present:

code language-none
`<p onclick="showPanel('market rates')"> <span class="title">Current Market Rates</span> <span class="subtitle">1.45USD</span> </p>`

Reason: Neither s_ObjectID nor s.tl() present:

code language-none

code language-none
`<input type="radio" onclick="changeState(this)" name="group1" value="A"/> <input type="radio" onclick="changeState(this)" name="group1" value="B"/> <input type="radio" onclick="changeState(this)" name="group1" value="C"/>`

<input type="radio" onclick="changeState(this)" name="group1" value="A"/>
<input type="radio" onclick="changeState(this)" name="group1" value="B"/>
<input type="radio" onclick="changeState(this)" name="group1" value="C"/>

Reason: “src” property is missing a form input element:

<input type="image"/>

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