Outbound Links, File Downloads & 404 Tracking

Automatic tracking for external links, file downloads, and broken pages — no extra code required.

Outbound link tracking

Abner automatically tracks clicks on external links — any link pointing to a different domain than your site. This is enabled by default and requires no configuration.

When a visitor clicks an outbound link, Abner records the destination URL and the page it was clicked from as an event. Query this data via the REST API or MCP server by filtering on event_name — for example GET /api/v1/breakdown/pathname?filter.event_name=outbound. The web dashboard itself is minimal and doesn't include this view.

To disable outbound link tracking, add data-outbound="false" to the Abner script tag:

<script defer data-site="YOUR_SITE_ID" data-outbound="false" src="https://www.abner.app/abner.js"></script>

File download tracking

Abner automatically tracks clicks on links that point to common file types. This is enabled by default and helps you understand which resources your visitors download most.

Tracked file extensions include:

  • pdf, zip, rar, gz
  • docx, xlsx, csv, pptx
  • mp3, mp4, wav, avi
  • dmg, exe, msi

Query file download events via the REST API or MCP server by filtering on event_name (e.g. filter.event_name=file_download) and breaking down by pathname to see which files are most popular.

To disable file download tracking, add data-downloads="false" to the Abner script tag:

<script defer data-site="YOUR_SITE_ID" data-downloads="false" src="https://www.abner.app/abner.js"></script>

404 error tracking

Abner can track 404 (not found) errors on your site so you can discover and fix broken links. To enable 404 tracking, add the following meta tag to your 404 error page template:

<meta name="abner-404">

When a visitor lands on a page containing this meta tag, Abner detects it and records a 404 event. The event includes the URL that returned the error and the referrer (the page the visitor came from).

This is especially useful for finding broken inbound links from other websites or search engines. Query which 404 pages are hit most often, and which referrer sources send visitors to those broken URLs, via the REST API or MCP server — filter on event_name=404 and break down by pathname or referrer_host — so you can set up redirects or fix the links at the source.

Combining options

You can combine multiple data attributes on a single script tag. For example, to disable outbound link tracking while keeping file download tracking enabled:

<script defer data-site="YOUR_SITE_ID" data-outbound="false" src="https://www.abner.app/abner.js"></script>

For more on the base script installation, see the Installation guide.