Share counts
Tracking shares and pageviews in analytics
Quick answer
Share buttons can report a click as an analytics event with the network name and page, which tells you which buttons are used. Traffic that comes back from shares appears in your referrer reports. Be careful with campaign parameters on shared links: they split share counts across URL variants, so add them only where you need campaign attribution.
On this page
Two different questions
"Which share buttons do readers click?" and "How much traffic do shares bring back?" are separate measurements. The first is an event on your page. The second is visits that arrive from a network. Share plugins sold analytics integrations for the first, including the MashShare Google Analytics add-on and a pageviews add-on that showed views next to shares; both product pages still receive links.
Track button clicks as events
Name the event
Use one event name such as
sharewith parameters for the network and the page path.Fire it on click
Attach a listener to the share links. Send the event, then let the link open as normal.
Include copy link
Copying the address is often the most used option; track it too.
Check it arrives
Use your analytics tool's real-time or debug view, then compare a week of clicks by network.
document.querySelectorAll('.share-row a').forEach(function (a) {
a.addEventListener('click', function () {
// replace with your analytics tool's event call
track('share', { network: a.dataset.network, path: location.pathname });
});
});Read shared traffic
Visits from networks show up in referrer reports as the network's domains, often split between the main site and mobile or link-wrapping domains. Messaging apps frequently pass no referrer at all, so some shared traffic lands in direct. That hidden share is one reason the copy link button matters.
Campaign parameters: use sparingly
Adding campaign parameters to every shared link gives tidy attribution but creates a new URL variant per network. Networks count shares per exact URL, so your counts fragment, and cached previews multiply. If you tag shared links, keep the canonical tag pointing at the clean address and accept that counts may split.
Privacy-first measurement
Cookieless analytics can still count share clicks and referrers in aggregate, without identifying readers. That is enough to decide which buttons to keep. If your analytics needs cookies, your share tracking inherits the same consent requirements.
Questions
How do I see which share buttons people use?
Send an analytics event on each share click with the network name, then compare totals by network.
Why does shared traffic show up as direct?
Many messaging apps pass no referrer, so visits from shared links in chats look like direct traffic.
Should I add UTM tags to share links?
Only if you need campaign attribution. Tags create URL variants that split share counts.
Hannah Voss, Editor. Checks every guide against a working WordPress install and the networks' current documentation. Last reviewed September 2026.
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