跟踪外部链接的点击

Question

I have an external link which links to my site and i would like to track the number of clicks on that link.

One way to do it without using google analytics is to use ajax as mentioned in this post : How do I keep track of how many times an external link is clicked? (See the first response)

But if I use JavaScript the number of clicks can easily be faked. What is the best way to prevent this?

Edit: sorry I didn't make my question clear. Just like the like button in fb for instance, the user who visits my site can get a link (which he/she has to copy/paste) and the link will point to my site.

Answer 1

You could implement a server side script is a middleware that logs the click before it redirects.

Eg you have a simple PHP script like this:

<?php
$url = $_GET['url'];
$logger->logHit($url);
header("Location: ".$url);
?>

Then you link would be something like this:

http://yoursite.com?url=http://external.com