Analytics System

Last updated: February 13, 2026

Comprehensive analytics tracking for link pages with daily aggregation, click tracking, and dashboard reporting. Analytics data is provided by the artist-platform plugin via filter hooks that feed into the extrachill-api plugin’s REST endpoints.

Architecture Overview

Analytics tracking follows a three-stage pattern:

Client-side: JavaScript beacon on public link pages
Server-side: REST API endpoints in extrachill-api plugin
Plugin hook: Artist platform provides data via extrachill_get_link_page_analytics filter

Key Integration: REST API routes and endpoints live in the extrachill-api plugin, not this plugin. This plugin provides analytics data access and handles the tracking writes to the database.

Database Architecture

Analytics Tables

Two primary tables handle analytics data (per-site tables using $wpdb->prefix):

sql

-- Daily page view aggregation
CREATE TABLE {prefix}extrch_link_page_daily_views (
    view_id bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
    link_page_id bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL,
    stat_date date NOT NULL,
    view_count bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
    PRIMARY KEY (view_id),
    UNIQUE KEY unique_daily_view (link_page_id, stat_date)
);

-- Daily link click aggregation  
CREATE TABLE {prefix}extrch_link_page_daily_link_clicks (
    click_id bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
    link_page_id bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL,
    stat_date date NOT NULL,
    link_url varchar(2083) NOT NULL,
    link_text text,
    click_count bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
    PRIMARY KEY (click_id),
    UNIQUE KEY unique_daily_link_click (link_page_id, stat_date, link_url(191)),
    KEY link_page_date (link_page_id, stat_date)
);

Database Management

Location: inc/database/link-page-analytics-db.php

Creates and maintains the link page analytics tables with WordPress dbDelta().

Public Tracking

Tracking Flow

The tracking flow follows this pattern:

JavaScript sends beacon: Public link page JavaScript sends tracking data via sendBeacon/Fetch
REST API receives: extrachill-api plugin REST endpoints receive tracking requests
Action hook fired: REST endpoint fires action hooks with tracking data
Plugin writes to database: This plugin’s action handlers write to analytics tables

Client-Side Tracking

Location: inc/link-pages/live/assets/js/link-page-public-tracking.js

Tracks page views and link clicks using sendBeacon API for reliable delivery with Fetch API fallback.

Click Tracking Payload:

javascript

{
    click_type: 'link_page_link',
    link_page_id: linkPageId,
    source_url: window.location.href,
    destination_url: linkElement.href,
    element_text: linkText
}

Server-Side Data Provider

Location: inc/link-pages/live/analytics.php

This file provides two key functions:

Action handlers – Hook into tracking events fired by extrachill-api:
- extrachill_link_page_view_recorded – Writes page views to database
- extrachill_link_click_recorded – Writes link clicks to database (includes link_url and link_text)
Data provider filter – extrachill_get_link_page_analytics filter supplies analytics data to the API:

php

add_filter( 'extrachill_get_link_page_analytics', 'extrachill_provide_link_page_analytics', 10, 3 );

/**
 * Supplies link page analytics data to the extrachill-api endpoint.
 * Called when extrachill-api plugin queries for analytics data.
 *
 * @param mixed $data         Prior filter value (unused).
 * @param int   $link_page_id Link page post ID.
 * @param int   $date_range   Number of days to include (1-90).
 * @return array|WP_Error Analytics data structure
 */
function extrachill_provide_link_page_analytics( $data, $link_page_id, $date_range ) {
    // Query analytics tables and return data
    // This data is returned to the REST API response
}

Action Hook Handlers

Action handlers – Hook into tracking events fired by extrachill-api:

php

// Called when page view is recorded
add_action( 'extrachill_link_page_view_recorded', 'extrachill_handle_link_page_view_db_write', 10, 1 );

// Called when link click is recorded
add_action( 'extrachill_link_click_recorded', 'extrachill_handle_link_click_db_write', 10, 3 );

Data provider filter – extrachill_get_link_page_analytics filter supplies analytics data to the API:

URL Normalization

Action handlers – Hook into tracking events fired by extrachill-api:

Stripped Parameters

Data provider filter – extrachill_get_link_page_analytics filter supplies analytics data to the API:

extrachill_link_page_view_recorded – Writes page views to database
extrachill_link_click_recorded – Writes link clicks to database (includes link_url and link_text)

Implementation

The plugin handles the actual database writes:

extrachill_link_page_view_recorded – Writes page views to database
extrachill_link_click_recorded – Writes link clicks to database (includes link_url and link_text)

These action hooks are fired by the extrachill-api plugin when it receives tracking data from the client.

Data Recording

Page View Recording

Link click URLs are automatically normalized before storage to prevent analytics clutter from auto-generated tracking parameters. This keeps the dashboard readable while preserving intentional query strings like affiliate IDs.

php

add_action( 'extrachill_link_page_view_recorded', 'extrachill_handle_link_page_view_db_write', 10, 1 );

function extrachill_handle_link_page_view_db_write( $link_page_id ) {
    global $wpdb;
    
    $table_name = $wpdb->prefix . 'extrch_link_page_daily_views';
    $today = current_time('Y-m-d');
    
    // Use INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE for atomic operation
    $sql = $wpdb->prepare("
        INSERT INTO {$table_name} (link_page_id, stat_date, view_count) 
        VALUES (%d, %s, 1)
        ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE view_count = view_count + 1
    ", $link_page_id, $today);
    
    $wpdb->query($sql);
}

Link Click Recording

The following Google Analytics cross-domain linking parameters are removed:

php

add_action( 'extrachill_link_click_recorded', 'extrachill_handle_link_click_db_write', 10, 3 );

function extrachill_handle_link_click_db_write( $link_page_id, $link_url, $link_text = '' ) {
    global $wpdb;
    
    $table_name = $wpdb->prefix . 'extrch_link_page_daily_link_clicks';
    $today = current_time('Y-m-d');
    
    $sql = $wpdb->prepare("
        INSERT INTO {$table_name} (link_page_id, stat_date, link_url, link_text, click_count)
        VALUES (%d, %s, %s, %s, 1)
        ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE click_count = click_count + 1
    ", $link_page_id, $today, $link_url, $link_text);
    
    $wpdb->query($sql);
}

Analytics Dashboard

Artist Analytics Block

Server-side (extrachill-api/inc/routes/analytics/click.php):

URL normalization is handled centrally in the unified click endpoint, preserving all other query parameters (affiliate IDs, custom campaign params, etc.).

Page views are recorded when the extrachill_link_page_view_recorded action is fired by extrachill-api:

_gl – Google Linker parameter
_ga – Google Analytics client ID
_ga_* – Google Analytics measurement ID parameters (e.g., _ga_L362LLL9KM)

Link clicks are recorded when the extrachill_link_click_recorded action is fired by extrachill-api:

extrachill_api_normalize_tracked_url() strips parameters before firing the action hook

Location: src/blocks/artist-analytics/

php

// Registered separately from link-page-editor block
register_block_type( __DIR__ . '/build/blocks/artist-analytics' );

Dedicated Gutenberg block providing comprehensive analytics interface for link page performance tracking and analysis.

Chart.js-powered analytics dashboard
Daily page view aggregation with visual charts
Link click tracking and breakdown by URL
Date range filtering for custom time periods
Visual performance metrics and trends
Artist context switching for multi-artist users
Responsive design for desktop and mobile viewing

Management Interface

Block Features:

Component Architecture:

Data Queries

php

function get_page_view_data($link_page_id, $date_range) {
    global $wpdb;
    
    list($start_date, $end_date) = parse_date_range($date_range);
    
    $table_name = $wpdb->prefix . 'extrch_link_page_daily_views';
    
    $results = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare("
        SELECT stat_date, view_count 
        FROM {$table_name} 
        WHERE link_page_id = %d 
        AND stat_date BETWEEN %s AND %s 
        ORDER BY stat_date ASC
    ", $link_page_id, $start_date, $end_date));
    
    return array_map(function($row) {
        return [
            'date' => $row->stat_date,
            'views' => (int) $row->view_count
        ];
    }, $results);
}

function get_link_click_data($link_page_id, $date_range) {
    global $wpdb;
    
    list($start_date, $end_date) = parse_date_range($date_range);
    
    $table_name = $wpdb->prefix . 'extrch_link_page_daily_link_clicks';
    
    $results = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare("
        SELECT link_url, SUM(click_count) as total_clicks
        FROM {$table_name} 
        WHERE link_page_id = %d 
        AND stat_date BETWEEN %s AND %s 
        GROUP BY link_url 
        ORDER BY total_clicks DESC
    ", $link_page_id, $start_date, $end_date));
    
    return $results;
}

Chart.js Integration

Block Registration:

Data Pruning

Automatic Cleanup

Version History:

Analytics displayed via REST API in dedicated Gutenberg analytics block with Analytics component:

Location: src/blocks/artist-analytics/components/Analytics.js

Performance Optimization

Database Indexes

Charts are rendered directly in the Gutenberg block editor via React components

sql

-- Page views table indexes
UNIQUE KEY unique_daily_view (link_page_id, stat_date)

-- Link clicks table indexes  
UNIQUE KEY unique_daily_link_click (link_page_id, stat_date, link_url(191))
KEY link_page_date (link_page_id, stat_date)

Query Optimization

Analytics system includes automatic data pruning via scheduled cron job:

php

// Efficient top links query
function get_top_performing_links($link_page_id, $date_range, $limit = 10) {
    global $wpdb;
    
    list($start_date, $end_date) = parse_date_range($date_range);
    
    $table_name = $wpdb->prefix . 'extrch_link_page_daily_link_clicks';
    
    return $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare("
        SELECT link_url, SUM(click_count) as total_clicks
        FROM {$table_name} 
        WHERE link_page_id = %d 
        AND stat_date BETWEEN %s AND %s 
        GROUP BY link_url 
        ORDER BY total_clicks DESC 
        LIMIT %d
    ", $link_page_id, $start_date, $end_date, $limit));
}

Export Functionality