ping

Send tracking pings to specified URLs when a link is clicked. A transparent, declarative alternative to redirect-based or JavaScript click tracking.

Overview

The ping attribute on <a> elements sends background POST requests to one or more URLs when the link is clicked. The user navigates directly to the link's href destination while the tracking requests are sent asynchronously — no redirect delay, no JavaScript required.

Applies to: <a>

Values

Value	Behavior
Single URL	Sends one POST request on click
Space-separated URLs	Sends a POST to each URL on click

Basic Usage

Add one or more tracking URLs to the ping attribute. The browser sends POST requests to each URL when the link is clicked.

<a href="/products/widget" ping="/analytics/click">Widget Product Page</a>  <a href="/products/widget" ping="/analytics/click /third-party/track"> Widget Product Page </a>

Practical Examples

Common use cases include tracking outbound links, measuring CTA effectiveness, and notifying analytics services of navigation events.

<nav> <a href="https://github.com/example/repo" ping="/track/outbound"> GitHub Repository </a> <a href="https://docs.example.com" ping="/track/outbound"> Documentation </a> </nav>  <a href="/signup" ping="/analytics/cta-click?source=hero"> Start Free Trial </a>

What the Browser Sends

The POST request includes headers that identify both the page the user was on and the destination they are navigating to.

<a href="/destination" ping="/track">Click me</a>

Comparison with Other Tracking

The ping attribute competes with two established tracking patterns: redirect URLs and JavaScript click handlers. It has advantages over both.

<a href="/redirect?url=https://example.com&id=123">Example</a>   <a href="https://example.com" onclick="track('click', 123)">Example</a>   <a href="https://example.com" ping="/track?id=123">Example</a>

Approach	User Delay	Requires JS	Visible in Source	Works if JS Fails
Redirect tracking	Yes (extra hop)	No	URL is obscured	Yes
JS click handler	Minimal	Yes	Buried in scripts	No
`ping` attribute	None	No	Yes (in HTML)	Yes

Transparency Advantage

Unlike JavaScript-based tracking, the ping attribute is visible in the page source. Privacy-conscious users, browser extensions, and auditing tools can see exactly which URLs receive tracking pings. This transparency was an intentional design goal of the specification.

Accessibility

The ping attribute has no effect on accessibility. Screen readers announce the link normally based on its text content and href.
The attribute does not change the link's visible destination or behavior from the user's perspective.
Keyboard activation (Enter) triggers the ping just as a mouse click does.

Limitations

Firefox disables ping by default. The browser.send_pings preference is false in Firefox, making the attribute unreliable for cross-browser analytics.
Privacy-focused browsers and extensions (uBlock Origin, Brave) may block ping requests entirely.
The POST body is just the string PING — you cannot send custom data. Any context must be encoded in the URL query string.
Only works on <a> elements. It does not apply to <button>, <form>, or programmatic navigation.
The Ping-From header is omitted in cross-origin requests when the referring page uses HTTPS and the ping URL uses HTTP (downgrade scenario).