How do I track the clicks to an external url?

I have a link_to do block that links to an external URL and I would like to keep track of how many times the link was clicked. What would be the best way to do this?

Thanks 😊

Two options that come to mind are:

1. Have the link go through your Rails app, track the click, and then redirect to the URL (also get to hide the URL this way)
2. Use Javascript to record the event on click (you could use Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Ahoy, etc)