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Redirect Trace automatically identifies and removes tracking parameters from URLs, giving you clean links free of analytics tokens and marketing identifiers.

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How tracking removal works

The extension analyzes URL parameters and removes known tracking identifiers while preserving essential query parameters needed for the page to function.
trace-redirects.tsx
const cleanTrackingParams = (url: string): string => {
  const urlObj = new URL(url);
  
  // Remove tracking parameters
  trackingParams.forEach((param) => {
    urlObj.searchParams.delete(param);
  });
  
  return urlObj.toString();
};
You can access the clean URL for any redirect chain step or the final destination using the “Copy Clean URL” action.

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Tracking parameters removed

The extension removes 50+ types of tracking parameters used by major analytics and marketing platforms:
These parameters track campaign performance and ad clicks across Google’s advertising platforms:
  • utm_source - Identifies the traffic source (e.g., newsletter, social media)
  • utm_medium - Identifies the marketing medium (e.g., email, CPC)
  • utm_campaign - Identifies the specific campaign name
  • utm_term - Identifies paid search keywords
  • utm_content - Differentiates similar content or links
  • gclid - Google Click Identifier for Google Ads
  • gclsrc - Google Click Source identifier
  • dclid - DoubleClick Click Identifier
  • gbraid - Google conversion tracking parameter
  • wbraid - Google web-to-app conversion tracking
  • _ga - Google Analytics client ID
  • _gl - Google Analytics cross-domain linking
These parameters track clicks from Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta properties:
  • fbclid - Facebook Click Identifier
  • fb_action_ids - Facebook action tracking IDs
  • fb_action_types - Facebook action type identifiers
  • fb_ref - Facebook referrer parameter
  • fb_source - Facebook traffic source identifier
  • igshid - Instagram share identifier (legacy)
  • igsh - Instagram share identifier
Common tracking parameters from email marketing services and automation platforms:
  • mc_cid - MailChimp campaign ID
  • mc_eid - MailChimp email ID
  • inf_ver - Inflection tracking version
  • inf_ctx - Inflection tracking context
  • _hsenc - HubSpot encryption parameter
  • _hsmi - HubSpot message ID
  • vero_conv - Vero conversion tracking
  • vero_id - Vero user identifier
  • mkt_tok - Marketo tracking token
  • newsletter_id - Generic newsletter identifier
  • email_id - Generic email campaign ID
  • subscriber_id - Email subscriber identifier
Tracking parameters from Microsoft’s advertising platform:
  • msclkid - Microsoft Click Identifier for Bing Ads
Parameters from various web analytics services:
  • pk_campaign - Piwik/Matomo campaign tracking
  • pk_kwd - Piwik/Matomo keyword tracking
  • s_cid - Adobe/Omniture campaign identifier
  • ncid - Adobe/Omniture tracking code
Parameters used by affiliate networks and attribution systems:
  • _branch_match_id - Branch.io matching identifier
  • _branch_referrer - Branch.io referrer tracking
  • zanpid - Rakuten/Commission Junction parameter
  • ranMID - Rakuten merchant ID
  • ranEAID - Rakuten advertiser ID
  • ranSiteID - Rakuten site identifier
  • affiliate_id - Generic affiliate identifier
  • aff_id - Shortened affiliate ID
  • click_id - Generic click tracking ID
  • clickid - Alternative click tracking parameter
Common tracking parameters used across various platforms:
  • source - Traffic source identifier
  • medium - Marketing medium
  • campaign - Campaign name
  • trk - Generic tracking parameter
  • trkCampaign - Campaign tracking identifier
  • ref - Referrer tracking
  • referrer - Referrer information
  • cmpid - Campaign ID
  • WT.mc_id - Webtrends marketing campaign ID
  • ref_src - Reference source
  • ref_url - Reference URL
  • share - Share tracking parameter
  • shared - Shared content identifier

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Heuristic tracking detection

Beyond the explicit list, the extension uses pattern matching to identify likely tracking parameters:
trace-redirects.tsx
// Remove params that look like tracking IDs (long random strings)
if (param.length > 10 && /^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$/.test(param)) {
  const value = urlObj.searchParams.get(param);
  if (value && value.length > 20 && /^[a-zA-Z0-9_=+/-]+$/.test(value)) {
    urlObj.searchParams.delete(param);
  }
}
This catches:
  • Long parameter names (>10 characters) with long values (>20 characters)
  • Tracking-like names - Parameters starting with track, trk, tid, cid, sid, eid, campaign, source, medium, ref, or click
  • Encoded data - Parameters with values that look like base64 or other encoded formats
The heuristic detection helps catch new or uncommon tracking parameters that aren’t in the explicit list.

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Malformed URL handling

Some URLs have tracking parameters embedded in the path instead of the query string. The extension detects and cleans these:
trace-redirects.tsx
// Handle malformed URLs that have parameters in the path
let cleanPath = urlObj.pathname;
if (cleanPath.includes("&")) {
  const pathParts = cleanPath.split("&");
  cleanPath = pathParts[0];
  urlObj.pathname = cleanPath;
}
This handles URLs like: 
https://example.com/page&utm_source=email&fbclid=123
And converts them to: 
https://example.com/page

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Viewing cleaned URLs

You can access cleaned URLs in several ways: Copy clean URL - Use Cmd+Shift+L on any redirect step or final destination to copy the URL without tracking parameters. Visual comparison - When tracking parameters are detected, a “Clean URL (Tracking Removed)” item appears in the summary showing how many characters were removed. Show clean URL - Use Cmd+L to display the clean URL in a toast notification. Full chain report - The complete chain report includes both original and clean versions of the final URL.
The character count difference between original and clean URLs shows you exactly how much tracking data was present.

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When to use clean URLs

Use cleaned URLs when:
  • Sharing links - Remove tracking before sharing with others
  • Bookmarking - Save clean URLs that won’t expire
  • Privacy - Avoid passing tracking data between sites
  • Link analysis - See the actual URL without marketing noise
  • Testing - Verify that pages work without tracking parameters
Removing tracking parameters doesn’t affect the page content. The parameters are used only for analytics and attribution.

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