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Redirect Trace helps marketers understand how their links work, identify performance bottlenecks, and verify tracking implementation. Use it to optimize campaigns and improve click-through rates.

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Campaign analysis

Analyze your marketing campaigns by tracing the redirect chains from email, social media, and paid ads to landing pages.

Email campaigns

Trace links from email marketing platforms to see how many redirects subscribers experience before reaching your landing page

Social media

Check how platform-specific tracking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) adds redirects to your shared links

Paid advertising

Verify redirect chains in Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other paid campaigns to ensure tracking fires correctly

Influencer content

Track how affiliate links and influencer tracking codes redirect before reaching your site

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Understanding your redirect chain

A typical marketing link redirect chain looks like this: 
bit.ly/campaign
  ↓
email-platform.com/click?tracking=abc123
  ↓
yoursite.com/promo?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=spring2024
  ↓
yoursite.com/promo (after tracking parameters are processed)
Each redirect adds latency and potential drop-off points. Use Redirect Trace to identify unnecessary steps.
Research shows that each additional redirect in a marketing link increases load time by 200-400ms and can reduce conversion rates by 2-3%. Keep your redirect chains short.
Identify and eliminate unnecessary redirects that slow down your marketing links and hurt conversion rates.

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Common redirect bottlenecks

Problem: Using multiple URL shorteners in sequence creates unnecessary redirects.Example:
bit.ly/abc → tinyurl.com/xyz → yoursite.com
Solution: Use only one URL shortener, or better yet, use your own domain for branded short links.Impact: Removing one redirect can improve load time by 300ms and reduce drop-off by 2-5%.
Problem: Email platforms (Mailchimp, SendGrid) and social schedulers add tracking redirects.Example:
email-platform.com/click?id=123
  → analytics-platform.com/track?campaign=abc
  → yoursite.com
Solution: Minimize tracking layers by consolidating analytics platforms, or use UTM parameters instead of redirect-based tracking.Impact: Can reduce total redirects from 5+ to 2-3, significantly improving click-through experience.
Problem: Links that start with HTTP redirect to HTTPS, adding an extra step.Example:
http://yoursite.com/promo → https://yoursite.com/promo
Solution: Always use HTTPS in your marketing links from the start.Impact: Eliminates one redirect and improves perceived page load speed.

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Optimization workflow

  1. Trace your campaign links - Copy your marketing URLs and trace them in Redirect Trace
  2. Count the redirects - Check the “Redirect Count” in the summary
  3. Identify unnecessary steps - Look for duplicate tracking, multiple shorteners, or HTTP redirects
  4. Test alternatives - Create optimized versions and trace them to verify fewer redirects
  5. Measure impact - Compare click-through rates and conversion rates before and after optimization
Aim for 0-2 redirects in your marketing links. More than 3 redirects indicates optimization opportunities.

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UTM parameter inspection

Inspect and verify UTM parameters and other tracking codes in your marketing links to ensure proper attribution.

Parameter verification

Confirm UTM parameters (source, medium, campaign) are present and correctly formatted at each redirect step

Parameter preservation

Verify that UTM parameters survive through redirect chains and reach your analytics platform

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Common UTM parameters

Redirect Trace automatically detects and can clean these tracking parameters:
  • utm_source - Identifies the traffic source (google, newsletter, facebook)
  • utm_medium - Identifies the marketing medium (email, cpc, social)
  • utm_campaign - Identifies the specific campaign (spring_sale, product_launch)
  • utm_term - Identifies paid search keywords
  • utm_content - Differentiates similar content or links in the same ad

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Parameter inspection workflow

When tracing marketing links, check for:
  1. Parameter presence - Are UTM parameters added at the expected step?
  2. Parameter persistence - Do parameters survive through all redirects?
  3. Parameter conflicts - Are different tracking systems adding conflicting parameters?
  4. Parameter bloat - Are unnecessary tracking codes making URLs too long?
Scenario: Your Google Analytics shows “(direct)” traffic instead of “email campaign” for your newsletter links.Investigation with Redirect Trace:
  1. Trace your email newsletter link
  2. Check each redirect step
  3. Identify where UTM parameters are lost
Common causes:
  • URL shortener strips parameters (solution: use a different shortener)
  • Landing page redirects to another page without preserving parameters
  • JavaScript redirect that doesn’t carry query parameters forward
Fix: Modify your link structure to preserve parameters through all redirects.

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Clean URL extraction

Extract clean versions of your landing pages without tracking parameters for sharing or testing.

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When to use clean URLs

  • Internal sharing - Share clean versions with your team without tracking noise
  • A/B testing - Create control URLs without tracking to test against tracked versions
  • Social proof - Share cleaner-looking URLs in social media when tracking isn’t needed
  • Documentation - Use clean URLs in product documentation and help articles

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Extracting clean URLs

Use the “Copy Clean URL” action (⌘⇧L) to get a version with all tracking parameters removed: Original tracked URL: 
https://yoursite.com/product?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=launch&fbclid=abc123&gclid=xyz789&mc_cid=abc&_ga=def456
Clean URL: 
https://yoursite.com/product
Redirect Trace removes 40+ common tracking parameters including Google Analytics, Facebook, UTM codes, email marketing platforms, and more.

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Campaign performance insights

Use redirect chain analysis to understand and improve campaign performance:

Redirect latency

Measure how long each redirect takes by comparing timestamps - slower redirects hurt conversion rates

Drop-off analysis

More redirects = more opportunities for users to abandon - minimize redirect count for critical campaigns

Mobile vs desktop

Mobile users are more sensitive to redirect latency - test your links on mobile devices specifically

Geographic routing

Identify if your links redirect differently based on location - important for international campaigns

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Integration with marketing tools

Use Redirect Trace alongside your existing marketing stack:
  • Before launching campaigns - Trace all links in your email templates, landing pages, and ads
  • During campaign optimization - Compare redirect chains between high and low-performing variants
  • Post-campaign analysis - Review redirect patterns in your most successful campaigns
  • Link audits - Regularly audit your marketing links to catch broken redirects or added latency

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Workflow example

  1. Export links from your email platform (Mailchimp, HubSpot, etc.)
  2. Trace each link in Redirect Trace
  3. Copy full chain reports (⌘⌥C) for documentation
  4. Identify optimization opportunities based on redirect count
  5. Implement changes and verify with another trace
  6. Monitor performance with your analytics platform
Create a spreadsheet to track redirect counts for all your marketing links over time. This helps you catch when platforms add new tracking redirects that hurt performance.

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