A tracking link is a URL that records each click before it sends the visitor on to the destination page. The record holds the time, country and city, device and browser, and the site the click came from. Give each channel its own tracking link and you can compare channels by clicks.
How a tracking link works
The link you share points to a redirect server first. When someone clicks, the server logs the visit and answers with a redirect to your real address. The browser follows it, and the visitor lands on your page a moment later.
Nothing gets installed on the destination site. That's why tracking links work on pages you don't control, like an Amazon listing or a partner's event page.
What a click record contains
In Reqlick, each click stores the following:
- The time of the click, so you can chart clicks by hour, day or month.
- Country, region and city, estimated from the visitor's IP address.
- Device type, operating system and browser.
The record also keeps the referrer, meaning the site the click came from. Reports show unique visitors next to total clicks, so one person clicking five times doesn't read as five people.
A tracking link has one limit worth knowing. It sees the click and nothing after it. It can't tell whether the visitor signed up, bought something or read to the end. That part needs analytics on the destination site, and UTM parameters connect the two.
Tracking links and UTM parameters
UTM parameters are tags added to the end of a URL, such as ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email. They record nothing by themselves. Your web analytics tool reads them when the visitor arrives. Google's guidance is to always set utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign (Google Analytics Help).
A tracking link and UTM tags answer different questions, so most campaigns use both. The tracking link counts clicks, even when it points to a site you don't own. The UTM tags let your web analytics show what those visitors do next, on your own site.
Reqlick has a UTM builder on every plan. Its Sources report groups clicks by referrer, or by utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term or utm_content.
Hyperlink tracking, KPI links and video links
These three terms describe the same mechanism applied to a specific job.
Hyperlink tracking
Hyperlink tracking means counting clicks on the links inside your content: emails, PDFs, slide decks and social posts. The simplest method is to swap each raw URL for a tracking link. It works even when the link points to someone else's site.
KPI tracking links
A KPI tracking link measures one number you report on, such as clicks from a partner newsletter. Keep to one link per thing you measure. Give it a readable back-half and a campaign tag, so the report still makes sense a month later.
Video tracking links
A video tracking link wraps a YouTube, Vimeo or TikTok URL. It counts clicks toward the video from each place you share it. It can't count views or watch time, which stay in the platform's own analytics. Use one link per placement: the newsletter, a pinned post, your bio and a QR code on a flyer.
Worked example: one webinar, four channels
Suppose you promote a webinar sign-up page in four places: a newsletter, LinkedIn, a partner's blog and a printed flyer. You create four Reqlick links to the same page. Each gets its own back-half, like go.yourbrand.com/webinar-nl for the newsletter. The UTM builder adds utm_campaign=oct-webinar to all four, with a different utm_source on each. The flyer carries a QR code of its link instead of a printed URL.
A week later, the Sources report grouped by utm_source shows clicks per channel. Suppose the newsletter sent 180 clicks and the flyer sent 14. Your site analytics then shows how many of those visitors registered. Few clicks with a high sign-up rate point to a small but interested audience. Many clicks with few sign-ups suggest the page needs work.
How tracking works in Reqlick
Every Reqlick short link and QR code is a tracking link. There is no separate tracking mode to turn on.
- Logging runs in the background, so it doesn't hold up the redirect.
- Query strings pass through. A parameter added to the short link reaches the destination and replaces one with the same name.
- QR scans are reported apart from link clicks and file views.
Click history stays for 90 days on Starter, one year on Pro and five years on Business. You can export it as CSV. More on reports in Reqlick analytics. Starter includes 25,000 tracked clicks a month, Pro 150,000 and Business 1,000,000. Plans are paid, with a 14-day free trial.