Follow a link to where it lands.
Paste an affiliate link, a short link or a voucher site's shop-now link. We follow it from our own servers and show every step, so you can see who it passes through.
- Hops
- Up to 20
- Time
- Up to 30 s
- Ad clicks made
- 0
- Cookie values
- Never shown
What a trace shows
Every step between the link and the page.- 1 / 04
Every hop
Each address on the way, what it answered, how it moved on (an HTTP redirect, a meta refresh or a script) and how long it took.
- 2 / 04
Networks and IDs
The affiliate networks it passed through, and the IDs each one carried: publisher, programme or advertiser, click reference and sub-IDs.
- 3 / 04
Cookies, by name
Each cookie set on the way and the domain that set it. Never a cookie's value.
- 4 / 04
Where it lands
The final address and a screenshot of the page, as our browser saw it.
From our own servers: a plain request first, then a real browser for the pages that move on with a meta refresh or a script. No forms sent, no files downloaded, and anything personal in an address is replaced with … before it's shown.
What it won't follow
Three kinds of link we stop at.- 1 / 03
Ad click links
Google and Bing ad links (google.com/aclk, googleadservices.com, doubleclick.net, bing.com/aclk and the like). Following one clicks the ad and charges its advertiser, and we never click ads. A brand's own staff will be able to record their own click on their own ad.
- 2 / 03
Private addresses
Links to a local network, a router or a server's own address, at the start or on the way. Each hop is checked before we connect.
- 3 / 03
Downloads and forms
A link that starts a download, or a page that sends a form, ends the trace there.
What people paste
Links like these.Each trace is a real visit to the link, the way a shopper's click would be.
- 1 / 04
An affiliate link
From a review site or a newsletter: a network's address with a publisher and a destination in it.
awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=…&awinaffid=…&ued=… - 2 / 04
A short link
From a social post or a deals forum, which hides where it goes until it's followed.
bit.ly/… - 3 / 04
A voucher site's button
The address behind “Get code” or “Shop now”, copied from the button.
example-vouchers.co.uk/out/… - 4 / 04
A landing page
An address you've been sent to, to see what it was carrying and what it set.
example.co.uk/?awc=…