Frequently Asked Questions

What is LinkTrack?

LinkTrack is a service designed to shorten very long urls (links) to make them easier to read, remember, and send to other people. Every link you create lets you track when it's been clicked on, and who clicked it!

Who is it for?

LinkTrack is built for anyone who wants a simple and effective way to track links online.

How can I use a tracking link?

You can use your tracking link to track anytime someone clicks your link. Use it anywhere you would put a web address!

• Put your tracking link in an email signature and count the number of people who check out your web site from your emails.
• Send them in a chat message or an email to shorten long links.
• Use them on advertising sites like Craigslist. Know who's reading your ads, and how effective they are.
• Post them on your own web site and learn which links on your web page attract the most attention.
• Point your pay-per-click campaigns to them so you know what you're paying for.
• Use them with affiliate programs to disguise affiliate links and track commissions.
• Put them in a forum signature so you can know who's reading your posts.
• Put them on auction sites to track clicks from your ad to hosted images.
• The possibilities are limitless! If you figure out a cool use for our service, contact us and let us know.

How long do you keep data?

We keep line-item data for 30 days and counter data indefinitely.

Line-item data includes detailed information about each click (date, time, referral source, etc.) and is used to make our reports. Counter data shows the total number of clicks your link has received since it was made.

Will my links expire?

Links created using a free account will automatically expire after 7 days or 100 clicks. Links created with any premium account won't expire.

Can I delete a link in my account?

Sure! Open the link from the "My Links" page and use the Delete action. Remember, deleting a link is permanent and will remove the link and all of its history from your account.

Can I reset my link history without deleting the link?

Yes! If you're a premium account holder, open the link from the "My Links" page and use the Reset history action. This will permanently remove all of the link's tracking history from your account.

What kind of redirect do you use?

We use the industry standard 301 or "permanent" redirect. The permanent redirect tells search engines that the LinkTrack link they're following is just a placeholder, and that the real content is located at the target destination. This passes on any search engine relevance to the target link rather than assigning it to our site.

Do you offer unique visitor tracking?

Unique visitor tracking is available on our professional accounts.

Can I send tracking links in my spam email campaign?

No. Using our tracking links in conjunction with unwanted (spam) mail is strictly prohibited by our terms of service and will not be tolerated.

Can I use LinkTrack with social media, ads, email, or forums?

Yes. Tracking links work anywhere you can paste a web address: social networking sites, pay-per-click campaigns, affiliate marketing, email advertising, online forums, classified ads, personal emails, even links to images. (To avoid yard work? No.)

Can I make custom or vanity URLs?

Absolutely! This feature is standard on all of our premium accounts.

Do you share the tracking links that I make?

Premium accounts have the option to make their links completely private.

Can your service handle parameter strings?

Not only can our service handle long urls with parameters, but we also decipher them from the major search engines to record which keywords are being used to find your link.

Can I turn links on and off?

Yes - this feature is common to all of our premium accounts.

When do the daily counters for my links reset?

Daily counters reset every night at midnight US Central time.

Can I make a tracking link without coming to this web site?

Certainly! Signed-in users can grab a bookmarklet and API credentials from the API access page under their account menu.

How can I cancel my billing?

We love having you as a customer, but you can cancel at any time from your account page. See our terms for details.

What is Plus+ Tracking?

Plus+ Tracking is a premium feature that allows you to add additional identifying information to your tracking links so you can use one tracking link to measure response from multiple sources.

With a Plus+ Tracking link, you can add additional text to the end of any of your tracking links. Not only do we record all the tracking data when your link is clicked, but we also record the text you added to the end. This gives you a quick and easy way to distinguish who clicked which link!

Check out our blog for some Plus+ Tracking examples.

Why is there a robot icon next to some clicks?

Bots (sometimes called search spiders) are automated programs that scour the web for information. They follow links just like regular people, so if they follow a tracking link their visit is recorded. If the click comes from a known bot on our bot list (like Google's googlebot) we mark it in your report.

Why are the referrers sometimes blank?

A blank referrer field on your tracking page means that the system was unable to collect any referring information from the click. Referrer information is only passed when your visitor clicks a link from another web page, so this will show up as "none" for anyone clicking your link in an email, or typing it directly into the address bar of the browser. Our system records and displays any referrer information that it can collect, but defaults to "none" when there is none available.

Read more about referral tracking on our blog.

How do I set up conversion tracking?

Conversion tracking is a feature available to professional accounts.

To get started, turn on the conversion tracking option when editing your link. Once enabled, open the link's history page and use the Conversion code button. Copy and paste the HTML conversion code onto the success page for your project; this is usually an order or signup completion page.