What is link tracking?
Link tracking means counting the clicks on a link you share and recording a few facts about each one: when it happened, roughly where, and on what kind of device. It answers simple questions. Did anyone click the newsletter link? Did the Instagram bio link beat the LinkedIn post? Is the QR code on the flyer getting scanned at all?
You can track clicks in two places. One is on your website, with a tool like Google Analytics reading the UTM parameters on the URL. The other is on the link itself, with a short link that logs the click before it sends the visitor on. The two answer different questions, and most teams end up using both.
How link click tracking works
A tracked link is a short link that sits in front of your real URL. When someone opens it, this happens in a fraction of a second:
- The browser requests the short link, for example
go.yourbrand.com/spring. - Our server finds the link, checks it is active and records the click: the time, the IP address, the browser's user agent and whether the request came from a QR code.
- It redirects the visitor to the destination URL, with your UTM parameters attached.
- Your site loads and, if you use GA4, its tag reads the UTMs.
The click is saved in the background, so the redirect never waits for it. Short links on your own domain and on our default domain go through the same recording step, so a click counts the same way on both. A paused link does not redirect and does not record a click.
What UTM Link records for each click
| Data point | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Date and time | The moment the request reached the short link |
| Country | An IP address lookup |
| Device type | The user agent: desktop, mobile or tablet, with vendor and model when the browser sends it |
| Operating system | The user agent, for example iOS, Android, Windows or macOS, with version |
| Browser | The user agent, for example Chrome, Safari or Edge, with version |
| Source | Link click or QR scan |
| IP address | The request, used to count unique clicks |
Each link gets its own analytics page with the totals, a QR scan count, a clicks-over-time chart you can filter by date (today, 7 days, 30 days, this month, last month), a country map and table, a device breakdown, unique clicks by IP, and a log of every click. The panel at the top of this page is a sample of that view.
To be clear about the limits: we don't record city or region, we don't show a referrer report, and we don't identify people. If you need to know which website or app sent a click, put that in utm_source and read it in GA4.
Total clicks vs unique clicks
Total clicks counts every time the link was opened. If one person taps the link three times, that is three clicks. Unique clicks counts distinct IP addresses, so the same person on the same network counts once.
IP-based counting is an estimate in both directions. Several people in one office or on one mobile carrier can share an IP and look like one visitor. One person who clicks at home and again on mobile data counts twice. Use unique clicks to spot repeat opens and odd spikes, not as an exact head count.
Why short-link clicks and GA4 sessions don't match
Almost everyone who tracks links asks this sooner or later. The short link shows more clicks than GA4 shows sessions for the same campaign. Neither number is wrong. They are counted at different points and by different rules:
- Different moments. The click is counted when the short link is opened. GA4 counts a session only after the page loads and the tag fires. Someone who closes the tab during a slow load is a click with no session.
- Consent banners. If a visitor declines cookies, GA4 may not store or report their visit the normal way. Google fills part of the gap with modelling when consent mode is set up, but it is not a one-to-one count.
- Ad and tracking blockers. Many block the GA4 script outright. The short link still sees the click because the redirect happens on our server.
- Bots and link previews. GA4 excludes known bots automatically. The short link counts every request it receives, which can include chat apps fetching a link preview or email security scanners checking links before delivery.
- Clicks vs sessions. Two clicks within a few minutes can land in one GA4 session. A visitor who comes back later from a bookmark is a new session with no click.
Treat the short-link count as “how many times the link was opened” and GA4 as “what visitors did on the site”. If the gap suddenly grows on one link, check whether its page is slow or broken.
Use UTM parameters and short links together
UTM parameters and short links are not either/or. The UTM parameters tell GA4 where a visit came from, so sessions, sign-ups and sales get credited to the right source, medium and campaign. The short link counts the click even when GA4 can't, and it hides a long, messy UTM URL behind something people will actually click.
In UTM Link that is one step. Build the link in the UTM builder, choose a short domain, and the short link forwards to the full URL with every UTM in place. On your own domain it looks like go.yourbrand.com/spring; see branded short links for how that works. You can change the destination later without reprinting or reposting the link, and the click history stays with it.
If you haven't connected GA4 yet, the analytics setup guide walks through it.
Track QR code scans separately
A QR code is just another way to open a link, so it gets tracked the same way. When you make a QR code for a short link in UTM Link, the code points at the short link with a small qr=1 marker. Scans show up as “QR scan” in the clicks log and in their own QR scans total, apart from normal clicks. You can see at a glance whether the poster or the email did the work.
One catch: a QR code made for a plain UTM link, with no short link, sends people straight to your site. UTM Link never sees those scans, so only GA4 can count them. More on this on the trackable QR codes page.
Export your click data
From the links list you can export everything to CSV, JSON or TSV, for all links or for chosen teams or projects. With analytics included, each row carries:
- Total clicks and unique clicks
- Last click time
- Clicks in the last 7 days and the last 30 days
- Top country and top device
Those sit next to the short code, destination, UTM values, status, team, project and creator, so a spreadsheet or BI tool can join them with your GA4 data by campaign name.
Privacy: what to tell your visitors
Clicks are logged with the visitor's IP address so unique visitors can be counted and the country looked up. We don't set tracking cookies on the redirect and don't build profiles of the people who click. A link's analytics are visible only to members of the team that owns the link.
Because the data is about your audience, mention link tracking in your own privacy policy, the same way you list your analytics tool. If you are unsure what yours needs to say, ask whoever handles privacy for your company.
Which plans include link tracking
Click tracking on short links and custom domains is part of the Pro and Business plans, along with QR scan counts and branded links on your own domain.
The free Basic plan covers up to 100 UTM links with unlimited clicks on direct UTM links. Those links go straight to your site, so the clicks are measured by GA4 rather than by UTM Link. It is a good way to get your naming in order first; see UTM naming conventions.
Set up link tracking in a few minutes
- Create a link in UTM Link with your destination and UTM values.
- Pick a short domain, ideally your own, and an optional custom back-half.
- Share the short link, or download its QR code for print.
- Open the link's analytics page to watch clicks come in.
- Compare with the campaign in GA4 to see what happened after the click.
New to the app? Start with creating your first link.