URL Investigator
Paste any link and see every component broken out: protocol, subdomain, domain, path, query parameters, and fragment. Tracking parameters are identified and explained, and you can copy a clean version with them stripped.
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Most URLs contain more information than the page address. Some of it is useful. Most of it is about you.
Tracking parameters are extra pieces of data appended to a URL by marketing platforms, email tools, and ad networks. They tell the sender which campaign sent you, which link you clicked, and which ad you saw. They do not affect the page you reach, but they do report your click back to the source. This tool makes those parameters visible and lets you share a clean version without them.
How we work it out
Everything happens in your browser. The tool splits the link into its parts (protocol, subdomain, domain, path, query and fragment), checks the query against a built-in list of about 45 known tracking parameters, and recognises redirect links from about 19 platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Mailchimp, so it can show where they point. It never visits the link, so it can't tell you whether the page at the other end is safe.
Common mistakes
- Trusting a link because it starts with the right name. Check what comes just before the first slash.
- Ignoring everything after the question mark. That is where tracking information often hides.
- Pasting a link and treating it as safe once it has been broken down.
Questions
Does stripping tracking parameters break the link?
No. Tracking parameters are added after the destination is determined. Removing them takes you to exactly the same page, just without the analytics data attached. The only exception is links where the tracking token is also used for authentication: these are rare but do exist in some email marketing platforms, where removing the token may cause a personalised page to fail to load.
What are UTM parameters?
UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module, named after a web analytics company acquired by Google in 2005. They are the most common tracking parameters on the web: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, and utm_content. They are added by anyone running a campaign and read by Google Analytics (and most other analytics platforms) to attribute traffic to its source.
What is fbclid?
fbclid is a Facebook Click Identifier. It is added automatically by Facebook and Instagram when someone clicks a link from a paid ad. The value is a unique string that Facebook uses to match the click to a conversion, even without third-party cookies. It is purely for Facebook attribution and has no effect on the destination page.
What is a TLD?
TLD stands for top-level domain: the last part of a domain name, such as .com, .org, .uk, or .io. Some TLDs are country-specific (ccTLDs like .uk or .au) and some are generic (gTLDs like .com or .net). A few countries have two-part TLDs such as .co.uk, where both parts together make up the TLD.
Link investigated. Nothing to see here.