What are the best practices for email link cloaking and click tracking?

Key findings

• Reputation impact: The hostname of your click-tracking URL heavily influences content filtering and sender reputation. If multiple customers share the same hostname, they also share its reputation, which can be a significant deliverability risk.
• Security is key: Robust systems must ensure that only legitimate, system-generated links function, preventing bad actors from altering URLs to redirect to malicious sites. The ability to quickly disable redirection for an entire mailing or customer is crucial for mitigating abuse. Learn more about how link shorteners impact deliverability.
• HTTPS preference: Major internet service providers (ISPs) increasingly prefer HTTPS for all tracking links. While not always a hard requirement today, it is expected to become one, so implementing HTTPS now is a forward-thinking best practice. Find out if HTTPS for email links improves deliverability.
• URL structure: Some ISPs have a preference for URL structures. For instance, using query parameters (e.g., click.example.com/whatever?id=my_identifier) might be preferred over path-based identifiers (e.g., click.example.com/whatever/my_identifier). This can subtly influence deliverability.

Key considerations

• Subdomain alignment: Ensure your tracking URL subdomain aligns with your sending domain to bolster your DMARC authentication and overall sender trust. Read more about whether tracking URL subdomain alignment affects email deliverability.
• Logging and forensics: Implement comprehensive logging of redirect traffic, including click IP address, referrer, and user-agent. This data is invaluable for diagnosing and troubleshooting any unusual or abusive activity that might occur. Learn more about link cloaking benefits and practices.
• Brand consistency: Using a custom domain for cloaked links enhances brand authority and trust, making your URLs look more professional and trustworthy to recipients and mail servers alike.
• Avoid generic domains: Where possible, avoid shared or generic click tracking domains, as they expose you to the reputation risks of other senders using the same domain.

Key opinions

• Brand aesthetics: Marketers frequently use link cloaking to transform long, unappealing URLs into shorter, branded links that are more professional and trustworthy. This helps with brand consistency and user experience.
• Affiliate ID concealment: A common use case for cloaking is to hide affiliate IDs within URLs, preventing commission theft and presenting a cleaner link to the end-user. This practice also helps avoid suspicion that might arise from overtly long or complex affiliate links.
• Comprehensive tracking: Marketers emphasize the importance of robust tracking features within cloaking tools, allowing for detailed performance monitoring beyond simple clicks, such as referrer data and user-agent information.
• Simplified management: Using dedicated cloaking or tracking tools simplifies the management of numerous links, especially in large-scale email campaigns or affiliate networks. This also assists in maintaining an organized approach to campaign measurement.

Key considerations

• Deliverability impact: Marketers recognize that while cloaking offers benefits, it can affect deliverability, particularly if the shared tracking domains acquire a poor reputation. Proactive monitoring is necessary to mitigate potential issues that could lead to emails landing in the spam folder or on a blocklist.
• Misleading URLs: It's critical that cloaked URLs are not misleading and comply with all ethical guidelines and affiliate program policies. Transparency, even with a cloaked link, builds trust with recipients. This relates to the broader concept of vanity URLs and their deliverability impact.
• Broken link checks: Regular maintenance schedules are important to check for and fix broken links, which can negatively impact user experience and sender reputation. This is part of maintaining healthy email sending domains and IP reputation.
• Tool selection: Choosing a reliable and secure link cloaking tool that does not interfere with tracking or cause other technical issues is paramount for successful implementation. More information can be found on link cloaking utility and pitfalls.

Key opinions

• Shared reputation risks: Experts consistently warn that using shared click-tracking hostnames (common with ESPs) means sharing reputation, which can be detrimental if other users engage in problematic sending practices. This can lead to your emails being blocked or landing on a blocklist. For more information on what happens when your domain is on an email blacklist, check our guide.
• Security against abuse: Protecting click-tracking URLs from manipulation by bad actors is paramount. Experts recommend implementing mechanisms that ensure only valid, system-generated links redirect correctly, preventing malicious redirects or phishing attempts.
• HTTPS is becoming mandatory: While HTTP click-tracking links might still function, the consensus among experts is that HTTPS will soon be a strict requirement for all links within emails. Deploying new systems with HTTPS for all links is highly advised to future-proof deliverability.
• Detailed logging for forensics: Logging comprehensive data about redirect traffic (IP address, referrer, user-agent) is considered essential for diagnosing deliverability issues or investigating potential abuse. This forensic data helps pinpoint the cause of unexpected traffic or reputation dips.

Key considerations

• URL structure preferences: Some large ISPs exhibit preferences for how tracking URLs are structured (e.g., using query string parameters over path segments). Adhering to these subtle preferences can offer a marginal but cumulative benefit to deliverability.
• Proactive mitigation: The ability to quickly disable click-tracking redirects for specific mailings or customers is a critical abuse mitigation feature. This allows senders to contain damage swiftly if a campaign or account is compromised or generates unwanted activity.
• Domain alignment for DMARC: Experts stress that proper domain alignment between your sending domain and your click-tracking domain is vital for successful DMARC authentication. Misalignment can lead to DMARC failures and reduced inbox placement. Read about how redirects affect deliverability.
• Reputation monitoring: Continuous monitoring of your click-tracking domain's reputation on various blocklists (or blacklists) is a non-negotiable best practice. Early detection of listing helps in timely remediation and prevents widespread inbox placement issues. More details on link tracking redirectors.

Key findings

• Definition and purpose: Documentation defines link cloaking (or URL masking) as a digital marketing tactic to conceal the original, often lengthy, link behind a shorter, more appealing, or branded one. Its primary purposes are aesthetics, brand trust, and hiding complex IDs.
• Redirection mechanism: The technical basis of link cloaking involves using a redirector, where the cloaked URL points to a server that then redirects the user to the actual destination. This redirection is also how click tracking is typically implemented.
• Tracking methods: Documentation outlines various methods for tracking clicks, including the use of link cloaking plugins, UTM parameters, and integrating with analytics platforms like Google Analytics.
• Security implications: Technical guides often emphasize the need for secure cloaking tools and practices to prevent misuse, such as masking malicious content or deceptive redirects.

Key considerations

• Compliance and transparency: Documentation stresses that disguised URLs must not be misleading and should adhere to all relevant program policies and legal requirements. Clear anchor text and, where possible, revealing redirection destinations on hover, can enhance transparency. This aligns with practices for addressing hidden links and bot clicks.
• Tool reliability: Choosing a reputable and robust cloaking tool is advised to ensure effective tracking and avoid technical interference. The tool should support necessary features like customization and branding.
• Regular maintenance: Whether using plugins or manual methods, routine updates are recommended to ensure the security and functionality of cloaked links. This also includes checking for broken links periodically.
• Custom domains: Documentation supports using your own custom domain for cloaked links to build brand authority and trust, avoiding generic or suspicious-looking URLs that might be flagged by security systems. More on this is available from understanding link cloaking.