Copy a link from a newsletter, a social post or an ad and you'll often get something like this:
https://example.com/article?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fall_sale&fbclid=IwAR2xYz
Everything after the ? is extra. The page is just https://example.com/article. The rest are tracking parameters: labels that tell the website (and often an ad or email platform) where your click came from.
The common tracking codes and what they mean
UTM codes (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content)
UTM codes are the most common. Marketers add them by hand or automatically so their analytics can show which newsletter, social post or ad sent each visitor. A typical set says the visit came from newsletter (source) via email (medium) as part of the fall_sale campaign. They describe the campaign, not you personally, so they're mostly harmless, but they make links long and messy.
Click IDs (fbclid, gclid, msclkid, ttclid, twclid)
Ad platforms add a unique ID to each click: fbclid from Facebook and Instagram, gclid (and gbraid, wbraid) from Google Ads, msclkid from Microsoft Ads, ttclid from TikTok and twclid from X. These let the advertiser match a purchase back to the specific ad click. They're more personal than UTM codes because each one is unique to a single click.
Email IDs (mc_eid, _hsenc, mkt_tok)
Email platforms such as Mailchimp, HubSpot and Marketo can add codes that identify which subscriber clicked. If you forward that link to friends, their visits may be recorded as yours.
Share IDs (si, igsh, igshid, share_id)
When you tap "Share" in YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and other apps, the copied link often contains an ID tied to your account. The platform can then see that you shared it and who opened it.
What a tracking code can and can't do
| Tracking codes can… | Tracking codes can't… |
|---|---|
| Tell a site which campaign, post or email a click came from | Install software or harm your device |
| Let an ad platform match a click to a later purchase | Reveal your passwords or files |
| Link a visit to a specific subscriber or sharer | Work on their own, without the website's own analytics |
So a long link full of codes isn't a danger sign. Plenty of legitimate links look like that. It's a privacy and tidiness issue. (Scam links sometimes add fake tracking codes to look more official, which is one more reason to judge a link by its real domain name, not its length.)
When to remove tracking codes
- Before sharing a link publicly on social media, in a forum or in a group chat, especially share IDs tied to your account.
- When forwarding a newsletter link, so friends' clicks aren't counted as yours.
- When saving bookmarks or adding links to documents, to keep them short and readable.
- When checking a link, since a clean link makes the real website easier to see.
There's one case where you may want to keep them: if you're sharing your own campaign link and want your analytics to count it, or if you're supporting a creator through an affiliate link.
How to remove them
You can delete everything after the ? by hand, but that sometimes removes parts the page needs, such as a search term or product option. The URL Cleaner removes only known tracking codes, can unwrap redirect links from Google, Facebook and Outlook, and can shorten Amazon product links. It works on many links at once and runs entirely in your browser.
Some browsers now strip common trackers automatically. Firefox, Safari and Brave all have features that remove known click IDs from links in some situations. Coverage varies, so a quick clean before sharing is still useful.
A note for site owners
If you use UTM codes on your own links, keep them for external campaigns (emails, ads, social posts) and avoid them on internal links between your own pages, where they can overwrite the original source of a visit in your analytics. Add a canonical tag to your pages so search engines index the clean URL rather than every tagged variation.
Frequently asked questions
Are tracking codes in links dangerous?
No. They don't run code or install anything. They're labels that tell a website where a click came from. The concern is privacy, not safety: some codes can link a visit to a particular email, person or ad.
Will removing tracking codes break the link?
Removing known tracking codes almost never changes the page you see. Removing other parameters can, since some sites need them for search results, filters or product options. Our URL Cleaner removes only known trackers by default for this reason.
Can websites still track me without these codes?
Yes. Cookies, logins and browser fingerprinting work without anything in the link. Removing link codes is a small step that mostly protects the privacy of the people you share links with, and keeps links tidy.
Why do some links have a code like si= or igsh=?
These come from share buttons in apps like YouTube, Spotify and Instagram. They can identify the account that shared the link, so the platform can see who shared with whom. Removing them is a good habit before sharing publicly.