Tracking transparency

How TracksNinja tracking links work

A plain description of what happens when someone clicks an ad that uses a TracksNinja tracking template — written for advertisers, agencies and ad-platform reviewers.

  • One HTTPS server-side redirect
  • Same destination for every visitor
  • Parallel-tracking compatible

The click flow

  1. 1

    Ad click

    Google Ads sends the visitor straight to the advertiser's final URL. With parallel tracking, the browser calls our tracking URL in the background at the same time.

  2. 2

    Tracking request

    Our server receives the ValueTrack parameters (GCLID, campaign, ad group, keyword, device…) and immediately answers with a single 302 redirect to the redirection_url ({lpurl}) landing page.

  3. 3

    Logging & quality scoring

    After the response is sent, the click is stored and scored for invalid activity (bots, repeat clicks). Scoring never changes the redirect.

  4. 4

    Landing page

    The visitor sees exactly the final URL the advertiser entered in Google Ads, including the final URL suffix.

Our commitments
  • Every visitor — human, crawler or reviewer — receives the identical redirect. No cloaking, no user-agent or IP based destinations.
  • Server-side HTTP 302 only. No JavaScript, meta refresh or interstitial pages.
  • HTTPS on the tracking domain and on the redirect target.
  • No cookies are set or required, so background (parallel) tracking works in every browser.
  • Transparent: the redirection_url parameter shows the exact next hop, and the server redirects only there — after validating it belongs to the advertiser, so links cannot be used as open redirects.
  • Responses are not cached, and the tracking request is answered before any logging work begins.

Tracking template

Set at account, campaign or ad-group level in Google Ads → Campaign URL options. The final URL suffix carries analytics parameters to the landing page.

Tracking template
https://track.tracksninja.com/c/{alias}?force_transparent=true&redirection_url={lpurl}&gclid={gclid}&gbraid={gbraid}&wbraid={wbraid}&cid={campaignid}&agid={adgroupid}&cr={creative}&kw={keyword}&mt={matchtype}&net={network}&dev={device}&tid={targetid}&loc={loc_physical_ms}
Final URL suffix (recommended)
utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_term={keyword}&utm_content={creative}
ParameterValueTrackPurpose
force_transparenttrueAsks the server to honour the transparency parameter
redirection_url{lpurl}Transparency parameter: the exact next hop
gclid{gclid}Google click ID (conversion attribution)
gbraid / wbraid{gbraid} / {wbraid}iOS app / web click IDs
cid / agid / cr{campaignid} / {adgroupid} / {creative}Campaign, ad group and ad
kw / mt{keyword} / {matchtype}Keyword and match type
net / dev{network} / {device}Network and device type
tid / loc{targetid} / {loc_physical_ms}Targeting ID and physical location
For Google reviewers

Transparent click tracker — technical specification

How TracksNinja implements Google's guidelines for third-party click tracking services.

OperatorTracksNinja is a product operated by Advox Media.
Tracking domainstrack.tracksninja.com, click.tracksninja.com, tracksninja.com — all owned and operated by Advox Media (TracksNinja).
Transparency parameterredirection_url — the exact next hop (URL-encoded). The server redirects to this value and never to a backend target.
Secondary parameterforce_transparent=true — placed before redirection_url; the server always honours the transparency parameter regardless.
Paths/c/{alias}, /{alias}, /click and / — every path honours redirection_url.
Server-side validationThe target must be on the same registrable domain as the link's destination, or on a domain the advertiser explicitly allow-listed. Google's parallel-tracking substitute URL (google.com/asnc/…) is honoured. Any other target receives HTTP 403 and is not redirected.
Intermediate domainsNone. A single HTTP 302 goes directly to redirection_url. The only extra hop is http → https on the same hostname.
Parameters added to the targetNone. Foreign parameters (UTM, affiliate IDs) are never appended; they must already be inside redirection_url, e.g. via the Final URL suffix.
Parameters read by the trackergclid gbraid wbraid cid agid cr kw mt net dev dm pl tid loc li ext tag — logged server-side only.
Nested trackersSupported only when the nested tracker is itself certified and its domain is allow-listed by the advertiser; the nested URL is passed through encoded and unmodified.
Branded subdomainsAdvertisers may CNAME a subdomain of their Final URL domain (e.g. track.example.com) to track.tracksninja.com.
Parallel trackingServer-side 302 only, HTTPS end-to-end, no cookies, no JavaScript or meta refresh, Cache-Control: no-store.
Click qualityInvalid-click scoring runs after the response is sent and never changes the redirect.
Contactsupport@tracksninja.com
Live compliant example — open it: HTTP 302 to redirection_url
https://track.tracksninja.com/c/demo?force_transparent=true&redirection_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftracksninja.com%2Ftracking%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle&gclid=TeSt123Open
Blocked example (different site, not allow-listed) → HTTP 403
https://track.tracksninja.com/c/demo?redirection_url=https%3A%2F%2Fanother-site.com%2F

Test a tracking link

Paste any TracksNinja tracking URL. We request it exactly like a parallel-tracking beacon and show the response.

Status–
Response time–
Hops–
Redirects to

    IP Geolocation by DB-IP (CC BY 4.0) is used for network-type checks.