A link copied from search or social media drags a tail of tags behind it: which newsletter you came from, which ad you clicked, who forwarded it to you. This tool removes the tail and shows exactly what it threw away. And when you need tags of your own, the builder below assembles them.
Parsing happens in the browser: links are not sent anywhere and are not stored. The tool never visits the addresses, so short links such as t.co stay as they are, unwrapping them would require a request to their server.
UTM tags are visible both to whoever receives the link and to the site analytics. Do not put names, phone numbers or other personal data in them, they will stay in the reports.
Always: parameters that only serve advertising and analytics, utm_*, fbclid, gclid, yclid, msclkid, igshid, mc_eid, _openstat and their relatives. Behind the checkbox: the debatable ones, ref, si, spm, from, feature. They are usually tracking too, but on some sites they change the page itself, so they stay by default.
A tag tells the site that you arrived from one particular person and one particular newsletter, and tells the recipient where you picked the link up. Forwarding a tagged link into a chat shares that with everyone who sees it. A clean address is shorter and does not tie you to someone else campaign.
Facebook, Google, VK, Reddit and Steam swap links for their own: the real address hides inside a parameter. The tool pulls it back out, through up to four layers, and shows the direct address.
Even a clean link reaches your provider together with your IP and the domain name. 404 VPN hides both: traffic is encrypted and DNS stays inside the tunnel.
How to connect 404 VPN →Was this useful?
One tap, no sign-up