Are URL query strings removed/hidden during https referrer?

zonwarrior · Jul 29, 2020

example.com/page?name=string

Will (?name=string) be hidden or removed when my traffic hits my affiliate's website? I'm using HTTPS.

In other words, will my affiliate see traffic coming from (example.com/page) instead of (example.com/page?name=string) ?

Thank you

smartsoft · Jul 30, 2020

It's hard to say since we don't know details on your affiliate: is it embed iframe, pixel or maybe it counts you by this ?name=your_id. But you can try to rewrite it on web server if it's not iframe.

zonwarrior · Jul 30, 2020

@smartsoft

Thank you for your reply. What about in general? Here's an example:

- User Clicks Advertisement that links to example.com/page?querystring=true

- User arrives on landing page, and it says in user's internet browser: website1.com/page?querystring=true

- User clicks on landing page's CTA that links to: website2.com/page

Will website2 be able to see "?querystring=true" in their logs? With respect to the referring domain. Or no, they will only see that the source of the traffic was "website1.com/page"

200 · Jul 30, 2020

zonwarrior said:
Will website2 be able to see "?querystring=true" in their logs? With respect to the referring domain. Or no, they will only see that the source of the traffic was "website1.com/page"

Yes they will.

Only thing that is NOT in serverlogs are what is after # (hashbang) - that can only be read by javascript and is not transfered to the server-logs,
So if you want to do something nasty before sending etc... use # and JS-stuff.

zonwarrior · Jul 30, 2020

Interesting idea.. I tried # and my plugin stopped working. Gonna ask the plugin dev if there's a way they can force it.

In the meantime -- any other ideas to hide the query string from the server-logs?

200 · Jul 30, 2020

zonwarrior said:
Interesting idea.. I tried # and my plugin stopped working. Gonna ask the plugin dev if there's a way they can force it.

In the meantime -- any other ideas to hide the query string from the server-logs?

Regarding querystrings

You can't if it hit their server. It's as much part of the URL as the other parts in it.
So do stuff before or in between - but if it hit their server - it's in their logs.

zonwarrior · Jul 30, 2020

Hey 200

I have control of the querystring before it hits their server.

Before it hits their server, the user is sitting on my landing page (example.com/page?name=string). What else can I do before the user clicks a CTA and hits their server?

smartsoft · Jul 31, 2020

zonwarrior said:
Hey 200

I have control of the querystring before it hits their server.

Before it hits their server, the user is sitting on my landing page (example.com/page?name=string). What else can I do before the user clicks a CTA and hits their server?

Hi, how and I told before you can easily remove this part on your site, google: mod_rewrite in case of Apache and rewrite rules for Nginx. But be sure that your partner program doesn't use this query to count your visitors/leads.

zonwarrior · Jul 31, 2020

smartsoft said:
Hi, how and I told before you can easily remove this part on your site, google: mod_rewrite in case of Apache and rewrite rules for Nginx. But be sure that your partner program doesn't use this query to count your visitors/leads.

Thank you -- but I need the query string to load the first landing page (my website).

The issue gets complicated because I have to send the user to my affiliate's website... The query string is not necessary for the affiliate website. Can I strip the query string before the user lands on my affiliate's website? (after they click my landing page's CTA)

Are URL query strings removed/hidden during https referrer?

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