Automattic/republication-tracker-tool

UTM and other URL parameters are not stripped from source URLs from pixel hits

benlk opened this issue · 0 comments

benlk commented

To reproduce:

  1. A third party republishes your article
  2. They share it via email, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms that add source or tracking parameters like fbclid or utm_source
  3. Because those URL params are part of the URL, they appear in the referer for the pixel ping image.
  4. RTT saves the referring URL, including its params
  5. As a result, the RTT box in the share dialog has many, many different URLs and click counts, reflecting how many views came from each sharing URL: it becomes noisy

Should this plugin strip URL parameters?

  • Yes, it makes the numbers more meaningful
  • No, not all sites use pretty permalinks and URL params may be significant
  • Conditionally: parse the URL to only strip known-noise parameters like utm_* and fbclid