Glossary

Redirect tracking

Redirect tracking is click measurement via an intermediate hop: the ad points at the tracker's URL, the tracker logs the click and instantly forwards the visitor to the destination. The forward happens either as an HTTP redirect (301/302) or as a tiny HTML page that navigates via JavaScript or meta-refresh.

HTTP 3xx vs HTML redirect

A server-side 302 is the fastest and most transparent hop — one round-trip, referrer typically preserved. An HTML/JS hop is a shade slower but gives control over what the destination sees (referrer masking) and where policy requires it, a place to run client-side checks. Platforms that support both (Affset exposes it as a per-tenant redirect method setting) let operators choose per use case.

Redirect chains compound: each extra hop adds latency and a failure point, and some traffic sources and app stores limit chain length. Keep chains short and measure real-world redirect time — slow hops bleed mobile users before the landing page ever loads.

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