Email Tracking Link: How to track link clicks in any email (2026 guide)

An email tracking link sends each click through a tracking server, which records it and then redirects the reader to your page. You can create one with your email platform’s click tracking, a Gmail or Outlook extension, or a branded short link. For numbers you can trust, put the link on your own domain, add UTM parameters, and filter out bot clicks, which Mailchimp puts at roughly 1 in 5 clicks.

You sent a proposal, a newsletter or an invoice, and you want to know if anyone clicked the link. Gmail won’t tell you on its own. This guide covers how tracking links work, how to set one up, and why raw click counts are usually too high.

One note on scope: this guide is about links inside emails you send. Tracking clicks on mailto: links on your website is a Google Tag Manager setup, and a different topic.

What is an email tracking link?

An email tracking link is a link that passes through a tracking server before it reaches its destination. The server logs the click, including the time, device and country, and forwards the reader in a fraction of a second. The reader lands on the same page as with a plain link.

Click tracking vs open tracking

Email tracking measures two different things. Open tracking uses an invisible one-pixel image that loads when someone opens the email. Click tracking rewrites your links so each click passes through a server first.

Opens stopped being reliable after Apple Mail Privacy Protection, which loads email images automatically whether or not the person reads the message. Validity notes that clicks have largely replaced opens as the main measure of email engagement.

Gmail doesn’t track link clicks at all. To see them, you need one of the methods below.

How email link tracking works

Every tracked link follows the same four steps:

1. Wrap: your tool replaces the original URL with a tracking URL on its own domain.

2. Click: the reader clicks the link in the email.

3. Log: the tracking server records the click.

4. Redirect: the server forwards the reader to the original page.

The redirect is fast enough that readers don’t notice it. They can see it, though. Hovering over a tracked link shows the tracking domain instead of your destination, and that domain matters more than most senders think.

What a tracked link records

Postmark, for example, logs the IP address, the user agent (browser and device), a link ID and a timestamp for each click. Link tools turn this raw data into reports by country, device, browser and referrer.

Most tools show two numbers. Total clicks counts every click, including repeat clicks from the same person. Unique clicks counts each person once, which is closer to your real reach.

Here’s what a reader sees on hover with a shared tracking domain versus a branded one, using the example from SendGrid’s deliverability guide:

• Shared domain: u1234321.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?...

• Branded domain: email.customerdomain.com/wf/click?...

3 ways to create an email tracking link

The right method depends on the kind of email you send. Newsletters, one-to-one sales emails and links you reuse across channels each have a better fit, and choosing the right one can also improve campaign performance and the insights you get from clicks.

1. Use your email platform’s click tracking

This is the best fit for newsletters and marketing campaigns. Mailchimp, Brevo, Klaviyo and most email platforms wrap your links automatically when click tracking is on.

You get unique clicks per link and a list of who clicked, which helps marketing teams gain insights from link-level engagement inside an email campaign. In Mailchimp, you can then tag or segment the people who clicked a specific link.

A tip from a Spring Ahead Media Solutions tutorial: when you build that segment, match the link with “contains” instead of “is”, because tracking parameters change the end of the URL.

The limits: the data stays inside that platform, and your links use the platform’s shared domain unless you set up link branding.

2. Use a Gmail or Outlook tracking extension

This is the best fit for one-to-one sales emails. Extensions like Mailtrack, Streak and HubSpot’s sales tools act as a tracking tool inside your inbox and can help sales users identify when specific recipients interact with a link.

Check the plan before you install one. Many free plans track opens only and keep link click tracking for paying users. In Stewart Gauld’s comparison of free email trackers, both Mailtrack and Streak required an upgrade for link click alerts.

3. Use a branded short link

This is the best fit when you send from any inbox, use the same link in email and other channels, or want click data outside your email platform. You create the tracked link yourself and paste it into the email like any other link.

With ShortPen, you create a link on your own domain (for example go.yourbrand.com/proposal), add UTM parameters while you create it, and see clicks by country, device, browser and referrer in the link’s analytics. To know who clicked a sales email, create one link per recipient. For a newsletter, one link per segment is usually enough.

You can test this on ShortPen’s free plan, which includes unlimited links and tracked clicks and shows no ads on your links.

One thing to watch: if your email platform also has click tracking turned on, it wraps your short link a second time. Turn click tracking off for that email, or accept the double redirect.

Which method fits which email

How to track link clicks in an email, step by step

To track link clicks in an email, create a tracked link on your own domain, add UTM parameters, test it, and read unique clicks next to conversions. Here’s the full process:

1. Pick one action. Decide what the click should lead to: a booking, a demo request, a purchase.

2. Set up a branded tracking domain. The section on domains below explains why.

3. Create the tracked link and add UTM parameters.

4. Put the link on descriptive text, like “See the pricing”, instead of a bare URL.

5. Send a test email to yourself and click the link.

6. Wait before reading the numbers, then look at unique clicks.

7. Check what happened after the click: signups, purchases, replies.

Add UTM parameters so Google Analytics credits your email

Email apps don’t pass a referrer when someone clicks a link, so Google Analytics files those visits as direct traffic. MeasureSchool explains this well in UTM parameters explained in 100 seconds. UTM parameters fix it by writing the source into the link itself.

A setup that works for email:

• utm_source: the newsletter or list name

• utm_medium=email, which matches the default Email channel in GA4 (Google Analytics Help)

• utm_campaign: the campaign name

• utm_content: tells two links in the same email apart, such as header-button and footer-link

Never put email addresses or other personal data in UTM parameters.

Apple’s Link Tracking Protection, added in iOS 17, removes click identifiers like gclid and fbclid from links opened in Mail. Tests by Terminus and Knak found that standard UTM parameters survive.

Why your email click numbers are inflated

Your email click numbers are probably too high because security tools click links before people do. Email providers and corporate security software open links to check whether they are safe, and each check can be recorded as a click.

Security scanners click your links first

Tools like Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Safe Links, Proofpoint, Mimecast and Barracuda scan links for phishing and malware. Mailchimp describes checks at several stages: corporate firewalls before delivery, providers checking URLs in transit, privacy tools at the inbox, and filters that test links when the email is opened.

The effect is large. Mailchimp’s internal testing found that roughly 1 in 5 clicks are bots with basic detection, and close to half when third-party data is added (October 2025). B2B lists are hit hardest, because companies are the ones running these scanners.

Apple Mail Privacy Protection isn’t the cause. It pre-loads images, not links, as KP Playbook points out. Inflated clicks come from scanners.

How to spot bot clicks

Bot clicks leave patterns. Watch for:

• Clicks within seconds of sending

• Every link in the email clicked, including the logo and the unsubscribe link

• Several clicks from the same IP address within seconds

• A click recorded before the email was opened (Mailjet)

• Plenty of clicks with almost no conversions

How to keep bot clicks out of your data

Start with unique clicks, use a tool that filters bots, and don’t trigger sales alerts or automations from raw clicks. A sales rep who calls every “clicker” will spend a lot of time talking to firewalls.

ShortPen filters bot clicks out of your analytics, so they don’t show up in a link’s reports. Pair that with conversion tracking, covered below, and you have a second check on the same number.

Use your own domain for email tracking links

Use your own domain for email tracking links, because spam filters judge a link by the reputation of the domain behind it. SendGrid states that filters use the root domain’s reputation to decide whether links can be trusted. On a shared domain, you share that reputation with every other sender who uses it.

Generic shortener domains carry an extra risk. Spammers use redirects to hide where a link really goes, so filters look closely at redirecting links. Snovio makes this point in its video on tracked links and deliverability, and its main fix is a custom tracking domain.

ShortPen’s docs recommend a custom domain for any email use. The shared shr.pn domain gets stricter automated checks, but a domain of your own is still the more reliable setup for email.

Connect a subdomain such as go.yourbrand.com, or a separate short domain, and never your main website domain. ShortPen sets up HTTPS for you. The free plan includes one custom domain, and annual plans come with a free .link domain.

The same link in a sales email, two ways:

• shr.pn/q4-offer

• go.yourbrand.com/q4-offer

The second one tells the reader, and the filter, who sent it.

Look past the click: track what happens next

A click shows interest. A signup or a purchase shows that a person acted, and security scanners don’t fill in forms or buy anything. That makes conversions the best check on your click data.

With ShortPen, you install the ShortPen Pixel once on your website and create events like “signup” or “purchase” from the dashboard. An event can fire when someone reaches a page, such as a thank-you page, or from a line of code on your site. Shopify stores can connect through the ShortPen app.

Each conversion is credited to the last ShortPen link the visitor clicked. You see clicks and conversions side by side for every link in your emails.

The free plan includes 100 tracked conversions a month. Paid plans come with a 14-day trial if you need more.

Best practices for tracked links in emails

• Use one main link per email. One clear call to action makes the click easy to read.

• Keep tracked links to a few. Woodpecker warns that too many tracked links can trigger spam filters.

• Use descriptive link text. Postmark warns that raw URLs used as link text can look like phishing to inbox providers.

• Test every link before sending, including the redirect and the landing page.

• Make links easy to tap on mobile, with buttons or short lines of text with space around them.

• Mention click tracking in your privacy notice if you email people in the EU.

FAQ

Does Gmail track link clicks?

No. Gmail doesn’t record link clicks on personal or Workspace accounts. You need a tracking extension, an email platform with click tracking, or a tracked link you create yourself.

Can I see who clicked a link in my email?

Yes, if the link is unique to each recipient. Email platforms and Gmail extensions handle this automatically. With a short link, create a separate link for each recipient.

Why was my link clicked seconds after I sent the email?

In most cases a security scanner checked the link for malware. Treat very fast clicks as unconfirmed, and wait for a reply, a later click or a conversion.

Do tracking links hurt email deliverability?

They can, when the tracking domain is shared or has a poor reputation. A tracking domain you own keeps your link reputation separate from other senders.

Are shortened links like bit.ly bad in emails?

Generic shortener domains are common in spam, so filters treat them with caution. A short link on your own branded domain avoids that problem.

Does Apple Mail remove UTM parameters?

No. Apple’s Link Tracking Protection strips click IDs like gclid and fbclid, but tests by Terminus and Knak found that standard UTM parameters survive.

Is email tracking illegal?

Not in itself. In the EU, GDPR and ePrivacy rules require you to be open about tracking and to have a legal basis for it. This isn’t legal advice, so check the rules that apply to your audience.

What is the best free email tracker?

It depends on the email. For newsletters, use your email platform’s built-in click tracking. For Gmail, check that the free plan includes link tracking and not only opens. For any inbox, a branded short link works without an extension.

Conclusion

An email tracking link takes minutes to set up. Getting numbers you can trust takes a few more steps: a link on your own domain, UTM parameters for analytics, bot clicks filtered out, and conversions to confirm a real person acted.

The easiest way to start is with one tracked link in your next email. Create it on ShortPen’s free plan with your own custom domain, then compare clicks and conversions once the email goes out.