Redirect Tracking

In redirect tracking, the click hits the tracking domain, which logs it, sets identifiers, and 302-redirects the visitor to the operator’s landing page — all in tens of milliseconds.

Trade-offs

It’s robust and requires nothing from the destination site, which is why it remains the default. Costs: a small latency penalty, visible tracker URLs (mitigated by branded domains), and ad networks that prohibit redirect chains for compliance review. Google Ads’ gambling policies, for example, require the display URL and final domain to match — pushing paid-search affiliates toward direct linking with server-side click logging instead.