The problem with shared tracking

When your sending tool rewrites links for click tracking, it points them at a domain it owns. By default that domain is shared across its entire customer base. Every link you send carries the reputation of everyone else using that tool, including whoever is currently sending something dreadful through it.

Filters evaluate link domains as part of content scoring, so this is a direct line from a stranger’s behaviour to your placement. It is also invisible — nothing in your account tells you your links are on a domain with a problem.

What the fix looks like

A custom tracking domain is a subdomain of your own sending domain — commonly track.yourdomain.com or link.yourdomain.com — CNAMEd to your provider’s tracking host. Your links now carry your reputation alone, and they also visibly match the sender, which is a small trust signal in its own right.

One per sending domain. A tracking domain that does not match the sending domain re-introduces a mismatch that filters notice.

The failure mode to watch

The certificate. A tracking subdomain needs valid SSL, and provisioning is not always automatic. A tracked link pointing at a hostname with an invalid or missing certificate breaks every click in a live campaign, and recipients see a browser security warning with your name on it.

Check the certificate after setup, and check it again periodically — this is one of the most common things to silently expire on a fleet nobody is monitoring.

Check yours

These run free in your browser. Nothing you type reaches a server.

Common questions