Track referral traffic to website

Before I publish the tracked link on our page, make it easy for the growth lead to validate. Show the final URL with UTM parameters up front, flag any redirects that will strip UTMs, and list two sanity checks to run after posting so the first-click attribution is reliable.

I posted the newsletter link with UTMs but traffic showing on the pricing page appears as direct rather than coming from social. The growth lead suspects a redirect or the link being opened in an app. I cannot tell if the problem is the redirect chain, the way the link was shared, or Google Analytics misconfiguration. What is the most likely diagnosis and the fastest check to confirm it?

Across campaigns we keep losing referral attribution from social links and then spend hours troubleshooting. Which habit should change first: standardize one UTM template and force-check redirect chains, or educate everyone on in-app link handling? Recommend one concrete change and a quick test to prove it fixes the issue.