Overview
A tracking URL typically passes through several redirects: the AffClix click endpoint, any intermediate tracking pixels, a campaign landing page, and ultimately the advertiser destination. Each hop in that chain can fail silently — returning a 301 that goes nowhere, a 200 that serves an error page, or a geo-redirect that sends traffic to the wrong country.
The Link Tester makes every redirect hop visible. It sends a simulated request through the full chain using server-side HTTP (bypassing ad blockers and browser extensions) and reports back each step's:
- HTTP status code (200, 301, 302, 403, 404, 500, …)
- Redirect target URL
- Time-to-first-byte (TTFB) per hop
- Response headers (in Debug Mode)
- IP intelligence — whether the server IP is a proxy, datacenter, or residential address (in Debug Mode)
Open Tools → Link Tester from the main menu.
Form Fields
Fill in the form to simulate a click under specific conditions:
| Field | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking Click URL | The full affiliate tracking URL to test. Must start with https://. Include all macro parameters exactly as you would share with an affiliate. | Yes |
| Country | Simulate the click coming from a specific country by routing through a geo-matched proxy. Select from the dropdown (all countries supported). Leave blank to test from the server's default location. | Optional |
| Device Type | Sets the User-Agent header to a representative string for Desktop, Mobile, or Tablet. Useful for testing device-specific targeting rules on campaigns. | Optional |
| OS Version | Narrows the simulated User-Agent to a specific OS: e.g. Android 14, iOS 17, Windows 11. Combined with Device Type. | Optional |
| Browser | Specifies the browser component of the User-Agent: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Samsung Internet, or WebView. | Optional |
Sample Tracking URL Format
A typical AffClix affiliate tracking URL looks like this:
https://track.yourdomain.com/click?c={campaign_id}&a={affiliate_id}&sub_aff1={sub_aff1}&click_id={click_id}When testing, replace the macro placeholders with real values or leave them as literals — the Link Tester will pass them through exactly as entered.
https://track.yourdomain.com/click?c=1234&a=56&sub1=test_run_01&click_id=LINKTEST_001Debug Mode
Toggle the Debug Mode switch before running a test to unlock deeper diagnostics for each hop in the redirect chain.
In Debug Mode, the results panel shows additional detail per hop:
| Extra Field | Description |
|---|---|
| TTFB | Time-to-first-byte in milliseconds for this individual hop. High TTFB on the first hop may indicate server performance issues on your AffClix instance or on an upstream advertiser server. |
| IP Intelligence | The resolved IP of the responding server, classified as: residential, datacenter, CDN, or proxy. Helps identify unexpected intermediaries. |
| Response Headers | Full HTTP response headers returned at this hop — including Cache-Control, Set-Cookie, Location, and custom advertiser headers. |
| Response Body Snippet | First 500 characters of the response body. On error hops (4xx/5xx), this often contains the error message from the destination server. |
Debug Mode consumes 2 credits per test (vs. 1 in standard mode) because the additional data collection requires more processing. Use standard mode for routine checks and debug mode when troubleshooting a specific issue.
Reading the Results
After clicking Run Test, results appear in a hop-by-hop trace panel. Each row represents one redirect step:
| # | Column | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Status Code | HTTP response code: 200 (OK/final destination), 301/302 (redirect), 403 (fraud block), 404 (broken link), 500 (server error). |
| 2 | Redirect Target | The URL this hop redirected to. For the final hop, this is the landing page or offer page seen by the visitor. |
| 3 | Latency (ms) | Time taken for this hop in milliseconds. Sum all hop latencies to get total redirect chain latency. Values over 500 ms per hop may hurt conversion rates. |
| 4 | Hop Type | AffClix Click / AffClix Fraud Check / External Redirect / Final Destination — identifies which system handled this hop. |
| 5 | Pass / Fail | Green tick if the hop resolved successfully; red cross if an error occurred. The chain stops at the first failed hop. |
Common Patterns
- 403 on hop 1 — The AffClix fraud engine blocked this click. Check fraud settings and whether your test IP is on the blacklist.
- 404 on final hop — The campaign destination URL is broken or the offer has expired. Update the Campaign URL.
- 302 loop — The chain is redirecting back to itself. Usually a misconfigured landing page or broken geo-redirect on the advertiser side.
- 200 but wrong country — The geo-redirect on the advertiser side served a localised page for a different region. Use Country simulation to verify.
Credit Usage
Each Link Tester run consumes credits from your account's tool credit balance:
| Mode | Credits per Test |
|---|---|
| Standard | 1 |
| Debug Mode | 2 |
Your remaining credit balance is shown in the top-right corner of the Link Tester page. Credits reset monthly based on your plan. If you run out of credits before the reset date, you can purchase additional credits from the Billing section.
Run a link test immediately after creating a new campaign and before sharing the tracking URL with affiliates. Catching a broken redirect chain at this stage costs one credit — catching it after an affiliate sends real traffic can cost real revenue.