Social Media URL Cleaner
Strip the tracking off a link — and see what each parameter was telling somebody.
- 1 runs
- 100% success
Tool input
Overview
About this tool
Removes utm tags, click ids and per-share identifiers from any link, names every one it drops, and keeps the parameters that change what the link does — YouTube’s timestamp and playlist among them.
Instructions
How to use it
Paste the link you were sent. The cleaned version comes back first, followed by every parameter that was removed and what it was for.
Some of these identify a person
Tidiness is the usual argument for stripping trackers, and it is the weakest one. igshid is minted per share, so a forwarded Instagram link carries the fact that it came from you. mc_eid is a Mailchimp subscriber id — paste a newsletter link into a group chat with that attached and every click is recorded against your subscription. si does the same job on a YouTube or Spotify share.
What it will not remove
YouTube’s t is a timestamp and its list is a playlist. A cleaner that drops those has broken the link it was asked to fix, so they are kept, listed, and the reason is given. You can turn that off, and the tool will warn you what it cost.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is igshid on an Instagram link?
A share id, generated when somebody taps Share. It identifies the account the link was copied from, which is why forwarding a link with it attached passes that along.
Is it safe to remove these?
For the reader, yes — the link still goes exactly where it went. For a marketer, removing your own utm tags means the visit lands in your analytics as direct traffic, so clean links you were sent rather than links you are sending.
Why did it keep some parameters?
Because they change what the link does. YouTube’s t, list, start and end are kept by default and shown in their own group with the reason.
Does this work on links that are not social?
Yes. Most of these parameters come from ads and email, so any URL is accepted.
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