You shared a link on social networks, in a newsletter or a WhatsApp group. someone clicked? many? from Portugal or Brazil? on mobile or computer? on Monday morning or Saturday night? Without tracking, these questions are left unanswered — and unanswered, you are operating blindly.
Tracking clicks on your links is not just for big companies with data teams. It's something that anyone can do today, for free, in less than 5 minutes of setup. And the insights you get are worth much more than the time invested.
Why it's important to track your links
Imagine that you are a content creator who shares links to your articles or products on social networks. Without tracking, you know you've had X visits to the site — but you don't know if they came from Instagram, TikTok, a Telegram group or a share that someone made of your LinkedIn article.
With tracking, you realize in 30 seconds: "My content on Instagram brought 340 clicks this week, but TikTok only brought 42." This completely changes how to allocate your time — if Instagram converts 8x more, it makes sense to invest more time there.
The same reasoning applies to businesses, advertisers, marketers and anyone who distributes content online. Tracking turns assumptions into certainties.
What can you know about who clicks on your links?
When tracking clicks with a tool like Kortilink, you have access to a rich set of information:
Total Clicks
How many times has the link been clicked, with distinction between total clicks and single clicks (different users)
Countries and cities
where your visitors come from geographically — essential for perceiving the market
Devices
Smartphone, tablet or computer — knowing this helps to optimize the landing page
Hour and day
When do people click more — it allows you to optimize the time of your posts
Referrer
What platform or website came from — Instagram, Google, WhatsApp, Direct
Temporal evolution
How clicks evolve over time — peaks, falls, trends
How to activate tracking in your links
With Kortilink, tracking is automatic — you don't need to configure anything. Just shorten the link and all the analytics is available on the dashboard. Here is the complete process:
- Create a free account on Kortilink
- Shorts your link pasting it into the shortening field
- Customise the alias if you want something memorable (eg
kortilink.com/campanha-maio) - Shares the shortened link wherever you want — social networks, email, WhatsApp, etc.
- Open panel anytime to view data in real time
You don't need to install code on your site, you don't need to configure Google Analytics, you don't need to hire a programmer. Kortilink does the work for you at the level of Redirect.
For deeper analysis: If you want to cross the Kortilink data with the behavior on your site (session time, bounce rate, conversions), use UTM parameters in the links that shorten. So Google Analytics also receives detailed data on the source of the traffic.
As an Amazon associate, I earn a commission on qualified purchases.
Essential metrics to follow
Total Clicks vs Single Clicks
Total clicks include multiple clicks from the same person (re-clicks). Single clicks count each user only once. To evaluate the actual range, single clicks are the most relevant number.
Click rate per channel
If you created different links for Instagram, email and WhatsApp, compare the totals of each one. Which channel brings the most traffic? And more importantly: which converts best to your destination site?
Geographic distribution
Especially relevant if you sell to different markets. If 70% of the clicks come from Brazil but your business is only in Portugal, it may be worth creating a specific offer for the Brazilian market — or understanding why you are attracting an audience that is not your target.
Distribution by device
If 85% of clicks come from a smartphone and your landing page is not mobile-optimized, you are wasting most of the traffic. This metric is often the one that has the most immediate impact on optimization.
How to use data to make better decisions
Data without action is just numbers. Here's how to turn insights into concrete improvements:
- If a channel has few clicks: Questions the call to action, the time of publication or the format of the content itself on that platform
- If the clicks come mostly at night: Programs your publications for the end of the day instead of the morning
- If the clicks fall on the weekend: Your audience is probably professional — adapts the tone and themes to the work context
- Se um país inesperado aparece com muitos cliques: Investiga — pode ser uma oportunidade de mercado que não tinhas visto
Real example: campaign before and after tracking
Imagine a photographer who promotes his photo shoot services. Before tracking, I shared the same link as the site everywhere and saw "50 visits this week" in Google Analytics.
After implementing links tracked by channel, he discovered that: Instagram brought 31 visits, Facebook brought 4 visits, and a WhatsApp group of entrepreneurs where he participated brought 15 visits. He noticed that Facebook was almost dead to its audience, eliminated the time it invested there and doubled its presence on Instagram and relevant WhatsApp communities. The following month, the visits rose to 98 with the same total effort—just redistributed to what worked.
This is the promise of link tracking: no longer work, but work better. And it starts with a simple shortened link.