# Redirect-Based Tracking

> An affiliate tracking method that routes a visitor's click through a tracking server or cloaked subdomain to record it before forwarding to the destination.

**Redirect-based tracking** is an affiliate tracking method that routes a visitor's click through a tracking server or CNAME-cloaked subdomain (e.g. `https://go.yourdomain.com/click/1`) to record the click before forwarding the visitor to the destination. It is the model used by traditional trackers such as Voluum and RedTrack.

## Why AnyTrack moves away from redirect-based tracking

The redirect step creates three problems AnyTrack is built to avoid: Facebook and Google flag the redirect URL as cloaking and disapprove ads; privacy browsers (iOS Safari, Firefox) block the CNAME subdomain, so every blocked redirect is [click loss](/glossary/click-loss) you already paid for; and lost clicks feed incomplete data back to ad platforms. AnyTrack's [redirectless tracking](/docs/redirectless-tracking) replaces it — the [Tracking Tag](/glossary/tracking-tag) collects the click and Click ID client-side and the visitor goes straight to the offer, with no redirect server in the path.

## Redirect-Based Tracking vs Short Link

- [Short Link](/glossary/short-link) — a short link is a single shortened/redirecting URL; redirect-based tracking is the overall attribution method that depends on redirects like it.