Redirect vs proxy vs hosted landing pages: tracking tradeoffs

Hosted, proxy, and redirect are three different ways to send campaign traffic to a landing page or offer. Hosted mode serves files managed in the tracking workspace. Proxy mode fetches another site while keeping the campaign URL in the address bar. Redirect mode sends the browser to a different URL.

Tracked supports all three destination modes. The right choice depends on who owns the page, whether its URL should change, and how much control the campaign operator needs.

Redirect vs proxy: the quick comparison

Mode	Page source	Browser address bar	Best fit
Hosted	Files uploaded or imported into Tracked	Stays on the campaign domain	Pages the media buyer owns and wants to edit, split-test, and serve directly
Proxy	An external origin fetched through the campaign route	Stays on the campaign domain	Approved external pages that must appear under the campaign route
Redirect	An external destination URL	Changes to the destination	Offers or pages that should load directly from their owner

None of these modes is universally better. They create different operational and technical responsibilities.

Choose the mode for your next campaign

Start with the page owner, not the tracking keyword.

Your situation	Start with	Confirm before buying traffic
You own a prelander and need to edit its headline or offer links	Hosted	The uploaded page, relative assets, form destination, and tracked offer action work together
An advertiser owns the checkout and expects visitors on its own domain	Redirect	The final URL carries the advertiser’s required click-ID field; the checkout returns that ID in its callback
An approved upstream page must remain the source under your campaign URL	Proxy	You have permission, and its assets, scripts, forms, cookies, and origin rules work through that route

A common combination is a hosted prelander followed by a redirect to the advertiser’s offer. Page delivery and sale attribution are separate jobs. A page that loads correctly can still lose conversions if the advertiser never saves the Tracked offer-click ID.

Use the campaign setup guide to follow that handoff. The postback URL builder helps assemble the return template; it does not confirm that the advertiser receives or returns the right value.

Hosted landing pages

Hosted mode serves an HTML page and its assets from the campaign setup.

Use it when you need to:

• upload an HTML file or ZIP package;
• import a page into the workspace;
• edit page content visually;
• insert request or campaign macros;
• serve the page on a custom domain;
• split traffic between page variations;
• keep page and tracking changes in one workflow.

Hosted mode gives the campaign owner the most control. The page files, route, tracking links, and edits can be reviewed together.

That control also creates responsibility. Relative assets need the correct paths. Forms and scripts need testing. Offer links should use the intended click route. A copied page must have the necessary rights and should not depend on fragile third-party assets.

Proxy landing pages

Proxy mode retrieves content from another origin and serves it through the campaign route while keeping the campaign URL visible.

Use it when:

• the upstream page must remain the content source;
• the campaign should retain its own visible URL;
• the page owner permits proxy delivery;
• scripts, forms, cookies, and security policies have been tested through the proxy.

Proxying is more complex than redirecting. HTML may need URL rewriting so images, stylesheets, scripts, and links resolve correctly. Upstream changes can affect the campaign without a local publish. Cookies and browser security rules can behave differently when content is delivered from another origin context.

Do not choose proxy mode merely to hide an offer domain. Use it when the delivery model is authorized and technically required.

Redirect destinations

Redirect mode returns an HTTP redirect and lets the browser load the destination directly.

Use it when:

• the offer owner should serve the final page;
• the browser should show the destination URL;
• the destination has its own application state or checkout;
• proxy compatibility is unnecessary or undesirable;
• the campaign needs a simple tracked handoff.

Redirects keep page delivery responsibility with the destination owner. They are often the cleanest choice for external offers.

The destination URL should still be built deliberately. In Tracked, query and click parameters are forwarded through declared macros. The click route does not blindly append every incoming parameter to the offer URL.

How weighted routing works

A campaign can define more than one eligible destination and assign relative weights. Tracked selects among those destinations according to the configured weights.

For example:

• Page A: weight 70
• Page B: weight 30

The weights define the traffic split. They do not claim that Tracked automatically changes the split after observing conversions.

Automatic winner selection is a separate product direction. Today’s shipped workflow gives the buyer direct control over page, offer, rule, and destination weights.

Conditional routing before destination selection

A campaign can narrow the eligible route before applying the weighted choice. Conditions can use supported request context such as:

• country, region, city, or continent;
• device, browser, or operating system;
• language;
• time window;
• URL parameters;
• network or infrastructure signals;
• configured blocking rules.

This lets one campaign send different audiences to different pages without copying the entire page for every segment.

Keep the rule understandable. A complicated route that nobody can explain is difficult to test and dangerous to change.

Parameter and click-ID handling

Do not assume the three destination modes forward parameters identically.

Tracked uses explicit macros to place values into a destination URL. Examples include a declared query parameter or the configured provider click ID. This prevents unrelated incoming parameters from leaking into every offer URL.

For hosted pages, the same request-time system also fills campaign context and custom text, image, and URL tokens. See the dynamic landing-page macro guide for the supported workflow and release checks.

Before launch:

1. list the parameters the destination requires;
2. declare the matching macros;
3. open the campaign URL with representative test values;
4. inspect the final destination URL;
5. confirm the offer receives the intended values;
6. verify the conversion can return to the original Tracked click.

Assets and split-tested pages

Two hosted landing pages can contain files with the same names but different contents. A correct router must keep each page’s assets associated with the page that produced the HTML.

Tracked scopes assets for multi-page routes so a weighted page selection does not cause a later image, stylesheet, or script request to resolve against the other variation’s folder.

Test more than the initial HTML response. Load images, fonts, lazy assets, responsive variants, and scripts on each page variation.

Diagnose the delivery problem before changing modes

Symptom	Inspect first	Why a mode change may not solve it
The HTML loads, but images or scripts fail	Asset paths, upstream permissions, and browser security errors	Moving the same broken references can reproduce the failure
A form loads, but submission fails	Its action URL, request method, and origin requirements	Page delivery does not establish compatibility with the form receiver
The offer opens, but no conversion appears	The saved offer-click ID and the advertiser’s final callback	Hosting, proxying, and redirecting do not replace the callback relationship
A traffic variation shows the wrong message	The selected rule, destination, and declared macro values	Changing how the page is served does not fix the wrong route selection

Inspect one visit from the campaign entry to the final offer before changing the whole route. For a missing conversion, use the postback troubleshooting guide rather than assuming a different delivery mode will recover it.

Choosing the mode

Choose hosted when the campaign team owns the page and wants the page editor, files, route, and report together.

Choose proxy when an approved external origin must remain the source while the campaign URL stays visible.

Choose redirect when the destination owner should serve the page directly and a tracked handoff is enough.

If two modes could work, prefer the one with fewer hidden dependencies.

Where Tracked fits

Tracked keeps destination mode, conditional rules, weighted routing, page files, click tracking, conversion reporting, and editing in one campaign workspace. That shortens the path from “this variation underperformed” to the page or route that needs attention.

The practical rule

Use hosted mode for pages you control, proxy mode for authorized upstream content that must stay under the campaign URL, and redirect mode for a clean handoff to an external destination. Then test the full click and conversion path, not only the first response.

Frequently asked questions

When should I host a landing page instead of redirecting?

Use hosted mode when your team owns the page and wants its files, editor, route, and performance report in the same workspace. Redirect when another system should serve the destination directly and a tracked handoff is sufficient.

Does proxy mode change the URL in the address bar?

Proxy mode keeps the campaign URL visible while Tracked fetches content from an approved upstream origin. Because assets and links can behave differently through a proxy, test the complete page rather than only its first HTML response.

Can all three modes pass click IDs and campaign parameters?

They can pass declared values, but you should not assume identical behavior. Tracked uses explicit macros so the destination receives the fields you chose rather than every incoming query parameter.

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