# Short links, tracking tags and link clicks

Postbird can turn the links in your posts into short links that count every click, and add tracking tags so your website's analytics (Google Analytics, Plausible and the like) shows which network each visitor came from. You see the clicks per post, per link and per network.

## What happens to a link

When a post goes out, each link in it changes for each channel:

- **Short link**: the link becomes `app.postbird.ai/l/...`. A click is counted, then the visitor goes straight on to your page. Each channel gets its own short link, so clicks split by network.
- **Tracking tags**: the page the visitor lands on gets `utm_source` (the network, for example `linkedin`), `utm_medium` (`social`) and `utm_campaign` (your campaign). A tag you already put on the link yourself is kept as you wrote it.

Your post itself keeps the links as you wrote them. Editing, copying or posting it again starts from your original links.

Link previews that the networks make themselves are not counted as clicks.

## Networks that keep links as written

- **Instagram and TikTok**: links in captions cannot be clicked there, so Postbird leaves them alone.
- **Pinterest, Reddit, YouTube, Google Business Profile, blogs and newsletters** (WordPress, Ghost, Dev.to, Hashnode, Medium, Listmonk): these prefer full links, so links get the tracking tags but are not shortened.
- **X and Mastodon** count every link as 23 characters whatever its length, and the character count in the composer counts them the same way. Links there are still shortened, for the click count.

If a short or tagged link would make a post longer than a network allows, that post goes out with the link as you wrote it.

## Turn it on or off for a brand

Go to **Settings**, **Links** (for the brand picked at the top):

1. **Short links**: on or off.
2. **Tracking tags**: on or off.
3. **Default campaign**: the `utm_campaign` for the brand's posts. Leave it empty to use the brand's name. Click **Save**.

Both are on for a new brand.

## Change it for one post

In the composer, once your post has a link, a **Links** card appears under **More options**. Open it to:

- set **Short links** and **Tracking tags** to the brand default, on, or off for this post;
- type a **Campaign** for this post;
- see what the first link becomes, and which of the picked networks keep links as written.

## See the clicks

- **On a sent post**: open the post. The **Links** card lists every short link per channel, where it goes, and its clicks. Use the copy button to share a short link elsewhere.
- **In Analytics**: the **Link clicks** card shows the clicks in the period you pick, per network, and your most clicked posts. Postbird counts these clicks itself, so they show even for networks that share no numbers.

## From the API or your AI assistant

Everything above works through the [API and MCP](api-and-mcp.md): `link_options` on create and update post, get and change a brand's link settings, make a short link for any web address (for a bio link, say), and read the clicks per brand or per post. The full list of fields is in the API reference.