You landed a brand deal. Congratulations. Now they've sent over a weird-looking URL and asked you to use it instead of their normal website link. What is this thing, and should you care?
Short answer: yes. Tracking links are one of the best things that can happen to you as a creator. Here's why.
What the brand is actually doing
When a brand gives you a tracked link, they're not spying on your audience. They're measuring whether your content drives purchases. The link works like a normal URL — your followers click it, land on the product page, and buy or don't buy. The difference is that every click and every sale gets tied back to you specifically.
This matters because most brands have no idea which creators actually sell products. They look at likes, comments, maybe follower counts, and make gut decisions about who to work with again. Tracking links replace gut feelings with receipts.
Why this is good for you
Think about it from the brand's perspective. They paid five creators. Three of them generated likes but no sales. One generated moderate sales. And you — you drove 40 purchases from a single story post.
Without tracking, all five creators look roughly the same. The brand might rebook the one with the most followers, or the one who was easiest to work with, or just pick randomly. Your actual performance gets buried under vanity metrics.
With tracking, your sales numbers speak for themselves. The brand sees exactly what you delivered. That's leverage for negotiating higher rates, longer contracts, and repeat bookings. Creators who consistently prove they drive revenue don't need to chase deals. Deals come to them.
What to do when you receive a tracking link
Put it where the brand asks you to put it. Usually that's your bio link, a swipe-up, a story link sticker, or the description of a video. Some brands want it in multiple places. Do what they ask — it only helps you.
A few practical things to watch for:
Test the link before posting. Click it yourself. Make sure it goes to the right page. Broken links happen more often than you'd think, and a dead link means zero sales attributed to you even if your audience was interested.
Don't swap in a different URL. If the brand gave you a tracked link and you replace it with the direct product URL (or worse, your own affiliate link from a different platform), the tracking breaks. The brand sees zero sales from you, which is the opposite of what you want.
Don't shorten it with your own link shortener. Some tracking links are already shortened. Wrapping them in another shortener can break the redirect chain. If the link looks ugly and you want to clean it up, ask the brand first.
Screenshot your placement. After you post, screenshot where you put the link. If there's ever a dispute about whether you used the right link, you have proof.
What if the brand doesn't offer tracking?
Ask for one. Seriously. "Do you have a tracked link for me to use?" is a perfectly normal question. It shows you're professional, you understand how brand partnerships work, and you care about proving results.
If the brand doesn't have tracking set up, that tells you something about their operation. They're probably measuring success by "vibes" — which means they'll have no evidence of your performance when deciding who to rebook. You're competing on charm instead of results, which is a weaker position.
Some creators go further and suggest the brand use a tool like LinkOwl so both sides can see the numbers. This is especially useful for performance-based deals where your payment depends on sales. You want an independent record, not just the brand's word for how many purchases came through.
Commission-based deals and why tracking protects you
More brands are moving toward performance-based payment. Instead of a flat fee, they pay you a percentage of each sale you drive. This can be great — top creators earn far more on commission than they would from a flat rate.
But commission only works fairly if tracking is accurate. Without it, you're trusting the brand to count correctly and pay you honestly. Most brands are honest. Some aren't. And even honest ones make mistakes.
A tracked link creates a shared source of truth. You can see the clicks. The brand can see the purchases. Nobody has to take anyone's word for it. If the numbers look off, you have data to point to instead of just a bad feeling.
The discount code question
Some brands offer a discount code instead of a tracked link. "Use code SARAH20 for 20% off." This works for attribution, but it has a known problem: codes get shared. Someone screenshots your post, uploads it to a coupon site, and suddenly people who never saw your content are using your code. The brand's sales go up, but the attribution is wrong — they think you drove sales that actually came from coupon hunters.
Tracked links don't have this problem. Each click is logged individually. There's no code to screenshot or share on Reddit.
The ideal setup is both: a tracked link for clean attribution and a discount code because audiences love discounts. Ask the brand if they can do both.
What tracking looks like from the brand's side
The brand creates a link in their attribution dashboard. They name it after you — "Sarah-TikTok-March" or whatever makes sense. When your followers click that link, each click is logged with a timestamp. If someone goes on to purchase, the sale is matched back to your link.
The brand then sees a simple breakdown: Sarah's link got 1,200 clicks and 36 purchases. That's a 3% conversion rate. They paid her £200, so the cost per acquisition was £5.56. They compare this against their other creators and decide who to rebook.
You don't usually see this dashboard yourself (though some brands share the data, and you should ask). But the numbers exist, and they work in your favour if you're actually good at what you do.
Building a track record
Over time, your tracked results become a portfolio. "My last three campaigns averaged a 4% conversion rate" is infinitely more persuasive than "I have 50,000 followers." One is proof of commercial value. The other is a number that could mean anything.
Keep your own records. After each campaign, note down the clicks and sales the brand shared with you (or that you could see). When you pitch to new brands, those numbers set you apart from every other creator in their inbox who can only talk about reach and engagement.
The creators making real money from brand deals aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest audiences. They're the ones who can prove, with data, that their audience buys things. Tracking links are how you build that proof.