How to skip recording analytic events for some clicks

TLDR;

Set the x-linkila-skip-analytics header to a non-empty value to skip analytics.

Introduction

Linkila offers robust analytics tracking to help you understand how your short URLs are performing. However, we understand that there may be instances where you would like to skip recording analytics events for specific links. To address this, you can use the x-linkila-skip-analytics header. This article outlines how to implement it and the use-cases where it may be useful.

How to Use x-linkila-skip-analytics Header

When making a request to a URL managed by Linkila, you can include the HTTP header x-linkila-skip-analytics: true (or any other non-empty value) to skip analytics tracking for that specific request.

For example, if you're using curl to make a request, you would use:

curl -H "x-linkila-skip-analytics: true" https://short.im/your-short-url

Use-Cases

Custom Monitoring Systems

If you are using a custom monitoring system to keep track of uptime or performance of URL, the analytics provided by Linkila might be unnecessarily noisy and pollute the data from real visitors. Using x-linkila-skip-analytics allows you to work around this problem.

Internal Testing

During the testing phase of a new product feature or marketing campaign, you may generate several clicks that you do not want to skew your analytics data. Utilize the x-linkila-skip-analytics header to ensure that these test clicks do not interfere with your genuine data.

Privacy Concerns

In scenarios where you want to ensure the highest level of privacy for your users, especially in sensitive environments, using the x-linkila-skip-analytics header can be useful to prevent any tracking of user clicks or behavior.

Cost-Saving

Although Linkila provide generous volume in terms of tracked click counts, there is a limit. And skipping the analytics events for some less important clicks can help keeping the cost down in some cases. We strongly recommend using this header if you want to stress test our system (within the limits set in terms of use).

For any further questions, feel free to reach out to our support team at [email protected].

Happy shortening!

The Linkila Team