What Happens to UTM Parameters When a Page Redirects?

Do UTM parameters survive a redirect?

Only if the redirect passes them along. A redirect sends the browser to a new address, and the query string comes with it only when the server includes it in that new address. Some setups do this and some do not. If yours drops it, your campaign traffic shows up as direct or referral, and your reports quietly lie.

This problem hides well. Your campaign links work, people land on the right page, and nobody sees an error. The only symptom is in analytics, where a paid or email campaign looks weaker than it was, and "direct" traffic looks oddly strong. Weeks later someone cuts a campaign that was actually working.

I set up tracking and attribution for B2B teams as part of their go-to-market systems, and lost UTMs are one of the most common reasons reports disagree with what sales sees. Here is how redirects handle query strings, how to test yours, and how to fix it.

What actually happens during a redirect?

The browser requests a URL, and the server answers with a redirect status code and a Location header that names the new URL. The browser then requests that new URL. Whatever is in the Location header is what the browser loads. If the query string is not in it, the browser never sees the UTMs again.

That is the whole mechanism. There is no hidden step where the browser remembers the old parameters and adds them back. The server decides. So the question is never "do redirects keep UTMs?" in general. It is "does this specific server, rule, or tool copy the query string into the new address?"

The status code matters for search engines but not for UTMs. A 301, 302, 307, or 308 all behave the same way for this problem. The query string survives only if the redirect rule includes it.

Why do lost UTMs damage your reporting?

Analytics tools read UTM parameters from the landing page URL to decide where a visit came from. If the parameters are gone when the page loads, the tool falls back to other signals, such as the referrer, or labels the visit as direct. The campaign gets no credit, and another channel gets too much.

The damage compounds over time. A campaign that loses its UTMs looks like it underperforms, so budget moves elsewhere. Meanwhile direct traffic rises, and someone writes a note about brand strength. Both conclusions are wrong, and they came from one redirect rule.

CRM attribution suffers too. If you store the first-touch source on the contact from a hidden form field, and the UTMs vanished at the redirect, the contact gets saved with a blank or wrong source. I wrote about why that discipline matters in UTM discipline so your reporting stops lying.

Where do redirects sneak into campaign links?

More places than most teams expect. Old URLs that were renamed, http to https, a bare domain to www, a trailing slash rule, link shorteners, email click tracking, and ad platform tracking templates can all add a redirect between the click and your page. Each one is a chance to lose the query string.

Renamed pages are the classic case. A team launches a campaign, then renames the landing page slug and adds a 301 from the old address. Any ad or email still pointing at the old URL now goes through that redirect. If the rule does not carry the query string, every click from that campaign loses its tags.

Domain-level redirects are the sneaky ones. If your campaign links use the bare domain and your site lives on www, every click passes through a redirect before it reaches the page. Most hosting setups handle this correctly, but you should confirm rather than assume.

How do you test whether a redirect keeps UTMs?

Open your campaign link with test UTMs in a private browser window and look at the address bar on the final page. If the parameters are still there, the redirect kept them. For more detail, open the browser's developer tools, go to the network tab, and look at the Location header on each redirect response.

Test every variation a real link might use: with and without www, with and without a trailing slash, and through any shortener or email tracking you use. A link can work in one form and fail in another. I keep a short test sheet per campaign with each variation and a pass or fail.

If you are comfortable with a terminal, a command line tool like curl can show the redirect headers directly. Either way, the test takes a few minutes and should happen before launch, not after the first report looks strange.

How do you fix a redirect that drops UTMs?

The best fix is to stop sending campaign traffic through redirects at all. Point every campaign link at the final URL, exactly as it resolves. If you cannot avoid the redirect, change the rule so it copies the query string to the new address, if your platform supports that.

Updating links is often easier than it sounds. Ads, email templates, and social posts can usually be edited in bulk. For old links you cannot change, such as printed material or partner sites, the redirect rule is your only option.

On Webflow, check Webflow's own help documentation on redirects for how query strings are matched and passed, then test the result with the method above. Platform behavior changes over time, and the only reliable answer is the one you test on your own site today.

Do redirect chains make the problem worse?

Yes. Each extra hop is another chance for the query string to be dropped, and a link that passes through three redirects needs all three to carry it. Chains also slow the page and waste crawl budget. Flattening chains so each old URL points straight to its final destination fixes several problems at once.

Chains build up quietly. A page gets renamed, then renamed again, and the first redirect now points to the second instead of the final page. Nobody notices because the link still works. I walked through how to find them in finding and flattening redirect chains on Webflow.

When you flatten chains, recheck your campaign links. A rule that used to carry query strings might have been replaced by one that does not.

What about JavaScript and meta refresh redirects?

They behave differently, and often worse for tracking. A JavaScript redirect runs after the first page starts loading, so analytics may record a visit to the first page, then another to the second. A meta refresh can also lose the referrer. Avoid both for campaign traffic and use server redirects instead.

These usually appear in older sites, landing page builders, or quick fixes someone added years ago. If your analytics shows a page with high traffic and a near-total exit rate, a client-side redirect is a likely cause.

When you find one, replace it with a proper server redirect, and point campaign links at the final URL directly. Then test again.

What should you do next?

List your active campaign links and open each one with test UTMs in a private window. Note any that lose their parameters, then either point them at the final URL or fix the redirect rule. Add a redirect test to your launch checklist so the next campaign starts with tracking that actually works.

If your reports and your pipeline tell different stories and you suspect tracking is the cause, reach out. I am happy to help you trace where the data is getting lost.