Hiding referrer? (16)

There's a lot of talk about hiding referrers, especially in Voluum when people are using DMR

After doing some research, I'm still quite confused by this

> What is the referrer?
> What does hiding the referrer actually do?
> What's the pros and cons of using DMR vs Meta Refresh vs 302 on Voluum?

Referee is the site where traffic and conversions are coming from... you hide this so that the vendor/ offer owner does not know where these conversions are coming from and potentially stop them from placing ads In these same spots.

Dont have Info on DMR BUT meta refresh and 302 are a way to hide referrer , I believe meta is slower and can increase response time on the lander page

DMR means Double Meta Refresh, so the info is rewritten twice in order to increase the success rate.

302 doesnt hide anything, meta hides it with some level of sucess, double meta increased the rate further.

Double meta is the slowest, so it's not recommended to do with speed sensitive campaigns - mobile pops for example.

However, I've done some tests myself and didn't really notice big difference, check it out : https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...Let-s-find-out!

To hide the referrer you can also try moving from http to https or the opposite. This will not work with CNAME domains unless the domain to which you CNAME to has valid SSL certs for both the main and the cnamed entry. However moving between http/https will remove the referrer it is just how the protocols work. This will require proper server side setup for the domains you will be using.

Originally Posted by goshev

To hide the referrer you can also try moving from http to https or the opposite. This will not work with CNAME domains unless the domain to which you CNAME to has valid SSL certs for both the main and the cnamed entry. However moving between http/https will remove the referrer it is just how the protocols work. This will require proper server side setup for the domains you will be using.

I heard word tip above, so here is one more TIP from me:

You can now use meta tag that instructs browsers to not send referrer:

<meta name="referrer" content="never">

Originally Posted by goshev

To hide the referrer you can also try moving from http to https or the opposite. This will not work with CNAME domains unless the domain to which you CNAME to has valid SSL certs for both the main and the cnamed entry. However moving between http/https will remove the referrer it is just how the protocols work. This will require proper server side setup for the domains you will be using.

Thanks for everyone's answers!

Just to check - does this raise any red flags when the Affiliate Networks are seeing all referrers being blanked/hidden?
Or does this depend on the offer type? (eg. PIN submit, lead gen, etc)

Originally Posted by aloeveraa1491

Thanks for everyone's answers!

Just to check - does this raise any red flags when the Affiliate Networks are seeing all referrers being blanked/hidden?
Or does this depend on the offer type? (eg. PIN submit, lead gen, etc)

Originally Posted by evy123

It Shouldn't, as Affiliate networks understand that you dont want to disclose that information. I dont think anyone is actually sending out referrals. Not the correct ones anyways

But on the other hand, some sensitive offers might require you to give out the placements\websites you are running on. so not disclosing the referrals will not enable you to run these.

In conclusion: Yes, please hide your referrals

The referrer (like if you go to console and get it with JS) is from the client. https://www.dropbox.com/s/41ah1myz72...31.42.png?dl=0 so it comes down to how the browser handles it. You can't really trust the client side stuff because a browser can handle it however it wants ... The only thing you can trust is your own server-side stuff.


https://www.darklaunch.com/tools/test-referer Like some browsers blanks after one.


A 301, 302, 307 etc preserves referrer.

Meta refresh happens in the header of the document. So the page is loaded, then the document refreshes to the new url in x seconds. A 0 second refresh is normally treated as a 301 though I believe, same as a JS redirect like window.location.reload();



I don't know why this is the way it is, why this is treated like that and that is treated like this ... I'm sure there's a spec for it in HTTP, and browsers try to stick to that.

I don't think a DMR will blank $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'].

Does hiding your referrer with DMR/meta tags also hide your Landers from Affiliate Networks when they search through Adplexity?

Nope, they just simply blank the referrer. That's it.

I'm not sure about how to hide referrer but i'm sure it can be done, we've actually had a network advertiser request we do that, we've never before but he mentioned its easier and safer for this deal to mask the referrer.

We are under the impression that visibility and transparency is what makes a good campaign, I guess some advertisers think differently.

Like that. Using dmr you blank the referer as Erik said