Websites use URLs to track you. Here’s how to stop them.

We are well-known that websites track user behavior in many ways. For example, if you search for furniture once, you will continue to receive online advertisements for various chairs, tables, and bookshelfs. This is why.

What you may not know is that third parties can track you through the address or URL of the website you visit: those seemingly random numbers and characters are attached after simple addresses ending with ".com".

But like other types of trackers, there are ways to block URL-based trackers and protect your online privacy. In the world of digital security, it is crucial to understand what you are working on and the steps you can take to prevent snoops.

How to track URLs work

Try searching Google for what you want to buy and open one of the ads displayed at the top of the results page. The web address you click on is likely to have a long list of numbers and letters attached to the end. Remove all the extra information in the URL and it will most likely still work.

This is the tracking URL - it tells the website you are visiting that you are from Google and may provide more information, including the time you spend on the website and the links you click on later. Website owners (especially retailers) like these trackers because they can give them an idea of ​​how effective an ad campaign or press release promotion is.

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From a privacy perspective, these are information you don't necessarily want to leak to retailers and marketing companies on the Internet. You may want to keep a low profile when visiting a specific website, and if so, know that there are ways to prevent these tracking URLs from tracking you.

Remember, this is just one way for websites and marketing companies to monitor your behavior online, so blocking tracking URLs doesn't suddenly stop you from seeing targeted ads or turning you into some kind of online ghost. You should use the techniques discussed in this article in conjunction with other ways to protect your privacy online.

Block tracking URL in Firefox

Mozilla is credited with introducing the ability to automatically block tracking URLs in its browser. This is part of a wider suite of tools that limit the amount of data you can collect on your website. When enabled, you will find that Firefox will delete additional information from the URL you visit. The company calls it "query parameter removal."

To enable this feature, make sure you are using the latest version of Firefox, click the menu button (three horizontal lines in the upper right corner), and select Set . Under Privacy & Security, select the setting for Enhanced Track ProtectionStrict to prevent tracking URLs and all other tracking methods listed here. The only thing that doesn't work is in Privacy Mode. These windows have their own security measures to limit online tracking and browsers should not remember any of these activities after they are closed. However, for more caution, you can enter "

about:config" in the address bar and change the value of privacy.query_stripping.enabled.pbmode to "true" by double-clicking. This also enables query parameter removal in the privacy window.

Remember that strict settings for enhanced tracking protection take a proactive approach to online privacy, which means it may undermine certain features you are used to using on certain websites. This includes, for example, the ability of a website to keep items in a virtual cart when shopping. If you encounter problems on a website, please click

Manage exceptions to let Firefox's privacy measures ignore the website.

Using browser extension At the time of writing, no browser except Firefox has built-in ability to remove tracking URLs. If you want to block these trackers in other browsers, you will have to look for third-party extensions to do the job. The good news is that there are many options to choose from.

If you are using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, free and well-named ClearURLs are one of the best choices. The extension is very easy to use, and you can turn the URL removal feature on or off by simply clicking on the icon on the toolbar. If needed, you can also record the changes it makes and collect statistics on how many URLs it has modified.

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Tracking Token Stripper is another free alternative that removes all parts of the URL that the browser does not actually need to reach the destination location. After installation in Chrome or Edge, the extension automatically cleanses the tracking URL without you doing anything else. This add-on is very simple and has no options available to you.

For Safari users, try Clean Links. After downloading the extension, open the Downloads folder and double-click the file, and select

from the pop-up dialog box to open in Safari extension preferences. You can also go to Safari, Preferences and Extensions. Make sure to enable the Clean Links content blocker and Clean Links extension to reduce tracking URLs in Apple's web browser.

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