Stop tracking UTM tags and other query parameters

By default, Plausible strips all query parameters for privacy purposes except for ref, source, utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content and utm_term, and it also reads ad click IDs such as gclid and msclkid to recognise paid search traffic. If you prefer to stop tracking these parameters as well, for example to follow stricter national guidance on audience measurement, please follow these instructions:

Set transformRequest option in plausible.init

The easiest way to stop tracking parameters is to use transformRequest to update the URL property sent to Plausible and prevent the tracking of UTM tag.

To do so, in your Plausible tracking snippet, add the following:

function queryStrippedUrl() {
  return location.href.split('?')[0]
}

function transformRequest(payload) {
  // Sets url for the event manually
  payload.u = queryStrippedUrl()
  return payload
}

// At the end, update plausible.init call:
plausible.init({
  transformRequest: transformRequest
})

That's it! You're now no longer tracking any UTM tags or other parameters. We will use the referrer header to display the sources of the traffic instead. If the referring site doesn't send any referrer header, the traffic will fall within the "Direct / None" source. Without UTM tags and click IDs, visits from paid campaigns are counted under their source, such as Google, rather than as paid traffic in the Channels report.

Keep only the referring domain

The referrer header can include the full address of the page a visitor came from. If you'd rather record only the referring site, also replace the referrer with its domain in the same transformRequest function:

function transformRequest(payload) {
  payload.u = queryStrippedUrl()
  if (payload.r) {
    try {
      payload.r = new URL(payload.r).origin
    } catch (e) {
      payload.r = null
    }
  }
  return payload
}

Your Sources report keeps working as before. Only the page paths shown when you click on a source are no longer recorded.

note

This solution may not work in single-page-applications or when using hash-based routing as location.href may change before transformRequest is called.