WhereGoes? - Advertisement Link Tracker

WhereGoes is an effective tool for tracking the path a browser takes when clicking on an online ad. As an advertisement link tracker, WhereGoes shows you the various layers, redirects and clicktrackers that are involved in serving an ad.

But why would you need something like this?

As an online advertiser, you are constantly trying to reach premium sites at the lowest possible cost. A good example is running a skyscraper on Facebook. You can deal with this site directly, arrange for a direct buy - with your own account manager, and this will cost you a premium. But you can also reach the same inventory through other advertising networks that buy a portion of Facebook's inventory and then resell it at a discount. Finding these opportunities is when tracking advertisement links comes in handy.

A good way to find who these discount networks are, is to go to the premium site you are interested in, and refreshing the page about 8 times. This flushes out the premium ads that are set to run first, and allows the site to fall back to the cheaper ads (served by the third-party networks we are interested in.) Next, copy the link of an ad and paste it into WhereGoes.

Do this with various ads, with various refreshes done beforehand. You will see that the browser will take a detour through the tracking servers/ad servers of the third party network. Go to that network's site and sign up as an advertiser. Voila! Access to advertisements on a premium site at a low cost. All thanks to WhereGoes - the ad link tracker.