Using ValidVisit with RedTrack

Paste the ValidVisit snippet before </body> on the landing page RedTrack sends visitors to. RedTrack documents two setups:

• Click-through tracking. The ad points at a RedTrack tracking link; RedTrack records the click and sends the visitor on to your lander, where its LP views script runs in <head>.
• No-hop tracking. The ad points straight at the lander with RedTrack’s parameters (cmpid plus subs) on the URL, and RedTrack’s Universal tracking script runs on the page.

RedTrack says to use one of its two scripts per page, not both; the ValidVisit snippet is separate and goes in beside whichever you use. Add the lander’s domain to Allowed domains in your ValidVisit site, since the script only runs on hosts listed there.

ValidVisit reads network values from the landing-page URL under its vv_* names. In click-through tracking, MGID fills its macros into your RedTrack tracking link, the traffic channel template puts each value in a sub, and the lander URL reads the subs back with {sub1} to {sub20}.

Say your MGID channel stores {widget_id} in sub1 and {teaser_id} in sub2; check the template, since the numbers are yours. Add to the lander URL in RedTrack:

• vv_source=mgid: names the network.
• vv_publisher_id={sub1}: the widget, the unit you cut on MGID.
• vv_creative_id={sub2}: the teaser.
• clickid={clickid}: RedTrack’s click ID.

Start the list with ? and join the pairs with &. In no-hop tracking the ad URL is the lander URL, so put MGID’s macros on it directly, next to RedTrack’s parameters: vv_publisher_id={widget_id} and so on, as the MGID tracking tokens page lists them. ValidVisit’s Link Wizard builds the same list; behind RedTrack, swap each macro for the sub that holds it.

ValidVisit reads clickid, click_id and vv_click_id as one field, the visit’s click ID. Passing clickid={clickid} stores RedTrack’s click ID with each judged visit, so a visit in ValidVisit and the click in RedTrack’s logs share a key.

Send one. With both clickid and vv_click_id on the URL, the one later in the URL fills the field. RedTrack also carries the traffic channel’s click ID as {ref_id}, with exceptions it notes for some channels such as Meta; to match on MGID’s instead, send vv_click_id={ref_id} and leave clickid off.

In no-hop tracking, RedTrack’s Universal script keeps its click ID in a first-party cookie, so it isn’t on the URL the ad opens. Pass MGID’s click ID directly: vv_click_id={click_id}.

RedTrack reports by sub; ValidVisit shows the same widget IDs under Publisher. They’re one source seen twice: RedTrack counts clicks and conversions, ValidVisit judges each visit that loaded the page Valid or Invalid, with its evidence.

• Widgets that convert but are judged invalid. Check the conversions before you scale; bot traffic that fires a conversion event looks profitable in any tracker.
• Widgets with volume and no conversions. A high invalid share points at the traffic, not the offer.
• Totals that differ. RedTrack records the click before the lander loads; ValidVisit counts visits that loaded the page with the script. Compare shares, not raw counts.

A RedTrack settings toggle removes known bots and crawlers, identified by user agent, from your data; they still reach the campaign. Its bot blacklist takes IP and user-agent rules. Blacklisted traffic drops out of reports and isn’t billed as events; the blacklist works with click-through tracking only. RedTrack also documents a bot trap: a hidden decoy link on the lander.

Those filters judge a click as it passes. ValidVisit grades the visit after it lands, attributed to the widget that sent it, so it sees what the filters let through. Keep both; tracker bot filters vs ValidVisit compares the approaches.

ValidVisit never changes your RedTrack campaigns or your MGID account, and sends nothing into RedTrack. It ranks widgets worst first and exports the ones worth cutting as a Cut-list CSV, which you bulk-upload in MGID via Import → Widget Blocklist; blocking widgets in MGID has the steps, and blocking bad sources by network covers other networks.

RedTrack’s auto-rules can pause placements on API-integrated channels, working from RedTrack’s own metrics; they don’t read ValidVisit’s verdicts.

For visitors you never want on the page, ValidVisit’s traffic rules tag visits by country, data-center hosting or VPN and can send them to another page; whole countries can also be blocked at your own firewall. The verdict itself blocks nothing.

• Landing page protection. RedTrack can protect a lander so it shows a blank page to any visit without a valid token, which expires after five minutes. It needs a .php page, works with click-through tracking only and can’t share a page with the Universal script. Test through the tracking link, not the lander’s own address, and check the visit reaches ValidVisit.
• One RedTrack script per page. The LP views script or the Universal script, not both, with the ValidVisit snippet beside it.
• Filled tokens. Run a test click with sample values and check the address bar shows real IDs rather than {sub1}. Retest after any template change.