URL Explainer — Decode UTM Tags, Affiliate IDs & Suspicious Links

UTM parameters are tags appended to a URL that tell analytics tools where a visitor came from. The five common ones are utm_source (e.g. newsletter), utm_medium (e.g. email), utm_campaign (e.g. spring_sale), utm_term (paid-search keyword), and utm_content (A/B test variant). They are added by the link owner — not by your browser.

The URL is sent to Google Gemma for the AI portion of the explanation (used to identify unfamiliar parameters and generate the plain-English summary). Local heuristics — domain parsing, safety flags, and the known-parameter list — never leave your browser at all. Avoid pasting URLs containing private session tokens or one-time login codes.

No. The tool only analyses the URL you paste — it does not make any request to the URL itself. This is intentional: following a suspicious URL on a server could expose the server's IP address and any cookies the URL sets. If you need to see redirect chains, use a dedicated link expander after confirming the URL looks safe.

Punycode is a way to encode internationalized domain names. It looks like xn--something.com but renders as a normal-looking domain in browsers — which is exactly why phishers use it to make fake domains look like real brands (e.g. аpple.com using Cyrillic 'a' instead of Latin 'a'). The tool flags this so you double-check the address bar after clicking.

The AI is asked to explain a single parameter in one short sentence, not to determine whether the URL is safe — local heuristics handle the safety scoring. Accuracy is high for well-known parameter conventions and reasonable for novel ones. For anything financial, always verify on the official site directly rather than through the link.

Yes — 15 explanations per minute per visitor and a daily site-wide quota that easily handles normal use. If you hit the limit, wait a minute and try again.