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Conversion tracking

How do I track LinkedIn and Meta ad clicks in Account Engagement (Pardot) with custom redirects?

By The Tofu team ·

Make one custom redirect per ad. In Account Engagement, open the Content tab, click Custom Redirects, then +Add Custom Redirect. Give it a name, a campaign and your landing page as the destination, and use its tracked URL as the ad's destination URL in LinkedIn or Meta. Each click is logged as a Custom Redirect activity. But a click reaches a prospect record only if Account Engagement already knows that browser, so most new clickers stay anonymous until they fill in a form. Test that UTMs and click IDs survive the redirect.

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As of October 2026.

How do I set up a custom redirect for a LinkedIn or Meta ad?

Salesforce's Trailhead gives these steps:

  1. Open the Content tab and click Custom Redirects.
  2. Click +Add Custom Redirect and name it after the ad, for example "LinkedIn, Q4 demo, carousel A".
  3. Select a campaign. Salesforce's API docs list name, campaign and destination URL as the required fields.
  4. Enter the destination URL: the full address of your landing page. Add UTMs here if you want them, such as ?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid-social&utm_campaign=q4-demo.
  5. Optionally, fill in the Google Analytics parameters (they need a connector set up first) and add completion actions. Then click Create Custom Redirect.
  6. Use the redirect's tracked URL as the ad's destination URL in LinkedIn or Meta.

A redirect can also have a vanity URL on a tracker domain, such as go.example.com/li-q4-demo; the path must be unique for each tracker domain. Clicks are counted per redirect, so make one for each ad or ad set you want to compare, and keep LinkedIn and Meta apart.

Why does my custom redirect show clicks but no prospects?

Because most people who click a LinkedIn or Meta ad aren't prospects yet. Account Engagement logs activity for visitors and prospects, and its API docs define a visitor as "someone who has visited a page with your Account Engagement tracking code on it, but hasn't converted to a prospect yet." The redirect logs the click, but a click shows on a prospect record only when Account Engagement already ties that browser to a prospect through its cookies. So:

  • New clickers stay anonymous until they convert, most often by submitting a form, Trailhead says. Then their visitor history moves to the new prospect record.
  • Don't count on completion actions for them. Trailhead describes completion actions as applying to prospects.
  • Known prospects can look new. The cookies stay on the browser, so a prospect who clicks on another device or browser starts out as a visitor.
  • Engagement History dashboards can show fewer clicks. Salesforce says their data includes visitors that have a prospect ID.

The fix is on the landing page: Account Engagement tracking code and a form, so ad clickers can become prospects.

Do UTMs and LinkedIn or Meta click IDs survive the redirect?

Test it. The Salesforce docs we could read don't say whether a custom redirect passes on parameters added to its URL, and both platforms add their own:

  • LinkedIn adds a click ID (li_fat_id) to the end of landing page URLs when enhanced conversion tracking is on. Check it in Campaign Manager under Measure > Signals manager > Insight Tag, then Manage Insight Tag > Settings and Enable enhanced conversion tracking. LinkedIn's developer docs say it's on by default for new Insight Tags, so check older tags. URL tracking parameters you set in Campaign Manager are also added to the end of the ad's destination URL, which here is the redirect.
  • Meta passes its ClickID (fbclid) with the URL when someone clicks an ad on Facebook or Instagram. The Meta Pixel stores it in the _fbc cookie.

To test, open your redirect URL with ?utm_source=test&li_fat_id=test&fbclid=test added, and check the address bar when the landing page loads. If the parameters are gone, the Insight Tag and Meta Pixel can't pick up the click ID, and LinkedIn warns that without first-party cookies it could count fewer conversions. Then either put fixed UTMs in the redirect's destination URL and accept weaker ad tracking, or point the ad straight at the landing page.

Should I use custom redirects or UTM parameters for paid social?

For ads that point to your own site, UTMs plus Account Engagement tracking code on the landing page usually do the job. Custom redirects help when you want click counts per ad in Account Engagement, or the destination has no tracking code.

Custom redirectUTMs and tracking code on the landing page
Clicks per ad in Account EngagementYes, in the custom redirect reportNo, you see visits and page views
Puts anonymous clickers on a prospectNo, not until they convertNo, not until they convert
Works when the destination has no tracking code (a partner page, an event site, a file hosted elsewhere)YesNo
AutomationCompletion actions on the clickPage actions on tracked pages
Extra hop that may drop URL parametersYes, so test itNo
Where the source is recordedThe redirect's campaignThe visitor's UTM fields

Trailhead's rule: when the action is based on a page visit, use a page action, because "you can apply page actions to any page that contains your tracking code." Use a completion action on a custom redirect for "a page, file, or asset outside of Account Engagement's tracking."

You can also combine them: a redirect whose destination URL carries UTMs. To get UTM values onto prospects and Salesforce leads, see Why are the UTM fields blank on my Salesforce leads from Google and LinkedIn ads? For Google search ads, Account Engagement has its own connector instead: see How do I connect Google Ads to Account Engagement?

Where do custom redirect clicks show up in Salesforce?

  • On the campaign. With Connected Campaigns, Salesforce copies marketing links (custom redirects and files) to the connected Salesforce campaigns, which counts against your data storage.
  • In Engagement History metrics. Marketing Link records show Total and Unique Tracked Link Clicks, and campaigns show Unique Marketing Link Clicks. The Marketing Links Engagement custom report type that Salesforce recommends covers redirects and files; filter on Type for redirects only.
  • On the lead or contact. The Engagement History component shows a "Tracked Link Clicked" activity, which includes custom redirects.
  • As campaign membership. Campaign Member Sync puts a prospect that's assigned to a user in the Salesforce campaign of its first touch, with the status Connected. To add members after that, Salesforce says to use a completion action, such as one on the redirect that adds known prospects who click to the ad's campaign. For multi-touch credit, see How do I set up Salesforce Campaign Influence?

Do custom redirects work with LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms or Meta lead ads?

No. The form is filled in on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram, not on your site, so a redirect can't see the submission. Send those leads to Salesforce through an integration. On LinkedIn, hidden fields on the form can carry values such as the campaign name into the lead. See How do I automatically send LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads to HubSpot or Salesforce? and How do I automatically send leads from Meta lead ads to HubSpot or Salesforce?

Why don't redirect clicks match LinkedIn's click count?

Because LinkedIn's clicks metric "reports chargeable clicks and varies by objective," so depending on the objective it can count more than clicks to your site. Compare the redirect with landing page clicks: for single image, carousel, document and event ads, clicks on the intro text, image, headline or call to action that open the destination URL. Clicks on the company name, "see more" or likes and comments never reach the redirect.

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