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I got a long ad link full of codes after the question mark. How can I read the parameters inside it one by one?

Paste the link into the URL encoder. As long as it is a valid URL starting with something like https://, the tool shows a table of its parts under the output: protocol, host, path, then every query parameter with its value decoded the way a browser reads it. You see utm_source, utm_campaign and click IDs, and Arabic campaign names come out readable.

Published · 3 min read

What a link carries after the question mark

Everything after the ? in a link is the query string: name and value pairs separated by &. Ad platforms and tracking tools put information there about where the visit came from and which campaign it belongs to, and sometimes a long click identifier. When a value is Arabic it is written encoded, so a three-letter campaign name turns into a run of % codes.

Example: a link from a Snapchat ad

Say the ad link reached you like this:

https://example.com/p/oud?utm_source=snapchat&utm_campaign=%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF&fbclid=abc

Pasted into the tool, the 'URL parts' table showed:

  • Host: example.com, the site that will actually open.
  • Path: /p/oud, the product page within that site.
  • The parameter utm_source with the value snapchat.
  • The parameter utm_campaign with the value عيد (Eid), which arrived as %D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF.
  • The parameter fbclid with the value abc, a click identifier some platforms add.

The table heading states how many parameters there are, three here, so you can tell at once if the link carries something you did not expect.

Steps

  1. Open the URL encoder/decoder and choose 'Decode'.
  2. Paste the full link into the 'Text or URL' box.
  3. Read the decoded link in the output, then scroll to the 'URL parts' and 'Query parameters' tables.
  4. Copy the value you need from the table, such as the campaign name.

The table also appears in 'Encode' mode when what you pasted is a valid URL, but decoding shows the whole link readable in the output alongside the table.

A + inside values

In the parameters table, a + inside a value is read as a space, because that is what browsers do in a query string. We tried a search link whose value was %D8%B9%D8%B7%D8%B1+%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF and the table showed عطر عود (oud perfume) with a space between the two words. That helps when you read search result or form links.

What to do with what you read

  • If you are auditing your own campaign links, check that utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign are spelled exactly as agreed with your team, since a one-letter difference splits the reports.
  • If you want to share the link without tracking identifiers, delete the parameters you do not need by hand and keep what the page itself needs to open.
  • To build a new link with correct parameters from the start, use the UTM campaign link builder instead of hand-editing a long link.

Common questions

Does the tool open the link to read it?

No. It only reads the text of the link in your browser and never visits the site.

Why is the parts table missing?

It only appears when the text is a valid URL starting with a scheme such as https://, and when the operation succeeds without an error.

Is the part after # shown?

Yes. If there is one, it gets its own row in the table, decoded.