GT Link Manager

GT Link Manager is a free WordPress link manager and URL shortener for branded short links, affiliate link management, country-based redirects, and opt-in click analytics. Create reusable links, find out where they are clicked, and manage them from the WordPress admin, block editor, or REST API. There are no premium tiers or upsells.

Redirects use indexed custom database tables and resolve before theme templates load. Advanced Analytics adds no visitor tracking scripts, cookies, or beacon requests.

Your links follow a clean URL pattern: yoursite.com/go/your-slug (the prefix is configurable, can be removed on individual links, or dropped for every link).

Official Page & Documentation | Free Training Course | REST API & AI Tools Guide

Advanced Analytics: See Where Your Links Get Clicked

Advanced Analytics adds reports alongside the existing lifetime click counter. It stays off until you explicitly enable it under GT Links > Analytics > Settings. No analytics tables, options, records or maintenance jobs are created before opt-in.

• Find your strongest links. View click totals, daily or hourly trends, and the links used within a selected period or category.
• See the referring post or URL. The separate Clicked from report lists every matching recorded entry with pagination and resolves published WordPress post titles where possible. Open a page report to see which links were clicked there, then inspect an individual link within that same page.
• Switch breakdowns instantly. Sources, countries, devices, browsers, operating systems and configured campaigns are loaded with the report. Switching tabs does not reload the page or fetch another report.
• Read the chart clearly. The chart fits the recorded activity period while preserving real time spacing. View click totals opens a scrollable popup with exact values.
• Use WordPress time. Dates, hourly/day grouping and CSV dates follow the timezone configured in WordPress, including fractional offsets and daylight-saving changes.
• Keep the context when exporting. Date, category, link and referring-page selections carry into CSV exports. Configured UTM combinations can be tracked as campaigns.
• Choose what to retain. Individual click records, with their time to the minute, default to seven days; after that, clicks are kept only as daily totals, and those reports default to ninety days. Choose Forever to keep daily reports until you delete them; individual records still expire separately.
• Pause or remove analytics independently. Turning collection off keeps existing reports under their retention policy. Deleting analytics removes its records and jobs while preserving links and basic counts.

Collection uses a compact server-side write on eligible GET redirects. PHP-FPM can finish the redirect response before recording the event; other hosts complete that write synchronously. No visitor JavaScript, cookies, beacons, IP storage, fingerprinting or external analytics service is added. Referring URLs omit credentials, query strings and fragments; raw user agents are not retained.

Recognized bots, prefetches and signed-in link managers are excluded. These reports count eligible redirect requests, not unique people or conversions. Browsers may report an external website, only its origin, or no referrer. Earlier clicks without page information remain Page unavailable, with a short explanation. External referrers are kept and explained rather than automatically treated as spam.

Reports and page-specific breakdowns are summarized by a bounded maintenance worker. Keep WordPress cron or a system scheduler running; collection pauses only if maintenance stops running for fifteen minutes. Storage is never capped: past a warning level you set (100 MB by default), the plugin asks you to delete old data, and the delete compacts the tables so the space is released. Historical data can be viewed in date windows of up to ninety days. Advanced Analytics currently supports single-site installations.

The Privacy and data section links to WordPress’s suggested Privacy Policy text. Administrators control analytics by default; developers can use gtlm_analytics_capability for report access and gtlm_analytics_should_record to suppress events, including consent integrations. Site-owner opt-in is not a legal consent exemption.

Fast Branded Redirects

GT Link Manager stores links in custom database tables, not custom post types. Redirect resolution runs on init at priority 0 using a UNIQUE-indexed slug lookup, before theme templates load. Missing, inactive and trashed branded short links return a real 404 instead of serving the homepage.

Key Features

• Advanced Analytics. Optional click trends, referring-page drilldowns, instant breakdown tabs, WordPress-time reports and CSV export, with no visitor scripts or cookies.
• Fast direct redirects. Resolves links on init (priority 0) via direct DB lookup, no CPT overhead
• 301, 302, and 307 redirects. Choose the right redirect type for SEO, temporary, or method-preserving redirects
• Rel attribute controls. Set nofollow, sponsored, and ugc per link for proper SEO attribution
• Noindex support. Sends X-Robots-Tag: noindex header to prevent search engines from indexing redirect URLs
• Categories and tags. Organize links into categories with parent/child hierarchy and free-form tags
• Full admin list table. Search, filter by category/status, sort by any column, and perform bulk actions
• Quick Edit. Update URL, slug, redirect type, rel, category, and status inline without leaving the list
• Activate / Deactivate. Disable a link without deleting it; inactive links stop redirecting but stay in the database
• Trash and restore. Soft-delete links to trash with the option to restore or permanently delete
• CSV import and export. Import links from CSV with column mapping preview, or export filtered links; includes LinkCentral and Pretty Links compatible presets. Manual column mapping also supports compatible CSV exports from ThirstyAffiliates, ClickWhale, Lasso, BetterLinks, GeniusLink, and others. Map the name and destination URL fields, review the preview, and choose how to handle duplicates.
• Block editor integration. Search and insert managed links into rich text and the core Button block without leaving the editor
• Branded URL preview. See the full branded URL as you type, with one-click copy
• Novashare short links. Use your own branded links when posts are shared through Novashare, with no code or API key
• Prefix-free and regex redirects. Route ordinary paths without /go/, or use regular expressions and capture groups for more complex rules. Protected WordPress endpoints cannot be claimed by redirect rules.
• Geolocation targeting. Send visitors from different countries to different destinations on a per-link basis (e.g. India to amazon.in, the US to amazon.com). The country comes from a header your CDN already sends, whether that is Cloudflare, CloudFront, Vercel, App Engine, or an nginx/Apache GeoIP module, so there is no GeoIP database to install and no external lookup. Links without country rules skip country detection.
• Independent lifetime counts. Optional running totals remain separate from Advanced Analytics. When analytics is enabled, click a count in All Links to open that link’s report.
• Analytics integrations. Send short link clicks to Google Analytics 4, Independent Analytics, Plausible (beta), Matomo and 16 other tools from one settings screen, with no code
• AI and REST API workflows. Create, update, categorize, trash and restore links through authenticated endpoints. The settings page links directly to the AI-tools guide.
• Safer CSV handling. Preview and map columns before import. Temporary files stay outside public uploads, and spreadsheet-style formulas are neutralized on export.
• Data cleanup controls. Restore trashed links, configure trash retention, and choose whether uninstall removes plugin data.
• Developer-friendly. Actions and filters for redirect interception, URL modification, capability control, cache TTL, and more

Developer Hooks

GT Link Manager has actions and filters for redirects, capabilities, caching, geolocation, click counting and integrations. The hooks and filters reference documents them. The Developer Reference has step-by-step guides for custom click logging, a dashboard widget, UTM passthrough, webhooks for Zapier, Make and n8n, role-based and geo-based redirects, and custom response headers.

Independent Click Counting

Basic click counting is off by default. Enable it under GT Links > Settings to keep one lifetime total per link. It stores no visitor details, IP addresses, user agents, referrers or timestamps. With basic counts and Advanced Analytics both off, GT Link Manager stores no request analytics.

Counts appear in the sortable Clicks column, the read-only REST API total_clicks field and CSV exports. Use Reset Clicks for a single link or gtlm_count_click to exclude requests. When Advanced Analytics is enabled, a count links to that link’s report.

Updates are atomic. PHP-FPM can finish the response before recording a count; other hosts write synchronously. Basic totals and dated analytics have independent settings. Choose consent requirements according to your site and integrations.

Free Training and Documentation

The GT Link Manager Training course covers getting started, managing links, categories, settings, the redirect system, block editor integration, import and export, geolocation targeting, REST API endpoints, hooks, filters and troubleshooting.

Useful references:

• Import and Export: Pretty Links and LinkCentral presets, column mapping and CSV migration.
• Geolocation Targeting: country rules and CDN header detection.
• Developer Reference: API access, hooks and custom integrations.

Source, Support and Data Ownership

The full source, including the compiled block editor assets’ source code, is on GitHub. See Releases for builds and changelogs.

Use the WordPress.org support forum for help or GitHub Issues for bugs. Include your WordPress and PHP versions, link slug, configured prefix, expected behavior and any CDN or page cache. Send security reports privately to the maintainer.

CSV export keeps your links portable, including geo rules and advanced redirect configuration. Uninstall removes data only when you enable that option. There are no Pro tiers, trials, required accounts, telemetry or upsell notices.

GT Link Manager does not perform automatic keyword linking. Country detection depends on a trusted CDN or server header; a header supplied directly by a visitor can be forged. Basic counts measure requests, while Advanced Analytics adds eligible-click reports; neither identifies unique visitors or verifies conversions.

Analytics Integrations

Send short link clicks to the analytics tool you already use. Open GT Links > Integrations and turn on the ones you want. There’s no code to write, and everything is off until you turn it on.

• WordPress plugins, recorded on your own site. Independent Analytics, Koko Analytics, WP Statistics, Burst Statistics, SlimStat Analytics, Statify, and Matomo for WordPress.
• Services, sent from your server. Google Analytics 4, Plausible (beta), Matomo, Umami, Simple Analytics, PostHog, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Rybbit, and Clicky. Plausible is in beta because Plausible Cloud can drop clicks sent from a server address unless you share visitor data.
• Browser tags, for tools with no server API. Google Tag Manager, Fathom Analytics, and Microsoft Clarity. GA4 can also send through your existing tag if you’d rather not create an API secret.
• Your existing setup is detected. MonsterInsights, ExactMetrics, Analytify, Site Kit, GA Google Analytics, Plausible Analytics, Connect Matomo, Clicky, and GTM4WP settings are picked up when you leave a field blank.
• No delay for visitors. Your server sends the event after the redirect has gone out, so a slow or broken analytics service can’t hold anyone up.
• Bots stay out. HEAD requests, prefetches, recognized bots, and logged-in link managers are not sent.
• IP addresses stay home by default. Services get the short link, its destination, the referring page, and the browser’s user agent. Sharing the visitor’s IP address and country is a separate setting, and it’s off until you turn it on.

Server-side delivery counts clicks that ad blockers would hide, including links opened from email and social posts. Browser tags can only see clicks on your own pages.

Novashare Short Links

GT Link Manager works with Novashare, a separate social sharing plugin. Novashare’s Custom link shortener can use your branded links, so a shared post carries yoursite.com/go/ns-1a2b3c4d instead of a third-party short URL.

• Off by default. Turn it on under GT Links > Integrations > Social sharing, then choose Custom as the shortener in Novashare.
• No code or API key. GT Link Manager answers Novashare’s novashare_short_link_url filter on your own site and adds no external request.
• One link per shared URL. Each link is created on first share, uses your link defaults, and goes in a Novashare category.
• Published content only. Only published posts, pages and other public post types on your site are shortened, so a link can’t be made to point anywhere else.

REST API & AI Tools

GT Link Manager has a full REST API that works with AI tools for programmatic link management. The REST API & AI Tools Guide covers authentication setup, all available endpoints, and integration with AI platforms including Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, WP-MCP, Novamira, Claudeus WordPress MCP, and WordPress MCP Adapter. Settings includes a copyable setup prompt that asks the AI to read the guide, reuse supplied configuration and request missing details.

External services

GT Link Manager contacts no external service by default. It only contacts a service below if you turn it on under GT Links > Integrations and enter your own account details. Each service is contacted from your server after a visitor follows a short link, or when you click Save and send test event.

Every service receives the short link’s address, name and slug, its destination URL and domain, its category name, the redirect status, the referring page without its query string, and the visitor’s browser user agent. A random identifier is sent with each click. The visitor’s IP address, the country detected for the redirect, and an identifier that stays the same for a visitor for one day are only sent if you turn on IP address and country on the same screen.

• Google Analytics 4 (Google). Measures traffic. Data goes to www.google-analytics.com or region1.google-analytics.com. The visitor’s existing Google Analytics client and session identifiers are included when they have those cookies. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• Plausible Analytics (beta). Measures traffic. Data goes to plausible.io or the self-hosted address you enter. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• Matomo. Measures traffic. Data goes to the Matomo address you enter. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• Umami. Measures traffic. Data goes to gateway.umami.is or the self-hosted address you enter. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• Simple Analytics. Measures traffic. Data goes to queue.simpleanalyticscdn.com. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• PostHog. Product analytics. Data goes to us.i.posthog.com, eu.i.posthog.com, or the self-hosted address you enter. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• Mixpanel. Product analytics. Data goes to api.mixpanel.com, api-eu.mixpanel.com, or api-in.mixpanel.com. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• Amplitude. Product analytics. Data goes to api2.amplitude.com or api.eu.amplitude.com. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• Rybbit. Measures traffic. Data goes to app.rybbit.io or the self-hosted address you enter. Terms, Privacy Policy.
• Clicky. Measures traffic. Data goes to in.getclicky.com. Terms, Privacy Policy.

The browser tags (Google Tag Manager, Fathom Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, and GA4 in browser mode) make no request of their own. The plugin’s script calls the tag that’s already on your page, and that tag sends the short link’s slug and address under its own terms.