Rakuten Advertising parameter
What is the murl parameter?
murl is Rakuten Advertising's rakuten merchant destination url. murl ("merchant URL") is where a Rakuten deep link actually sends the visitor. It is URL-encoded inside the click.linksynergy.com link, which means you can decode and verify the destination independently — Afterlink does exactly this on every Rakuten link.
Where it appears
In the affiliate link you publish
Example
https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=AbC&mid=12345&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fmerchant.com%2FproductIf murl is missing
Without murl a Rakuten deep link falls back to the program default page. A dead murl destination is the classic silent Rakuten failure: clicks register, visitors land on a 404.
How Rakuten Advertising tracking fits together
Rakuten deep links use click.linksynergy.com/deeplink with your ID, the merchant ID (mid), and the destination in murl. On click, Rakuten registers the event and redirects, appending ranMID/ranEAID/ranSiteID tracking parameters to the merchant URL.
Since the destination lives in murl, the link has two failure surfaces: the Rakuten program itself, and the murl page. Both need checking on every audit.
Frequently asked questions
What does the murl parameter do?
murl is Rakuten Advertising's rakuten merchant destination url. murl ("merchant URL") is where a Rakuten deep link actually sends the visitor.
What if murl is missing?
Without murl a Rakuten deep link falls back to the program default page. A dead murl destination is the classic silent Rakuten failure: clicks register, visitors land on a 404.
Is murl in my analytics affiliate traffic?
Yes — if murl shows up in your site analytics or server logs, that traffic arrived via Rakuten Advertising affiliate links.
Related
Check every affiliate link you've ever published
Parameter checks are one of five validations Afterlink runs on every Rakuten Advertising link. Afterlink scans your entire YouTube channel or website, follows every redirect chain, and alerts you the day a link breaks.
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