Marketo - Link performance report fetching dummy link

Hello there,

This is most likely caused by Marketo internal tracking or email security scanners (Proofpoint, Safe Links, Mimecast, etc.) automatically pre-clicking links. The link=autoclick&0001 parameter is typically system-generated rather than a real marketer-added link.

I’d recommend checking:
- Raw email HTML for hidden/empty links
- Dynamic content/snippets/tokens
- Whether email security tools are rewriting or scanning links before delivery

Adobe has documented similar behaviour with placeholder and auto-generated tracking links appearing in Link Performance reports.

Following up on what ​@pierref27252991 is saying … if that one link is getting clicked by a spam checker pre-clicking links, it’s likely that other links in your report also have skewed data. 

If you have access to the admin setting, check to see if you have bot activity filters turned on, and if so, what their settings are (filter or flag) -- if they are just flagging, be sure to remove bot engagements from your reports. If you go to setup in your report, there’s a setting to remove bot engagements, and you can also do this in trigger campaigns and in filters (bot activity = false).

Additionally, you can create a smart list to see “who” is clicking on that link and whether or not they performed other actions, such as visiting your website. While not perfect, clicking a link in your email that leads to your website, but then not actually landing on your website usually is an indicator that the engagement is not human.

I’d also argue that even if the engagement was done by a human, if they clicked a link in your email, but didn’t continue on to the destination, it’s not really a success either. 

In addition to the thoughts Pierre and Christiane shared, depending on your email editor:

• If you are using the new email designer, there is an option on the left rail to show all of your links in the email. You should be able to find it quickly there.
• If you are using the old email editor, check your local variables for any placeholder values.