# Custom Tracking Domain for Click URLs — AcelleMail Setup

> By default every link in your emails routes through acellemail.com's tracking redirect. Replace with click.yourdomain.com — same redirect mechanics, your own brand. This guide walks the setup + the CNAME + the link-report verification.

- Canonical URL: https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/custom-tracking-domain-for-click-urls
- Author: Lena Hart, Email Deliverability Editor
- Category: DNS & Domain Setup — SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI, domain verification, MX records, Return-Path
- Content type: tutorial · Difficulty: intermediate
- Tags: Acellemail
- Published: 2026-03-07 · Last updated: 2026-08-15
- Reading time: 5 min
- Publisher: AcelleMail Knowledge Base, https://acellesend.com/kb

---

## Why a custom tracking domain matters

Every link in your AcelleMail campaign is auto-rewritten at send time to route through a tracking redirect. The default redirect lives at `acellemail.com/c/abc/...` — AcelleMail records the click, then forwards to your real URL.

Two problems with the default:

1. **Brand inconsistency** — recipient sees `acellemail.com` in the hover preview before clicking. For B2B audiences, that breaks trust ("why is this routing through a third party?").
2. **Deliverability signal** — Gmail's "show original" pane displays the rewritten URL. Some receivers cross-check sender domain vs link domain; mismatched values can downgrade reputation.

Custom tracking domain = `click.yourdomain.com` (or any subdomain you pick) handles the redirect instead. Same mechanics, your brand throughout.

## The setup in 4 steps

### Step 1: Pick your subdomain

Convention: `click.brand.com` or `track.brand.com` or `links.brand.com`. Pick a subdomain you don't already use for anything else (it'll be reserved for tracking redirects).

### Step 2: Publish the CNAME at your DNS host

At your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Route 53, Namecheap, etc.), add:

```
Type:  CNAME
Name:  click.yourdomain.com   (or whatever subdomain you picked)
Value: track.acellemail.com   (the AcelleMail tracking endpoint — varies per install)
TTL:   3600 (or default)
```

Wait for DNS propagation (typically 5-60 minutes; can take up to 24h for stubborn caches).

### Step 3: Register the tracking domain in AcelleMail

In AcelleMail, **Sending → Tracking domains → Add tracking domain**. Enter `click.yourdomain.com` + click **Verify**. AcelleMail dig-checks the CNAME, flips to *Verified* when propagation is complete.

### Step 4: Attach to your sending server

Open the sending-server detail → Configuration → **Tracking domain** dropdown → pick the newly verified domain. Save.

![Sending server detail — tracking domain field in Configuration](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/help/kb/sending-servers/02-server-detail-full.png)

From the next campaign send onwards, every link uses your custom tracking domain.

## Verify it's working

After a send, open the campaign report's **Links** tab:

![Links report — click destinations](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/help/kb/analytics/06-links-report.png)

Hover over any link — the rewritten URL should now show `click.yourdomain.com/...` not the AcelleMail default. If still showing the default, the sending server config didn't pick up the change (re-save the server config + send a fresh test).

The **Click map** visualization shows where clicks land — independent of which tracking domain rewrites them:

![Click map](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/help/kb/analytics/02-click-map.png)

## Common UI signals + fixes

| Symptom | Likely cause | UI fix |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking domain stays *Pending* after 1 hour | CNAME not propagated | Wait up to 24h; if still pending, verify CNAME at your DNS host points to the correct target |
| Tracking domain *Verified* but new campaigns still use acellemail.com | Sending server's tracking-domain field not updated | Sending server detail → Configuration → Tracking domain → re-pick + save |
| Hover preview shows weird URL (mix of yours + acellemail) | Cached email body from before the change | Send a fresh test; old campaigns retain their snapshot of tracking URLs |
| Click reports show clicks but tracking domain says 0 traffic | DNS resolving differently for some recipients | Test with `dig click.yourdomain.com` from multiple regions |
| CNAME conflicts with existing record at subdomain | Duplicate subdomain reservation | Pick a different subdomain name; can't have CNAME + A record on same name |

## Common conventions

| Pattern | Used by |
|---|---|
| `click.brand.com` | Most common; explicit "this is a click-tracker" signal |
| `track.brand.com` | Same intent, slightly more technical wording |
| `links.brand.com` | Friendly; works for marketing-facing audiences |
| `t.brand.com` | Short for higher-engagement industries (e-commerce flash sales) — saves URL chars in SMS-too |

Stick with one convention across your account — don't have some campaigns route via `click.` and others via `track.` (recipients learn to trust the pattern; switching mid-stream creates confusion).

<details>
<summary><strong>Advanced: HTTPS-only redirects, multi-region tracking, and security headers</strong></summary>

**HTTPS-only redirects:**

By default AcelleMail's tracking domain serves the redirect over both HTTP + HTTPS. To enforce HTTPS-only (recipients clicking via HTTP get auto-upgraded to HTTPS first):

1. AcelleMail admin → Sending → Tracking domains → [your domain] → Settings
2. Toggle "Force HTTPS"
3. Ensure your DNS host's TLS certificate covers the subdomain (Let's Encrypt + Caddy on the AcelleMail host is the common setup)

For Cloudflare-fronted setups, the redirect honors Cloudflare's TLS settings — set Full/Strict mode to prevent downgrade attacks.

**Multi-region tracking:**

If your audience is global, latency on the redirect matters. A US-hosted AcelleMail receiving Asia-side clicks adds ~200ms per hop. Two patterns:

1. **CloudFront / Cloudflare CDN** in front of your tracking domain — most installs route via Cloudflare for free; the CDN's POP nearest the user handles the redirect
2. **Multi-region AcelleMail clusters** — separate AcelleMail instance per region, each with its own tracking subdomain (`click-us.brand.com`, `click-eu.brand.com`). Per-campaign router selects the right tracking subdomain based on recipient region

For most senders, Cloudflare front-end is sufficient + free.

**Security headers on the tracker:**

The tracking endpoint redirects external URLs. Best practices:

```
HTTP Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
X-Frame-Options: DENY
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
```

Configure at your nginx / web-server layer. The AcelleMail tracking endpoint doesn't set these by default — you add them via your reverse-proxy config.

**Programmatic verification:**

```bash
# Check tracking domain is rewriting links
campaign_uid="..."
acelle_token="..."

# Fetch a campaign's links report
curl -sH "Authorization: Bearer $acelle_token" \
  "https://acellemail.com/api/v1/campaigns/$campaign_uid/links" \
  | jq '.data[0].url'

# Should show click.yourdomain.com/..., not acellemail.com/...
```

Run as a daily cron after sends — catches misconfiguration before customer complaints.

**Rotating tracking domains:**

For very large operations, multiple tracking domains can isolate reputation per campaign type:

```
click-marketing.brand.com  — marketing emails
click-txn.brand.com        — transactional (password resets)
click-ann.brand.com        — announcements
```

Different sending servers route through different tracking domains. If `click-marketing` ever gets blocked (rare), transactional is unaffected.

</details>

## Related articles

- [Custom tracking domain](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/custom-tracking-domain)
- [Complete DNS setup for email sending](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/complete-dns-setup-for-email-sending)
- [DNS propagation explained](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/dns-propagation-explained)
- [Sending throttling strategies](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/sending-throttling-strategies)

---

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