Redirect vs iframe: how your tracker shows the offer (in plain English)

Redirect vs iframe: how your tracker shows the offer (in plain English)

New to sweeps? You'll meet these two words in tracking. Knowing them prevents a frustrating, invisible bug.

Both are ways to deliver the offer page to your visitor. The difference is small but important.

— Redirect: the visitor is sent away to the offer's own web address. Their browser bar changes to the offer's URL. Clean and simple.
— Iframe: the offer page is embedded inside your page, like a window-within-a-window. The browser bar stays on your URL.

Worked example of the bug. You use an iframe to keep your own domain showing. But many advertisers block being loaded inside an iframe for security. The visitor then sees a blank white box instead of the offer. You'd see clicks but zero leads — and wrongly blame your ad.

The beginner-safe choice: when starting out, prefer a plain redirect. It's the most compatible and the least likely to silently break. Fewer mysteries while you learn.

Why this saves you. A blank iframe looks identical to "bad traffic" in your reports. Knowing this difference helps you spot a technical fault instead of throwing away a perfectly good campaign.

The principle: when results are strangely zero, suspect the plumbing before you blame the offer.

Next step: open your offer link in a browser yourself. Confirm you actually reach the full working offer page, not a blank box.