What are the potential pitfalls of using cookies for tracking referral links in PHP?

Potential pitfalls of using cookies for tracking referral links in PHP include the possibility of users disabling cookies, which would prevent accurate tracking. To solve this issue, you can use a combination of cookies and URL parameters to ensure that referral links are tracked even if cookies are disabled. 

// Check if the referral link is present in the URL parameters
if(isset($_GET['referral'])){
    // Set a cookie to track the referral link
    setcookie('referral', $_GET['referral'], time() + 3600, '/');
}

// Retrieve the referral link from either the cookie or URL parameters
$referral = isset($_COOKIE['referral']) ? $_COOKIE['referral'] : (isset($_GET['referral']) ? $_GET['referral'] : '');

// Use the $referral variable to track the referral link

Keywords

cookies tracking referral links PHP pitfalls

Related Questions