Click Tracking vs. Google Analytics: Why Do Email Clicks Exceed Page Views?

If you’ve ever compared the number of clicks reported in your email marketing platform to the page views recorded in Google Analytics (GA4), you may have noticed a significant discrepancy.

Your email report might show thousands of clicks, while GA4 reports only a fraction of page views. Why does this happen? And what can you do about it?

In this post, we’ll explore how email click tracking works, why Google Analytics may record fewer views than expected, and how security systems influence email engagement tracking.

How Email Platforms Track Clicks

Email marketing platforms use link tracking to measure recipient engagement. This tracking works by replacing original links with unique tracking URLs.

When a recipient clicks on a link in the email, they pass through the tracking server before being redirected to the intended destination.

A click is recorded whenever:

• A human clicks on a link in an email.
• An email security system (firewall, anti-phishing tool) scans the link for safety.
• An email client preloads the URL as part of link verification.

Because of these different interactions, email platforms often report more clicks than actual human interactions.

How Google Analytics Tracks Page Views

Unlike email tracking, which can log interactions from email security scans and bots, GA4 focuses on actual user behavior. A page view is recorded only when:

• The webpage fully loads in a browser.
• Google’s tracking script executes on the page.
• The recipient does not have ad blockers or privacy settings that block GA4 tracking.

Since GA4 relies on JavaScript execution, it does not register email security scans or automated interactions unless they lead to an actual page load.

This often results in GA4 reporting fewer views compared to email click tracking.

Why Are There More Clicks than Page Views?

Several factors contribute to the discrepancy between email click tracking and GA4 page views.

Let’s take a look at them below.

Security systems and firewalls

• Corporate networks and security solutions such as Trend Micro, Proofpoint, Mimecast, and Barracuda scan email links before recipients see them. These automated systems generate multiple clicks without an actual human opening the webpage.
• Some security tools click links at high speed (milliseconds apart) to check for phishing threats, leading to inflated click counts.

Email clients preloading links

• Some email services (e.g., Apple Mail, Outlook, and Gmail) preload email links as part of their security and tracking mechanisms.
• These preloads do not trigger GA4 page views because they do not execute JavaScript.

Ad blockers and privacy extensions

• Many users have ad blockers or privacy-focused browser settings that prevent GA4 tracking scripts from loading, even if they visit the page.
• Some browsers (e.g., Safari with Intelligent Tracking Prevention) also limit third-party tracking.

Users clicking but exiting before page load

• If a recipient clicks an email link but closes the page before it fully loads, GA4 won’t register the page view.
• Slow-loading pages may also result in users abandoning the page before the GA4 script executes.

UTM parameters and incorrect GA4 setup

• If the email links don’t contain proper UTM parameters, GA4 may categorize the visit incorrectly or fail to attribute it to email traffic.
• Ensure all email links include UTM tracking (e.g., utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=campaign_name).

How to Reduce Click Tracking Discrepancies

While some level of discrepancy is inevitable, here are steps you can take to minimize inaccuracies:

1. Enable bot filtering in your email platform

If your ESP allows it, enable bot filtering to exclude known security scans and automated clicks.

Check for click timestamps. If multiple clicks happen within milliseconds, it’s likely a bot.

2. Use UTM parameters for better GA4 attribution

Add UTM parameters to all email links to improve tracking accuracy in GA4.

Example: https://yourwebsite.com/page?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=campaign_name

3. Monitor click patterns and anomalies

If certain email recipients record hundreds or thousands of clicks, investigate if they belong to a corporate domain with aggressive security scanning.

Compare engagement across different email clients to spot patterns.

4. Check Google Analytics filters

Ensure that GA4 is correctly configured and does not filter out legitimate email traffic.

Review referral exclusions and tracking settings to avoid misattributions.

5. Educate your audience about safe list practices

Encourage recipients to safelist your email domain to reduce false positives from security software.

How Moosend Prevents Actions from Bots

Email bots and firewalls are scripts or logic added to email servers to prevent phishing, scam, or spam emails. These security tools often scan marketing emails and click on every link inside them, sometimes causing inflated engagement metrics.

Clicks from bots can distort an email campaign’s true engagement and effectiveness. They artificially inflate click metrics, making it difficult to assess campaign success accurately, understand user behavior, and make data-driven decisions.

To mitigate this, Moosend has implemented two key mechanisms to prevent bot clicks from affecting email reports.

Time-based click filtering

• Moosend records statistics for every recipient immediately after campaign delivery.
• If a recipient interacts with all URLs within three seconds of email delivery, Moosend flags these interactions as bot activity and excludes them from reports.

Hidden URL mechanism

• Moosend includes a hidden URL that is not visible to human users for every campaign sent.
• If a recipient interacts with this hidden URL, Moosend identifies the activity as a bot-generated click and excludes it from reports.

Click Tracking vs. Google Analytics

It’s normal to see differences between email click tracking and Google Analytics page views. Email security filters, preloaded links, and privacy settings contribute to the variation. Understanding these factors helps marketers set realistic expectations and refine their tracking methods.

You can better interpret campaign performance and make data-driven decisions by leveraging bot filtering and behavioral analysis.

For better insights into email engagement analytics, try Moosend. It filters out bots but never real clicks.

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