# guccounter and guce_referrer — the tags on Yahoo links

- Canonical: https://linkclean.app/trackers/guccounter/
- Updated: 2026-10-05
- Author: Ken Tominaga (https://ken0nek.com)
- Get the app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/linkclean/id6758604043

Parameter: `guccounter` · Category: Referral & source · Vendor: Yahoo

> guccounter is **one of three parameters left on Yahoo and Engadget links after Yahoo's consent page sends you on**, with `guce_referrer` and `guce_referrer_sig`. Yahoo has not explained them anywhere this page could find, but `guce_referrer` decodes to a web address, which reads as the page you came from. The article loads the same without them, and LinkClean strips all three.

## Where they come from

An AdGuard report shows the path: Yahoo's consent page, `consent.yahoo.com/collectConsent`, carries a `.done=` address, and the article it sends you to on Engadget arrives with `guccounter=1` and `guce_referrer` parameters added.

A Brave browser issue from September 2022 collected live examples: a yahoo.com news article with all three, `engadget.com/?guccounter=1`, and `de.yahoo.com/?p=us&guccounter=1`. Yahoo publishes no description of the names that this page could find.

## What guce_referrer reveals

In the Brave example the value is `aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuemlsbW9uZXkuY29tLw`. That is base64, and decoded it reads `https://www.zilmoney.com/`: a web address. Together with the name, that makes it the page the reader arrived from. The reading is an inference, but the decoding is not.

So a Yahoo article link copied with `guce_referrer` attached tells whoever you send it to where you were before you opened it. `guce_referrer_sig` beside it is a long opaque value, and the name suggests a signature for the referrer; that is also an inference. In every example collected here, `guccounter` is `1`.

## How LinkClean removes them

Default-on and global, all three names. The article is addressed by its path, so the link works without them. AdGuard's filter and Brave strip them everywhere, and ClearURLs strips them on TechCrunch links.

## Example

Looks like this in a URL: `https://www.yahoo.com/news/example-article-031500636.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuemlsbW9uZXkuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALtlTSPpvxhF3tU3Xj9MHxAR`

After LinkClean: `https://www.yahoo.com/news/example-article-031500636.html`

## Frequently asked

**What does guccounter=1 mean?**

Yahoo has not said. It appears after Yahoo's consent page has sent you on to the article, and in every example collected here its value is 1.

**What is in guce_referrer?**

A base64-encoded web address. Decoded, it reads as the page you came from before the Yahoo or Engadget article; that reading is an inference from the name and the value.

**Is it safe to remove them?**

Yes. The article is addressed by the path and loads the same without them.


---

LinkClean removes tracking parameters from links on-device — free to clean, one-time Pro. https://linkclean.app/ · Cite freely with attribution.