Referrer Policy Generator: A Practical Guide
Use Referrer Policy Generator to create a document-level referrer policy tag. The policy controls how much referring-page information may accompany outgoing requests. It does not hide the visitor’s IP address or replace broader privacy controls.
How to Use Referrer Policy Generator
- Choose the policy offered by the form.
- Generate the tag.
- Apply it through your site’s head metadata.
- Test the relevant outgoing requests and analytics behavior.
Referrer Information Can Contain Context
A referrer can disclose an origin or more of the referring URL, depending on policy and request context. The form includes policies such as no-referrer, same-origin and strict-origin-when-cross-origin.
A restrictive policy can reduce information available to destination analytics. unsafe-url can disclose more URL information and should not be chosen casually. HTTP headers and element-specific policies may also affect actual behavior.
Worked Example
A site that needs no referrer information sent can select no-referrer, then inspect outgoing requests. A policy change should be evaluated against the site’s actual integrations.
Do not put secrets in URLs even when using a restrictive policy; other mechanisms can expose them.
Inspect query parameters that could contain sensitive data: use the URL Parser.
Review link-specific behavior: use the HTML Link Generator.
Checks and Common Mistakes
- Check existing policy headers.
- Do not assume it anonymizes visitors.
- Test analytics and integrations.
- Avoid unsafe-url without a concrete reason.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it remove cookies?
No. Cookie behavior is controlled separately.
Can a header override the overall behavior?
The effective policy depends on the applicable headers and element context; inspect real requests.
Will it stop all tracking?
No. It governs one kind of request information, not every tracking mechanism.
Related Tools for the Next Step
- URL Parser: Inspect query parameters that could contain sensitive data.
- HTML Link Generator: Review link-specific behavior.
- UTM URL Builder: Understand intentional campaign parameters.
- Noindex Meta Tag Generator: Handle indexing separately.
Reference
Further reading: MDN Referrer-Policy.