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Troubleshooting Common Problems

Link not working, clicks missing, imports skipping rows, sign-in trouble, and other quick fixes.

Find the symptom that matches what you are seeing, then work through the checks in order. Most problems come down to one of three things: DNS not finished, a path typed differently than it was saved, or a date range that does not include the clicks you are looking for.

The browser shows a connection error, a "site can't be reached" message, or someone else's page.

  1. Give DNS time. If you added the domain recently, this is the usual cause. Changes are often live in minutes but can take a few hours.
  2. Check the A record. Where your domain is managed, confirm there is an A record whose value is exactly the IP address shown in the app, with the prefix (for example go) in the name field. If the app shows a newer IP than the one you configured earlier, update the record to match. Full steps: Point DNS at SCT.
  3. Check the domain is Active. On the Domains page, the Active column must be on. Inactive domains stop serving links.
  4. Try a different network. Testing on your phone's mobile data rules out your own computer caching the old DNS answer.
  5. Is a website already on that domain? Then DNS should not point at SCT at all. Use SCT Connect (WordPress) or the standalone SCT script instead — both are downloaded from Account › Integrations.

HTTPS fails on my custom domain (certificate / SSL error)

  1. Confirm DNS points at the IP shown on Domains (A record).
  2. Confirm the domain is Active. Certificates are only issued for active, approved domains.
  3. Wait a minute after activating, then try again in a private window. First HTTPS visit issues the certificate.

I get a "not found" page instead of my destination

The domain is working — the specific link is not being matched.

  1. Open Links and compare the Path value to what you typed, character by character. Dashes, underscores, and plurals are the usual culprits.
  2. Use the Full link URL column and click the link there. If that works, the address you shared was wrong, not the link.
  3. Check 404 Log (how to read it). If you see the path with several hits, real people are hitting it — create a link using exactly that path so the traffic is rescued.
  4. Set a 404 redirect URL on the domain so future mistakes land somewhere useful instead of on an error.

The link works, but no clicks show up

  1. On the Dashboard, click 1d or 7d so the range includes today, then click Refresh. An old custom date range is the most common explanation.
  2. Check your time zone on the Account page. If it is wrong, today's clicks can appear on the wrong day.
  3. Click the link yourself and re-check. A fresh click should appear under Recent activity.

My click numbers look too low compared to my email or ad platform

Some difference is normal and expected. Other tools count differently — some count a click when the email is opened by a scanner, some count every tap including repeats, and some visitors abandon before the page loads.

  • Compare Clicks to their click figure, not Unique. Unique counts people, not clicks (what each number means).
  • Make sure both tools cover the same dates and the same time zone.
  • If your numbers are near zero while theirs are large, that is not a counting difference — test the link yourself and work through the two sections above.

Click numbers spiked but I did not promote anything

This is usually automated traffic (bots) rather than customers.

  1. Compare Total clicks with Unique IPs. Many clicks from very few addresses points to automation.
  2. Look at the Referrers panel for sources you do not recognize.
  3. Use the Clicks drill-down to find the repeated IP address, then add it on the Blocked IPs page with a note explaining why (when blocking is the right move).
Do not block an address that might be a shared office or home network unless you are confident — everyone behind it would be blocked too.

I cannot save a link because the path is taken

Paths must be unique per domain. Either pick a slightly different path, or edit the existing link that already uses it. The fastest way to find it is the Search box on the Links page. Note that sct is reserved and cannot be used as a path.

My import skipped rows

Skipped rows are normal and the summary tells you why. Open Import notes and skipped rows in the Import complete box and read it before trying again.

  • Path already exists — you already have that link. We never overwrite your existing links.
  • Invalid row — something required was missing or malformed, most often the destination address.
  • Nothing imported at all — usually the wrong tab for that file. A CSV exported from the old WordPress plugin is not a simple link list. Use SCT Connect instead — see Transferring straight from the old WordPress plugin.

Fix those rows in your file and import just them. Re-running an import does not create duplicates.

My split test has not picked a winner

  1. Check that the landing page snippet is on each landing page and the thank-you page snippet is on the thank-you page. Without them, conversions are never recorded and a winner can never be chosen. See Set it up in three steps.
  2. Compare your traffic with your thresholds. If Min total conversions or Min days has not been reached yet, the test is deliberately still waiting (split test settings explained).
  3. Check the Test type. On Manual, nothing is ever chosen automatically — you pick the winner yourself.
  4. Lower the Confidence % only if you accept more risk of picking the wrong page.

My standard link shows zero conversions

  1. Save the link, then copy both snippets from Conversion tracking. Paste the landing page snippet on the landing page and the thank-you page snippet on the thank-you page (before </body>). See Set it up in three steps.
  2. Open the short link yourself, complete a conversion path, and confirm the thank-you page loads with the script.
  3. On the link's Reports page, check the date range and look for Conversions on the Click report.

Conversions

My conversions show as Matched instead of Exact

The visit ID did not reach the thank-you page, so SCT matched the visitor’s device and network to a recent click. Install the landing page snippet, and keep the landing page and thank-you page on the same main domain when you can. See Exact and Matched conversions.

A checkout button stopped working after I added the landing snippet

Open Landing page options and add that website under Never add it to these websites. Copy the landing page snippet again and replace the old one. See Landing page snippet options.

My affiliate network postbacks are not showing up

  1. Open the Postback Log. If the postback is listed, its result says why it did not count. See what each result means. If it is not listed, the network did not call your postback URL, or the URL in the network does not include your pb= key. Copy the postback URL again from Postback setup.
  2. Click your short link and look at the offer address. Your sub-ID parameter should hold a 12-character ID, such as s2=k3x9q2m7a1b4. If it still shows {clickid} or is empty, check that the link is a Standard link or a Split Test and that you saved it.
  3. Check that you used the sub-ID parameter that matches the token in your postback URL. For example, on MaxBounty s2= goes with #S2#. A mismatch sends back the wrong value.
  4. Check that the postback URL in the network starts with your address from Postback setup and contains ?sct_conv_ref= followed by the network’s token.
  5. Use the network’s postback log or test tool to see whether the postback was sent and what it returned.
  6. Check that the token you used is one your network fills in for postbacks. If it is not filled in, the network sends the token text itself, and SCT records nothing.

To find out whether the problem is in SCT or in the network, follow Test your postback. See also Affiliate network postbacks.

Conversions from Safari users are missing after a week

Safari limits how long websites can remember visitors, often to about 7 days, and that applies to both the cookie and the browser storage the landing page snippet uses. A buyer who comes back after that is no longer linked to their first visit. If they come back through your short link again, that new visit is tracked normally. Most sales happen within a few days of the click, so this mainly affects slow buyers who return some other way.

The wrong image or title appears when I share my link

Social networks decide what to show, and they keep their own copy of it for a while.

  1. Set Facebook / OG title, description, and image on the link.
  2. Re-share into a fresh post or message to check.
  3. If the old preview persists, that platform is showing its cached copy — it typically refreshes on its own after a while.

I cannot get into my account

  • Password: use the password reset link on the sign-in page.
  • Two-factor code not working: check that your phone's clock is set automatically. Authenticator codes fail if the device clock has drifted. Lost your phone? Use a recovery code (see MFA Settings).
  • Locked out completely: contact support rather than creating a second account, so your existing links stay intact.

I installed the standalone SCT script but links still 404

You uploaded the sct folder, but short links on your domain still show a not-found page or your normal site 404. Make sure you have the latest version: download the standalone SCT script. Full setup steps are in Using Your Own Domain.

  1. Open https://yoursite.com/sct/ping in a browser. You should see a plain number (a timestamp). If that fails, the folder is not in the public web root or PHP is not running for that path.
  2. Confirm sct/config.php exists and the api_key matches a Connect (WordPress or standalone script) key from Account › Integrations.
  3. Re-run https://yoursite.com/sct/install.php so the site root .htaccess contains ErrorDocument 404 /sct/index.php. On nginx hosts, Apache’s installer cannot help — you need an equivalent rewrite, or use DNS pointing instead (see Point DNS at SCT).
  4. On the Domains page, confirm the domain is listed and Active. Create a test link and use the exact path from the Links page.

I lost my API key

Full API keys are shown only once when created, and cannot be retrieved afterwards. Create a new key, update whatever was using the old one (for SCT Connect, reconnect from the plugin settings; for the standalone script, paste it into sct/config.php), then revoke the old key.

Still stuck?

Note down the short link you are testing, what you expected, what happened instead, and roughly when it started. Having those four details ready makes any support conversation much faster.

You can also use the Help button in the bottom-right corner of the app to search these articles or send a message to support.