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WordPress

Matthew Spear
Matthew Spear
14,534 Points
Posted by Matthew Spear
Matthew Spear
14,534 Points

What are the "/?ref=" appended on the end of the urls and how can I access / use them within WordPress?

I'm trying to build a site within WordPress and want a banner to show when referred from another site, the site appends a /?ref=producthunt onto the end of the url.

Are there any plugins that utilise them? Otherwise what is the easiest way to use them?

Thanks, Matt

1 Answer

Colin Marshall
Colin Marshall
32,861 Points
Colin Marshall
Colin Marshall
32,861 Points

Those are called GET variables, which are variables appended to the URL.

In your theme files you can check to see if they are present when the page is loaded like this:

<?php

// put this in your header.php
$ref = $_GET['ref'];

// put this in your theme file where the banner will go
if ($ref == 'producthunt')  {
  // Insert Banner HTML
}

?>
Matthew Spear
Matthew Spear
14,534 Points
Matthew Spear
Matthew Spear
14,534 Points

Brilliant - Thanks for your help!