1970867 - Clicking the Mozilla VPN suggestion redirects to a link which doesn’t contain any “utm” parameters

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect)

Description

[Carmen Fat [:cfat] - Ecosystem QA]

Attachment: Mozilla VPN link.mp4

[Affected versions]:

• Firefox Nightly 141.0a1 (Build ID: 20250605212508)
• Firefox Beta 140.0b5 (Build ID: 20250604091121)

[Affected Platforms]:

• Windows 11 x64
• Ubuntu 24.04 x64
• macOS 15.3

[Prerequisites]:

• Have Firefox Beta 140 installed.
• Set the following prefs with the next values:
  -> browser.urlbar.quicksuggest.dynamicSuggestionTypes: vpn
  -> browser.search.region = US

[Steps to reproduce]:

1. Open the browser with the profile from the prerequisites.
2. Focus the Address Bar and type the “vpn” keyword.
3. Click the Mozilla VPN suggestion.
4. Observe the link of the Mozilla VPN product page.

[Expected result]:

• The link contains the following “utm” parameters:
  -> utm_medium=firefox-desktop
  -> utm_source=suggest
  -> utm_campaign=evergreen

[Actual result]:

• The link does NOT contain any “utm” parameters.

[Notes]:

• The Acceptance criteria documentation mentions 3 “utm” parameters for the Mozilla VPN link.
• Attached is a screen recording of the issue.

Comment 1

[Chris Bellini (:cbellini)]

UTM parameters should be utm_medium=firefox-destkop&utm_source=firefox-suggest&utm_campaign=evergreen.

Comment 2

[Daisuke Akatsuka (:daisuke)]

Attachment: Bug 1970867: Add utm parameters for VPN Suggestoin link

Comment 3

[Daisuke Akatsuka (:daisuke)]

Hi Carmen!
We fixed this by the VPN dataset in Remote Settings.
As we have already updated the dataset in Prod as well, could you check?

Comment 4

[Carmen Fat [:cfat] - Ecosystem QA]

Hi Daisuke!

• I looked over this issue and noticed that although the “utm” parameters are displayed in the link of the Mozilla VPN suggestion, they don’t persist in the Address Bar after the suggestion is clicked and the page is loaded. I’ve captured the behavior in this screen recording.

• Also, I’ve noticed another curious behavior while being connected to a US server using a VPN client. In this case, although the “utm” parameters are shown in the suggestion as well, the page I’m being redirected to is this one: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/vpn/?entrypoint_experiment=vpn-landing-bundle-promo&entrypoint_variation=a
  Although the “entrypoint” parameters would suggest an experiment, this was not the case. I’ve made a screen record for this behavior as well.

Either way (with or without being connected to a VPN client), the “utm” parameters are not part of the Mozilla VPN link loaded via the Address Bar suggestions.

Could you please take a look at these scenarios?

Comment 5

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Hi Carmen, Daisuke's on PTO for the next week (I am too after today) so I looked into this. Firefox is loading the correct URL, which is:

https://www.mozilla.org/products/vpn?utm_medium=firefox-destkop&utm_source=firefox-suggest&utm_campaign=evergreen

The server responds with a 302, which is a type of redirect. It actually responds with two 302's in a row, and then something (a script on the site probably) causes Firefox to load the final URL. I'm in the US not on a VPN, and based on your comment it sounds like the server redirects to different URLs depending on where you are.

So Firefox is sending the right URL to the server. After that, it's up to the server to do whatever it wants to do with it. We may need to talk with the VPN/webdev teams to make sure they're handling the URL correctly, but from our POV (client engineering), this is fixed.

Here's the full series of steps:

1. Firefox loads the original URL
2. The server responds with a 302 that redirects to the following path: /en-US/products/vpn?utm_medium=firefox-destkop&utm_source=firefox-suggest&utm_campaign=evergreen
3. Firefox loads that new path
4. The server responds with a 302 that redirects to the following path: /en-US/products/vpn/
5. Firefox loads that new path
6. Something (a script probably) causes Firefox to load the final path: /en-US/products/vpn/?entrypoint_experiment=vpn-landing-bundle-promo&entrypoint_variation=c

If you want, you can verify this by opening the Network panel of Firefox's devtools. Check the Disable Cache checkbox, and click the gear icon and then check Persist Logs. Then click the trash can icon to clear the logs, paste the original URL into the urlbar, and hit enter.

Comment 6

[Carmen Fat [:cfat] - Ecosystem QA]

Thank you for the detailed explanation, Drew! You are right, I used the steps you provided and can confirm that the 2 server redirects happen and the initial “utm” parameters are correctly sent to the server initially, according to the Network tab from the Web Console.

Based on this, I think it’s safe to mark this issue as verified, since the redirects are most likely happening due to the Mozilla VPN page.