https://www.example.com/shoes
After LinkCleanhttps://www.example.com/shoes?color=red
s_kwcid
What is s_kwcid in a URL?
What s_kwcid is
Adobe's documentation calls it the AMO ID: "Adobe Advertising shares data about your campaigns with Adobe Analytics using the AMO ID append parameter, also called the s_kwcid parameter". It applies to advertisers who connect the two Adobe products. Adobe adds that it is "sometimes pronounced as squid".
It arrives in two ways. With server-side insertion, Adobe's pixel server appends it when someone clicks a Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising ad, or views a display ad. Otherwise the advertiser adds it to the ad's landing-page suffix by hand.
What the value encodes
The value is a run of fields separated by !. Adobe's format notes start search ads with AL and display ads with AC, followed by the advertiser's Adobe user ID and a number for the ad network: 3 for Google Ads, 10 for Microsoft Advertising, 45 for Meta. The rest describe the ad: for Google Ads, the creative, match type, placement, network, keyword, campaign and ad group.
So s_kwcid=AL!1234!3!… reads as "a search ad on Google Ads, for advertiser 1234". Adobe says the AMO ID tracks each ad combination "at a less granular level" than the EF ID below: in Adobe's terms it identifies the ad, and the per-browser identifier is a different parameter.
Its partner, ef_id
On click-through traffic Adobe puts a second parameter beside it, ef_id. Adobe describes the EF ID as "a unique token" that associates activity "at the individual browser or device level". That is the more personal of the two. LinkClean does not remove ef_id yet: it is not in the catalog.
How LinkClean removes it
s_kwcid is default-on and global; the landing page loads the same without it. Sites that use Adobe Analytics also tag their own marketing links with a different parameter, s_cid.
Frequently asked
What does s_kwcid stand for?
Adobe does not spell it out. It calls the parameter the AMO ID. The kw reads as keyword, and that is an inference from the name.
Does s_kwcid identify me?
Adobe describes it as identifying the ad combination, not the person. The ef_id that often travels with it is the per-browser token.
Is it safe to remove s_kwcid?
Yes. It is read by Adobe Analytics to attribute the visit. The page does not need it.
Clean tracking on iPhone, in one tap.
LinkClean strips 250+ vendor-specific tracking parameters from any link, from any app's share sheet — and preserves functional ones like hl, t (YouTube timestamp), and q (search). No account, on-device.
