Direct links are popular because they keep your landing page URL clean in the ad. But they come with a timing issue that can cost you attribution on your most eager visitors.
How a direct link works
With a direct link, the visitor lands on your page first, and a script on the page registers the click with the tracker. The click ID only appears on the page after that request comes back.
The problem: fast clickers
That round trip can take a second or two. On one build, the click ID wasn't stored anywhere until it was published to the page URL, so a visitor who tapped a button on a cold page load sent an empty click ID to the next step. Those visitors are often your highest-intent traffic, and their conversions can't be attributed.
How a redirect link avoids it
With a redirect link, the click is registered before the visitor reaches your page, and the click ID is already in the URL when the page loads. Every button can pass it on immediately.
Which one to use
For paid social traffic like Meta, where people click quickly, the redirect link is the safer choice. If you prefer a direct link, make sure your page waits for the click ID, or stores it, before buttons send people onward.
One more thing to check
When a visitor moves from your lander to the offer through RedTrack's lander click, a new click ID is created, and conversions attach to that one. When you debug, look at the lander click record, not the first click.