Pre-flight for the Google Ads search flight: locale on every CTA, the import cut in both languages, the no-signup capture pages, and a privacy page

apps/web/e2e/content-skin.spec.ts

@@ -113,10 +113,28 @@ test.describe('content SEO loops', () => {
         })
     }
 
-    test('the fronting hero CTA points at a campaign-coded /new', async ({ page }) => {
+    test('the fronting hero CTA points at a campaign-coded, locale-pinned /new', async ({ page }) => {
         await page.goto('/blog/fronting-a-group-trip')
-        await expect(page.locator('a[href="/new?campaign=content-fronting-a-group-trip"]').first()).toBeVisible()
+        await expect(
+            page.locator('a[href="/new?campaign=content-fronting-a-group-trip&locale=en"]').first()
+        ).toBeVisible()
     })
+
+    // A6: a paid Spanish click landed in an English room creator, because `/new` reads a cookie
+    // the landing never sets. Both localized landings state their language in the link itself.
+    for (const [path, locale] of [
+        ['/es-419/splitwise-alternative', 'es-419'],
+        ['/pt-br/splitwise-alternative', 'pt-br'],
+    ]) {
+        test(`the ${locale} switcher landing hands its language to /new`, async ({ page }) => {
+            await page.goto(path)
+            const links = page.locator('a[href^="/new"]')
+            await expect(links.first()).toBeVisible()
+            for (const href of await links.evaluateAll((all) => all.map((a) => a.getAttribute('href')))) {
+                expect(href).toContain(`locale=${locale}`)
+            }
+        })
+    }
 })
 
 test.describe('tool page footer pin', () => {

apps/web/src/components/marketing/ContentHub.tsx

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { Breadcrumbs } from '@/components/marketing/Breadcrumbs'
 import { JsonLd } from '@/components/marketing/JsonLd'
 import { SiteFooter } from '@/components/marketing/SiteFooter'
 import { LanguageLinks } from '@/components/marketing/LanguageLinks'
+import { newRoomHref } from '@/components/marketing/mdx/blocks'
 import { buttonClassName } from '@/components/ui/button-style'
 import { STATIC_PAGES } from '@/data/static-pages'
 import { listAllDocs } from '@/lib/content'
@@ -133,10 +134,12 @@ export async function ContentHub({ locale }: { locale: Locale }) {
                     </ul>
                 )}
 
-                {/* `/new` is app shell too — one URL, cookie decides the language. `/es-419/new` and
-                    `/pt-br/new` are not routes, so prefixing this made the hub's only CTA a 404. */}
+                {/* `/new` is app shell too — one URL, and the language rides in the query rather
+                    than the path: `/es-419/new` and `/pt-br/new` are not routes, so prefixing this
+                    made the hub's only CTA a 404, while the cookie alone sent a Spanish reader to
+                    an English room creator (`locale-handoff.ts`). */}
                 <Link
-                    href="/new"
+                    href={newRoomHref('/new', undefined, locale)}
                     className={buttonClassName({ shadowSize: '4', className: 'mt-8 justify-center text-h6' })}
                 >
                     {t('startRoom')}

apps/web/src/components/marketing/SiteFooter.test.tsx

@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ describe('SiteFooter source receipt', () => {
         const html = renderToStaticMarkup(<SiteFooter showLocaleSwitcher={false} />)
 
         expect(html.match(/href="\/source"/g)).toHaveLength(1)
-        expect(html.match(/peanut\.me/g)).toHaveLength(2)
+        // One, not two: privacy is Split's own page now, so Terms is the last peanut.me link here.
+        expect(html.match(/peanut\.me/g)).toHaveLength(1)
         expect(html).not.toContain('utm_')
     })
 
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ describe('SiteFooter source receipt', () => {
         const html = renderToStaticMarkup(<SiteFooter showLocaleSwitcher={false} />)
 
         expect(html).toContain('href="https://peanut.me/en/terms"')
-        expect(html).toContain('href="https://peanut.me/en/privacy"')
+        expect(html).toContain('href="/privacy"')
         expect(html).not.toContain('utm_')
         expect(html).not.toContain('peanut-logo')
     })

apps/web/src/components/marketing/SiteFooter.tsx

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import Link from 'next/link'
 import { useLocale, useTranslations } from 'next-intl'
+import { newRoomHref } from '@/components/marketing/mdx/blocks'
 import { LocaleSwitcher } from '@/components/ui/LocaleSwitcher'
 import { INDEXED_LOCALES, asLocale, type Locale } from '@/i18n/locales'
 import { localizedPath } from '@/i18n/paths'
@@ -10,12 +11,14 @@ import { publicFossReleased } from '@/lib/flags'
  *  column stops being a directory and starts being a second copy of /blog. */
 const GUIDES_SHOWN = 4
 
-/** The official host's Terms and Privacy live on peanut.me; Split has no legal pages of its own.
+/** Terms still live on peanut.me; privacy is Split's own page, because peanut.me's policy
+ *  describes a wallet with accounts, passkeys and identity documents, and Split has none of that
+ *  while it does have an advertising tag peanut.me's policy never mentions.
  *  These are notices, not promotion: no logo, no UTM, no referral code, and the counted
  *  Peanut-reference standard exempts them the way it exempts the settlement method's URL. */
 const LEGAL_LINKS = [
     { key: 'termsLink', href: 'https://peanut.me/en/terms' },
-    { key: 'privacyLink', href: 'https://peanut.me/en/privacy' },
+    { key: 'privacyLink', href: '/privacy' },
 ] as const
 
 /**
@@ -58,7 +61,9 @@ export function SiteFooter({ showLocaleSwitcher = true }: { showLocaleSwitcher?:
                         <h2 className="text-h9 uppercase tracking-wide text-white">{t('colSplit')}</h2>
                         <ul className="mt-2 flex flex-col gap-1.5">
                             <li>
-                                <Link href="/new" className={linkClass}>
+                                {/* The page states its language in its URL; `/new` reads a cookie
+                                    it never set, so the link says it (`locale-handoff.ts`). */}
+                                <Link href={newRoomHref('/new', undefined, locale)} className={linkClass}>
                                     {t('createSplit')}
                                 </Link>
                             </li>
@@ -142,14 +147,25 @@ export function SiteFooter({ showLocaleSwitcher = true }: { showLocaleSwitcher?:
                     <ul className="flex items-center gap-4">
                         {LEGAL_LINKS.map((entry) => (
                             <li key={entry.key}>
-                                <a
-                                    href={entry.href}
-                                    target="_blank"
-                                    rel="noopener noreferrer"
-                                    className="text-sm text-white/70 transition-colors hover:text-white"
-                                >
-                                    {t(entry.key)}
-                                </a>
+                                {/* Split's own page is same-origin, so it opens in place; the
+                                    notices that still live on peanut.me open in a new tab. */}
+                                {entry.href.startsWith('/') ? (
+                                    <Link
+                                        href={entry.href}
+                                        className="text-sm text-white/70 transition-colors hover:text-white"
+                                    >
+                                        {t(entry.key)}
+                                    </Link>
+                                ) : (
+                                    <a
+                                        href={entry.href}
+                                        target="_blank"
+                                        rel="noopener noreferrer"
+                                        className="text-sm text-white/70 transition-colors hover:text-white"
+                                    >
+                                        {t(entry.key)}
+                                    </a>
+                                )}
                             </li>
                         ))}
                     </ul>

apps/web/src/components/marketing/mdx/blocks.test.tsx

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ describe('Hero hooks', () => {
     it("puts split-btn on the hero's CTA link", () => {
         const button = tagWith(html, 'split-btn')
         expect(button).toMatch(/^<a/)
-        expect(button).toContain('href="/new"')
+        expect(button).toContain('href="/new?locale=en"')
     })
 
     /**
@@ -80,11 +80,11 @@ describe('Hero hooks', () => {
 })
 
 /**
- * SEO loop A. The campaign code is a link attribute and nothing else — no text node, no locale in
- * it, and nothing at all without a context, which is what keeps the generated guide corpus and
- * every `renderArticle` call that passes none exactly as they were.
+ * SEO loop A plus the locale handoff. Both are link attributes and nothing else — no text node —
+ * and the campaign half still needs a context, which is what keeps every `renderArticle` call
+ * that passes none reporting as one uncoded page.
  */
-describe('the /new campaign code', () => {
+describe('the /new link', () => {
     const context: ContentRenderContext = {
         chapter: 'trips',
         seed: 7,
@@ -94,24 +94,47 @@ describe('the /new campaign code', () => {
     }
 
     it("codes the hero's CTA with the page slug", () => {
-        expect(hero({ context })).toContain('href="/new?campaign=content-fronting-a-group-trip"')
+        expect(hero({ context })).toContain('href="/new?campaign=content-fronting-a-group-trip&amp;locale=en"')
     })
 
     it('codes the CTA card the same way, from the same slug', () => {
         const html = renderToStaticMarkup(<CTA text="Start a split" title="Open the room" context={context} />)
-        expect(html).toContain('href="/new?campaign=content-fronting-a-group-trip"')
+        expect(html).toContain('href="/new?campaign=content-fronting-a-group-trip&amp;locale=en"')
     })
 
-    it('leaves /new bare with no context — a guide CTA is unchanged', () => {
-        expect(hero()).toContain('href="/new"')
-        expect(renderToStaticMarkup(<CTA text="Start a split" />)).toContain('href="/new"')
+    /** A6: `/new` reads a cookie, so a Spanish page that stated its language only in its own URL
+     *  handed its reader to an English room creator. Every block carries the page's language. */
+    it('carries the page language on every block a localized landing can use', () => {
+        expect(hero({ context, locale: 'es-419' })).toContain(
+            'href="/new?campaign=content-fronting-a-group-trip&amp;locale=es-419"'
+        )
+        expect(renderToStaticMarkup(<CTA text="Crear un split" locale="es-419" context={context} />)).toContain(
+            'locale=es-419'
+        )
+        expect(
+            renderToStaticMarkup(
+                <RelatedPages title="Sigue leyendo">
+                    <RelatedLink href="/new" locale="pt-br" context={context}>
+                        Abra uma sala
+                    </RelatedLink>
+                </RelatedPages>
+            )
+        ).toContain('locale=pt-br')
     })
 
-    /** An authored href that is not the bare `/new` is a deliberate destination; appending a second
-     *  `?` to one that already carries a query would break it. */
-    it('never touches an href that is not the bare /new', () => {
+    it('carries the language with no context — an uncoded page still lands in its own language', () => {
+        expect(hero({ locale: 'pt-br' })).toContain('href="/new?locale=pt-br"')
+        expect(renderToStaticMarkup(<CTA text="Start a split" />)).toContain('href="/new?locale=en"')
+    })
+
+    /** An authored href that is not `/new` is a deliberate destination, and an authored `locale`
+     *  or `campaign` on `/new` wins over the page's own — `ToolPage` writes its own campaign. */
+    it('never touches an href that is not /new, and never overwrites an authored param', () => {
         expect(hero({ context, ctaHref: '/blog' })).toContain('href="/blog"')
-        expect(hero({ context, ctaHref: '/new?locale=es-419' })).toContain('href="/new?locale=es-419"')
+        expect(hero({ context, ctaHref: '/new?locale=es-419' })).toContain('locale=es-419')
+        expect(hero({ ctaHref: '/new?campaign=content-rent-split-calculator', locale: 'es-419' })).toContain(
+            'href="/new?campaign=content-rent-split-calculator&amp;locale=es-419"'
+        )
     })
 
     it('is a link attribute, never a word on the page', () => {
@@ -230,7 +253,7 @@ const HERO_ON_MAIN =
     '<h1 class="mt-5 text-h3 leading-tight text-n-1">When every booking lands on your card</h1>' +
     '<p class="mt-4 text-base font-medium leading-6 text-n-1">The deposit leaves your account in March.</p></div></div>' +
     '<div class="mx-auto w-full max-w-xl px-5 pt-6"><a class="btn flex items-center gap-2 transition-all duration-100 ' +
-    'active:translate-x-[3px] active:shadow-none w-full btn-primary btn-shadow-primary-4 justify-center text-h6" href="/new">Start a split</a>' +
+    'active:translate-x-[3px] active:shadow-none w-full btn-primary btn-shadow-primary-4 justify-center text-h6" href="/new?locale=en">Start a split</a>' +
     '<p class="mt-3 text-center text-sm text-grey-1">Takes ten seconds.</p></div></section>'
 
 /** Drops every `split-*` token and re-joins on single spaces, applied to both sides. */

apps/web/src/components/marketing/mdx/blocks.tsx

@@ -54,23 +54,32 @@ export interface ContentRenderContext {
 }
 
 /**
- * The room-creation link, campaign-coded when we know which article it is on (SEO loop A).
+ * The room-creation link: campaign-coded when we know which article it is on (SEO loop A), and
+ * always carrying the page's own language.
  *
- * Only the bare `/new` is rewritten: an authored `ctaHref` that already carries a query is a
- * deliberate destination, and appending a second `?` would break it. The result is one plain link
- * attribute — no text node, deterministic per slug and identical in every locale — which is what
- * lets a content-sourced room be counted without any app-side change to `/new`. Precedent:
- * `SettleDrawer`'s `campaign=split`.
+ * The locale is not decoration. `/new` reads the language off a cookie, and an article states its
+ * language in its URL and never sets that cookie — so a Spanish landing handed its reader to an
+ * English room creator. `locale-handoff.ts` is the receiving end, and the generated guides have
+ * pointed at `/new?locale=…` since they shipped; the authored pages are the ones that did not.
  *
- * Guides never reach here with a context (their CTA is `ContentCTA`), so the generated corpus is
- * untouched.
+ * Only a `/new` href is rewritten, and an authored query survives — `ToolPage` writes its own
+ * `campaign` — so the result stays one plain link attribute, deterministic per slug and language,
+ * which is what lets a content-sourced room be counted without any app-side change to `/new`.
+ * Precedent: `SettleDrawer`'s `campaign=split`.
  *
- * Every block an article can point at `/new` calls this: `Hero`, `CTA`, and `RelatedLink` — the
- * last because who-pays-for-the-wine ends its related list with one, and a single uncoded link on
- * a pilot page is a hole in the only number this loop exists to produce.
+ * Every block an article can point at `/new` calls this: `Hero`, `CTA`, `RelatedLink` and the
+ * prose `a` — the last two because who-pays-for-the-wine ends its related list with one and
+ * fair-split-calculator sends its reader on mid-sentence, and a single uncoded link on a paid
+ * page is a hole in the only number this loop exists to produce.
  */
-function withCampaign(href: string, slug: string | undefined): string {
-    return slug && href === '/new' ? `${href}?campaign=content-${slug}` : href
+export function newRoomHref(href: string, slug: string | undefined, locale: Locale): string {
+    const [pathname, query] = href.split('?')
+    if (pathname !== '/new') return href
+
+    const params = new URLSearchParams(query)
+    if (slug && !params.has('campaign')) params.set('campaign', `content-${slug}`)
+    if (!params.has('locale')) params.set('locale', locale)
+    return `${pathname}?${params}`
 }
 
 export function Hero({
@@ -115,7 +124,7 @@ export function Hero({
             {cta && (
                 <div className={`${COLUMN} pt-6`}>
                     <Link
-                        href={withCampaign(ctaHref, context?.slug)}
+                        href={newRoomHref(ctaHref, context?.slug, locale)}
                         className={buttonClassName({ shadowSize: '4', className: 'split-btn justify-center text-h6' })}
                     >
                         {cta}
@@ -132,13 +141,16 @@ export function CTA({
     href = '/new',
     title,
     body,
+    locale = 'en',
     context,
 }: {
     text: string
     href?: string
     title?: string
     body?: string
     /** Not MDX-authored — bound in `localizedMdxComponents`. */
+    locale?: Locale
+    /** Not MDX-authored — bound in `localizedMdxComponents`. */
     context?: ContentRenderContext
 }) {
     return (
@@ -147,7 +159,7 @@ export function CTA({
                 {title && <h2 className="split-block-title text-h5">{title}</h2>}
                 {body && <p className="mt-2 text-sm leading-5 text-grey-1">{body}</p>}
                 <Link
-                    href={withCampaign(href, context?.slug)}
+                    href={newRoomHref(href, context?.slug, locale)}
                     className={buttonClassName({ shadowSize: '4', className: 'split-btn mt-4 justify-center text-h6' })}
                 >
                     {text}
@@ -383,18 +395,21 @@ export function RelatedPages({ title = 'Keep reading', children }: { title?: str
 export function RelatedLink({
     href,
     children,
+    locale = 'en',
     context,
 }: {
     href: string
     children: ReactNode
+    /** Not MDX-authored — bound in `localizedMdxComponents`. */
+    locale?: Locale
     /** Not MDX-authored — bound in `localizedMdxComponents`. A related list is the one other place
      *  an article authors `/new` (who-pays-for-the-wine does), so loop A has to reach it too. */
     context?: ContentRenderContext
 }) {
     return (
         <li>
             <Link
-                href={withCampaign(href, context?.slug)}
+                href={newRoomHref(href, context?.slug, locale)}
                 data-focus-contained
                 className="flex min-h-11 items-center gap-2 bg-white px-4 py-3 hover:bg-grey-3"
             >

apps/web/src/components/marketing/mdx/components.tsx

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
     RelatedPages,
     Step,
     Steps,
+    newRoomHref,
     type ContentRenderContext,
 } from './blocks'
 import { Calc } from './Calc'
@@ -179,10 +180,15 @@ export function localizedMdxComponents(
             <RelatedPages title={title ?? labels.related}>{children}</RelatedPages>
         ),
         RelatedLink: ({ href, children }: { href: string; children: ReactNode }) => (
-            <RelatedLink href={href} context={context}>
+            <RelatedLink href={href} locale={locale} context={context}>
                 {children}
             </RelatedLink>
         ),
+        // A prose link is the one room-creation link a page can carry without a block around it
+        // (fair-split-calculator sends its reader on mid-sentence), so it takes the same handoff.
+        a: ({ href = '', ...props }: AnchorHTMLAttributes<HTMLAnchorElement>) => (
+            <ProseLink href={newRoomHref(href, context?.slug, locale)} {...props} />
+        ),
         // A page with a `<Hero>` gets its h1 from the hero. A capture page has no hero by
         // stylebook, so its h1 is a markdown `#` — same typography, and the same ShortVersion slot
         // right after it.
@@ -202,7 +208,7 @@ export function localizedMdxComponents(
         // `/new` campaign code, `Share` reads the canonical too. A guide calls this with no context
         // and gets exactly the behaviour it had before — an uncoded `/new` and no share block.
         // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
-        CTA: (props: any) => <CTA {...props} context={context} />,
+        CTA: (props: any) => <CTA {...props} locale={locale} context={context} />,
         // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
         Share: (props: any) => <Share {...props} context={context} />,
     }