Tips that save time.
Affiliate marketing can be a great way to generate income from your website. However, managing those affiliate links can be a challenge. That’s where affiliate link cloaking comes in.
The name sounds mysterious, but the practice itself is pretty straightforward:
Affiliate link cloaking is a technique that converts long, complex affiliate URLs into shorter, more user-friendly links. For example, instead of using a link like example.com/xyzproduct?id=12345, you can cloak it to look like yoursite.com/go/product. This has several advantages.
In this post, I’ll walk you through what affiliate link cloaking is, why it’s beneficial, and how to cloak affiliate links using a popular WordPress plugin.
What is affiliate link cloaking?
Affiliate link cloaking is the process of converting long, complex affiliate URLs into shorter, more user-friendly links.
This technique is essential for anyone involved in affiliate marketing. Cloaking makes your links look clean and professional, which can lead to higher click-through rates.
There are several reasons why cloaking your affiliate links is beneficial:
- You get shorter branded links: Cloaked links are typically shorter and branded with your domain name. The example I gave you above visualizes this very well; so instead of a long, unwieldy link like
example.com/xyzproduct?id=12345, you can use a cleaner one likeyoursite.com/go/product. This looks more professional and is easier to share, whether you’re embedding it in a blog post or sharing it on social media. - Easier click tracking: Cloaked links allow you to track clicks more effectively. This is crucial for analyzing the performance of your affiliate links. With tracking, you can see which links are getting the most clicks and adjust your strategies accordingly. Most link cloaking tools or plugins provide detailed analytics that help you understand your audience’s behavior.
- You can prevent hijacking: Link hijacking occurs when someone replaces your affiliate ID with their own to earn commissions that should have been yours. Cloaking your links can help prevent this. By disguising the affiliate URL, you make it harder for malicious users to alter the link and steal your commissions.
IMO, cloaking affiliate links is one of those practices that has no downsides. You’re basically always better off with cloaked links vs normal ones.
Best WordPress plugins for cloaking affiliate links
When it comes to cloaking affiliate links on a WordPress site, using a plugin is by far the easiest and most dependable way to do it. With the right plugin, you can save a lot of time and effort.
According to user reviews and overall popularity of those tools, the top two such plugins out there are: ThirstyAffiliates, and Pretty Links.
Each of these plugins offers kind of the same thing, with a couple unique features here and there. Here’s some key info about them:
ThirstyAffiliates
ThirstyAffiliates is the most popular plugin of its kind. It is a robust tool that goes beyond basic link cloaking. It helps you organize and manage your affiliate links with features like automatic keyword linking, which saves time by turning specific keywords into affiliate links across your site.
The plugin also offers detailed performance reports, allowing you to track clicks and conversions to see which links are most effective.
Additionally, ThirstyAffiliates supports link categorization, making it easier to manage and locate your links.
This is the plugin I use on this site, by the way. I really value how easily accessible all its features are.
Pretty Links
Pretty Links is another versatile plugin that stands out with its focus on comprehensive link tracking and redirection options. Unlike ThirstyAffiliates, which emphasizes affiliate link management and automatic keyword linking, Pretty Links offers a broader range of redirection types, including 301, 302, etc., giving you more control over how links behave.
It also excels in detailed click tracking and analytics, providing extensive data on link performance. Additionally, Pretty Links highlights its URL shortening as something to be meant for any link, not just affiliate links, making it perhaps a more accessible solution for those who’d like to link to their Twitter or Facebook profiles more effectively.
How to cloak affiliate links with ThirstyAffiliates
Given that I already mentioned I use ThirstyAffiliates on this very site – and I also think it’s the best plugin for the task – the following section is going to describe a step-by-step process on how to cloak your affiliate links using ThirstyAffiliates:
1. Install and activate ThirstyAffiliates
This part is simple enough, just:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins → Add New
- Search for “ThirstyAffiliates”
- Click Install Now and then Activate
2. Configure basic settings
Once activated, go to the ThirstyAffiliates settings page. You’ll see something like this:
ThirstyAffiliates has pretty good default settings in the General tab, so you can stay with that. You can also emulate my settings from above.
Next, go to the Link Appearance tab. This is the most important one since it allows you to pick the prefix for your affiliate links. Here are the main options available:
My favorite is /go/. It’s very universal and short. If you want something super-original, though, you can also set a custom one.
The rest of the settings on this pare are only important if you’re planning on using auto-inclusions of your links. As in, setting conditions as to when an affiliate link should be included automatically. (I wouldn’t recommend doing this, though.)
ThirstyAffiliates also lets you install additional modules for things like click stats or fixing your links. You can find those in the Modules tab:
3. Add a new affiliate link to the catalog
From the ThirstyAffiliates menu, go to Affiliate Links. From there, you can click on the New Affiliate Link button up top.
You’ll see a screen like this:
The main fields to fill out are:
- Link title – the main field up top
- Destination URL – the one below it
All the other sections you see on the page are optional and let you use some of the plugin’s more advanced features.
Here’s how to set the title and destination:
- Title – this is going to be the short part of the cloaked affiliate URL; for example, if you enter something like “cookies” there, then your final link is going to be
example.com/go/cookies - Destination – put your raw affiliate link URL in here – the URL provided to you by your affiliate network
Click on Save Link when you’re done.
4. See your link in the ThirstyAffiliates catalog
When you come back to the main ThirstyAffiliates section in the WordPress dashboard, you should see your link there on the list along with the other ones. Something like this:
This verifies that your link has been added and that you can start using it on your site.
5. Insert your cloaked links into content
When working on a post in your WordPress editor, use the ThirstyAffiliates button to easily insert cloaked links into the body of the post (or page):
After clicking this button, you will see a search box that looks through all the affiliate links in your catalog and allows you to pick one.
Alternatively, you can simply highlight any phrase of text on the page and manually copy and paste the cloaked URL from the ThirstyAffiliates dashboard:
6. Track link performance
Go to the ThirstyAffiliates Reports section to view detailed statistics on link clicks:
Use this data to analyze which links are performing best and adjust your strategies accordingly.
Cloaking affiliate links = easy
As you can see, it’s not all too difficult. By following these steps, you can efficiently cloak your affiliate links using ThirstyAffiliates, making them look cleaner and more professional.
This not only helps in maintaining a better user experience but also protects your commissions and provides valuable insights into link performance.
I hope this has been helpful! If you need anything clarified, let me know.
