Is this the correct way to hide aff links?

[wjb316]

Hello all,

I wanted to make sure I'm doing this correctly. The goal is to hide my affiliate links so they look cleaner. Here's what I've got in my htaccess:

# Temporary redirects for affiliate links
Redirect 302 /go/fulltilt http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/XMyzXmyYxZzynLtX
Redirect 302 /download/fulltilt http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/download/key=xZxyYzXzzyZ
# End of affiliate redirects

I just made up those affiliate links so don't worry about the actual link.. I just want to make sure I have set the redirect correctly. It works when I click my links but am not getting sign ups where I think I should be on one site.


EDIT - I think I figured this out on my own. Another affiliate told me about a wordpress plugin that handles affiliate redirects automatically. You can find it at http://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/redirection/

This is a very hand plugin if you use WP. It will make your affiliate links look clean and it can track how many hits each link gets.

[RayUK]

I don't think there is one canonical 'correct' way to do it - all the ways you mention in your post work and are used. As long as it tracks and you like the look of the links I am sure it is fine. Personally I use php files and keep them in a folder, thus my affiliate links look like: mydomain.co.uk/go/asite.php

[jdwanchalk]

Just out of curiosity, is this just a personal preference thing? I am pretty sure like no one would not click something because the link had an affiliate extension. This is if the person viewing the site even looks to see where the link is going. ?

[Mike]

Personally, I look at links before clicking on them, but that's just me. I'm not sure if this is meant to hide from users more than it is from search engines.

I do cloak my aff links because it helps me track them and allows for more control / ease of use, plus the added benefit of blocking the whole redirect directory in a robots.txt file. For me, the biggest benefit is when it comes time to change affiliate links, though. It's much easier to change one link in an .htaccess file or php redirect script than it is to search through an entire site trying to find all of the affiliate links.

[Matt Geer]

Personally, I look at links before clicking on them, but that's just me. I'm not sure if this is meant to hide from users more than it is from search engines.

I do cloak my aff links because it helps me track them and allows for more control / ease of use, plus the added benefit of blocking the whole redirect directory in a robots.txt file. For me, the biggest benefit is when it comes time to change affiliate links, though. It's much easier to change one link in an .htaccess file or php redirect script than it is to search through an entire site trying to find all of the affiliate links.

Hey Mike, Is there a good tutorial of this that you know of or is it pretty easy to explain?

I'm not so much concerend about hiding the aff links but being able to change them within one file as opposed to searching them definitely sounds like a plus.

[Mike]

I prefer using the folder method versus the .htaccess method. If you are interested in using the .htaccess method, just add the OPs code into your .htaccess file at the root of your directory (changing the affiliate links, of course).

Here is the php method:

1. Create a folder named "go" using whatever ftp program you like
2. Inside of the "go" folder, create a folder for each room you promote
3. Inside of each room's folder, upload a file named index.php with the following code:

<?
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" ); 
Header( "Location: AFFILIATE LINK HERE" ); 
?>

So, using Aced.com as an example, instead of linking with the affiliate link, use xww.yourdomain.com/go/aced/ and your traffic will redirect to aced.com via your aff link.

4. Just to keep good housekeeping, I no follow whenever I link to these folders and I also put the following code in my robots.txt

User-agent: *
Disallow: /go/

[PokerDude]

I don't think there is one canonical 'correct' way to do it - all the ways you mention in your post work and are used. As long as it tracks and you like the look of the links I am sure it is fine. Personally I use php files and keep them in a folder, thus my affiliate links look like: mydomain.co.uk/go/asite.php

I do something similar. I have created a CGI program that encapsulates all links by using and index into a database. # 1, it hides the content of the links, # 2, it allows me to do some internal tracking and storing of information in my database, and # 3, it externalizes all of my affiliate links into my database (should I need to change the link, I only have to update a row in a database, as opposed to changing my HTML code).

[Spry]

Just out of curiosity, is this just a personal preference thing? I am pretty sure like no one would not click something because the link had an affiliate extension. This is if the person viewing the site even looks to see where the link is going. ?

while i don't have any empirical testing, i think a certain % of web users will absolutely look to see where the link is going before they click on it and many of them will not click on a link that looks like an affiliate link. I have seen people roll over links, check the destination and end up opening a new browser and typing in the domain name directly instead of clicking a link. What percentage of users this is, I don't know (does anyone??).

I've used php re-directs and the redirection plugin and both work. The plugin tracks your clicks too so if you don't have that solution already then i'd go with the plugin.

[MJ]

Clicktale test in the making I'd say.

[Matt Geer]

Thanks Mike for explaining that.

Now, when you no-follow the folders, are you doing that within the text - wherever the link happens to be?

And if so, does that no-follow the aff link as well?