Link cloaking is one of those topics that has been debated in the internet marketing community since the earliest days of affiliate marketing. Some people swear by it, others think it is shady. The truth, as with most things, is that it depends entirely on how and why you do it.
What Is Link Cloaking?
Link cloaking is any technique that redirects a clean, readable URL to the actual destination URL. For example, instead of sharing an ugly affiliate link like https://affiliateprogram.com/ref=12345&tracking=abc&campaign=xyz, you share something like https://yourdomain.com/recommends/tool-name. The visitor clicks your clean link and gets redirected to the destination.
I have used link cloaking on this site since 2008, and I still use it today. Here is why it matters and how to do it ethically.
The Wrong Reasons to Cloak Links
Let me be direct about this. Some people cloak links for reasons that are dishonest, and that is a problem. Here are the wrong reasons.
- To hide that you are earning a commission. If you recommend a product and get paid when someone buys it, you need to disclose that. The FTC requires it, and basic honesty demands it. Link cloaking does not exempt you from disclosure requirements.
- To stuff cookies. Cookie stuffing is a form of affiliate fraud where cookies are placed on a visitor's browser without their knowledge. It is illegal in many jurisdictions and will get you banned from every reputable affiliate program.
- To mislead people about where a link goes. If you are using cloaked links to trick people into clicking something they would not otherwise click, you are doing it wrong.
My personal standard has always been this: if you would not want it on the front page of the New York Times, do not do it.
The Right Reasons to Cloak Affiliate Links
Used properly, link cloaking is a legitimate business practice that makes your site easier to manage and more transparent for your readers.
Click Tracking and Analytics
If you do not know what people are clicking on your site, you cannot make informed decisions about your business. Cloaked links give you a centralized way to track clicks, test different placements, and measure what is actually working. This is basic marketing analytics.
Affiliate Link Management
Affiliate programs change their links, switch networks, or shut down entirely. If you have 50 direct affiliate links scattered across your content and the program changes its URL structure, you have to find and update all 50. With cloaked links, you change the redirect destination in one place and every link on your site is updated instantly.
Transparency and Disclosure
This might seem counterintuitive, but cloaked links can actually make your affiliate relationships more transparent. I use the word “recommends” in all my affiliate URLs. When a reader sees latenightim.com/recommends/something, they know I am recommending a product and may earn a commission. That is clearer than a random string of tracking parameters.
How to Cloak Links in 2026
If you are running a WordPress site, the easiest approach is a plugin. Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates are the two most popular options. Both let you create clean redirect URLs, track clicks, and manage all your affiliate links from a single dashboard.
For non-WordPress sites, you can set up redirects at the server level using your hosting control panel, or use a link management tool like Geniuslink or Bitly for basic redirect and tracking functionality.
Whatever method you choose, make sure you are also maintaining a clear disclosure policy on your site. The FTC guidelines are straightforward: disclose your affiliate relationships clearly and conspicuously. A disclosure page is good. Inline disclosure near affiliate links is better. Both together is best.
The Bottom Line
Cloak your affiliate links — but do it for the right reasons. Use it for analytics, for link management, and for transparency. In most successful online businesses, being honest about how you make money actually builds trust and increases conversions. Your readers are smart. Treat them that way.
What an excellent article!!
I have been thinking about cloaking a ittle and didn’t see a need to do it. However the tracking could be very important.
My stats tracking is awful and I have not yet sat down and seriously worked out how to grow any of my sites based on this. I will be looking forward to your next article.
Excellent post, Mark.
It’s always humorous to hear people say they cloak links to hide the fact that it’s an affiliate link. If someone wants to get rid of your aff. i.d., so they can order through their own link or just to spite you, they’re going to do it whether it’s “cloaked” or not. In most cases cloaked links are easier to point out than aff links.
I don’t believe I would argue with any aspect of this article. Great job!
Good Article! – besides tracking another reason to cloak or relay affiliate links is that sometimes the original affiliate link changes and then if you have posted that link here or there in forums or whatnot all those links are no longer valid – if you cloak or relay the link in some way then you just go to your cloaked link and change the distination (original affiliate link) to the new one and all your previous linking stays current.
hth ~megan
Ahhh cool, looking forward to the Guest appearance. I still have not gotten around to reading your Ebook but am looking forward to that too!
So much to do, so little time :)…. need to make money too 🙁
@Forest — thanks, man. I had planned that post for Wed, but may push it to Friday. I need to make room for a guest appearance from the Cow Slayer on Wed.
@Josh. Thank you very much sir. I agree with you completely, but I keep seeing link cloaking products based completely on “theft deterrence.” Guess we just don’t get it. LOL
@Megan. Thank you. Completely agree with you. This has happened to me more than once already – usually because an affiliate changes domain names or software. Some people take this even further, and make the link completely generic — “To see my current recommendation for autoresponders, click here…” I don’t really do that, but it can make sense in things like eBooks where you completely lose control of the link.
I think the thing that you helped me with the most, Mark, is me recognizing that I need to update my disclosure policy to reflect that I use links of this nature. I’ve recently started cloaking my affiliate links. The thing is is that if you have them out in the open or cloak them, it still raises an eyebrow for the user with the keen eye. So I guess in my mind, the best way to think of using them is: 1) update once, populate many; and, 2) emphasize that this is a recommended link by including the “recommends” directory in the url.
Oh cool, so we’re having a cook out on Wednesday. Wonderful!!! Tell you what, I’ll bring the steak and you bring the drinks… only thing I need to know is how you like your COW cooked. 🙂
I would add one more positive to your list of why one should consider cloaking their links and that is professionalism. By having a cloaked link that reads well creates a much better image in the visitor’s mind than having a long, ugly affiliate link.
Another BIG reason is to keep the source of the traffic a secret. Which I suppose could be the other half of the theft deterrent argument. If you have stumbled upon some great traffic source, you can bet that whoever runs that affiliate program at the top, is going to want to get in on it, and share it with the rest of the affiliates out there. You want the referring URL reported to their stats program to be your cloak script, not your secret traffic source.
@Forest — glad you are planing to read the eBook. Very interested in your impression of it.
@Mark — I am big into “full disclosure” and transparency. Glad to hear you agree with that.
@Garry — Eat more beef!
@Christian — I completely agree with that, but must admit that I had never considered it. That’s really another reason that I like this method — I think “recommends” in the URL gives a clean look. Thanks!
@linuxhat — excellent point that I did not mention here. Thanks for adding that. This is absolutely critical in many case – especially PPC.
Hey Mark.
Great post. I personally dont cloak links. I probably should just so I can track them and see whats happening with them. I agree with christian and he/she makes a good point about how the link itself looks and how it affects branding.
My personal feeling is that cloaking and hiding is probably only neccesary in the IM market, other than what christian mentioned.
Defiante good resource here, I’ll be linking to it soon
Oh you missed Aarons meeting dude, tisk tisk, or were you BBQ’ing with Garry. Hey give me an invite next you two BBQ, I make a killer cedar smoked steak
Hi Mark,
I create a subdomain for each affilliate link that I have. Do you think this is a good way to go?
cheers
Tony
Tony;
It is a great way to go because it looks clean and professional. It also allows you to change where the link points to if you need to.
The only possible issue would be tracking. It is good to be able to track the number of clicks and where they are coming from. If you can do that (using GA or something), then I would says that your solution is just as good as mine.
cool, thanks for the prompt response as well
I’ll keep an eye or two on your blog 🙂
Hey Mark,
Apologies if you don’t like people “reopening” old posts, but I’ve always wondered if Google spots php redirects and the like, and lowers your PPC quality scores…
What do you think? I haven’t tested this yet, but will do so soon. Would be interesting if it gave a point of QS… but if it did I would have thought it would be common knowledge by now!
Cheers,
Jonathon
No problem, Jonathon.
My belief is that quality score is not impacted by redirects as long as they are not cloaking the final URL (fooling the user), cookie stuffing (stealing commissions), or mismatched with the add. That last one means that your final url has to match the display URL. The intermediate url (the cloaking URL) does not need to match.
HOWEVER — I am not a PPC guy. All of my experiences with PPC have been painful .