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Should I Cloak My Affiliate Links?

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mmarkm55
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14 Sep 09 11:40 pm

Should I Cloak My Affiliate Links?

I can't seem to get an answer on this so if you know please help. Thanks. If I have links on my web page that go to an affiliate site, do I have to do anything special to that link-- like cloaking or anything else? I am only relying on SEO for my sites and I think I have heard that Google will not give you high rankings if you are promoting companies products as an affiliate....... But I thought that was what we were supposed to be doing. I'm so confused. Thanks again for any help.
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Last edited by michellerana on 16 Sep 09 12:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: title changed to describe the post better
 
braumab
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14 Sep 09 11:58 pm

 Hi there,

I certainly understand your confusion. You certainly want to cloak your links for the simple reason that most people are hestitant to buy something when the link reads "www.balbalbalbalba.com/hop?=blablabla". Its ongoing and you aren't familiar with how affiliates work then you catch youself thinking "am i getting scammed?" I've been there :\. But yes, try to cloak your links. Are you using xsitepro? I would recommend doing so.
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PremiumMember
mmarkm55
Posts: 4
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15 Sep 09 1:10 am

 Thanks for the response. I am using xsite pro. Do you know where I can learn how to cloak my links using xsite pro?
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PremiumMember
ampie g
Posts: 381
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15 Sep 09 1:55 am

 You can use redirects. Seeing that you're an Affiloblueprint member, week 7 video 6 lesson is about creating redirects.
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PremiumMember
mmarkm55
Posts: 4
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15 Sep 09 2:03 am

 If I have a page that is recommending several products from different companies, that would require a different new domain name I would have to buy for each if I go the redirect route. Is that the best way? If I don't do anything will Google punish me with poor SEO.
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faradina
Posts: 1895
Joined: 01 Jun 09
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15 Sep 09 10:18 am

 You don't need domains. What you need are folders: one folder for each product.
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Site Admin
markling
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16 Sep 09 4:58 am

 Google will know its an affiliate link whether you cloak it or not. Creating redirects just makes them more appealing to click on - a simple URL instead of a long ugly affiliate link.

Google do not penalize per se for affiliate links - what they dont like is sites that are overly spammy - lots of affiliate links on the same page with little in the way of valuable content for the visitor.
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edwinboiten
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18 Sep 09 10:23 pm

 The easiest way I know is to create a page with this code. call it anything you like but make it end on .php instead of html and upload it to your site. then you link to that page and it will redirect the visitor to the affiliatelink

<?php
$url = "http://youraffiliatelink.com/goes/here";
header("Location: $url");
exit;
?>
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PremiumMember
curt850
Posts: 26
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19 Sep 09 7:14 pm

 Hi Guys,

I am still new to this but can't we just use "no follow" on our affiliate links to solve this problem, or am I confused as well? From his original post he only seems interested in making sure he's not penalized by Google for having too many outgoing affiliate links, and not too concerned about the appearance of the links themselves.

Curt
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Last edited by michellerana on 12 Nov 09 2:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
 

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earn4slwan
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Joined: 29 Sep 09
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30 Sep 09 12:46 am

 That's a really good question and I've actually wondered the same. Curious to see what some other people have to say first.
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Last edited by michellerana on 12 Nov 09 2:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
wgnwhite
Posts: 1
Joined: 21 Oct 09
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21 Oct 09 2:09 pm

 We can use cPanel to redirect.

Or .htaccess. Use 301 redirect.
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websuccess
Posts: 3
Joined: 04 Nov 09
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04 Nov 09 12:46 am

 Read How To Make Money With ClickBank Part 1:Cloaking on the 2nd
site in my signature.
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Moderator
superaff
Posts: 354
Joined: 09 Sep 06
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11 Nov 09 5:49 pm

 Hey,

Don't worry too much about cloaking (hiding) your affiliate links.

Cloaking your links means hiding your links. You hide them because you don't want other marketers to "steal" your commissions. Generally, this happens in the "make money online" and "affiliate marketing" niche.

How it is done.

Someone clicks on your affiliate links and look at your clickbank ID. But instead of buying right away, he adds his OWN clicbank ID and make the purchase. The bottom line is that you don't get the commission, but HE gets it.

If your website is in the weight loss niche for example, nobody is going to steal your commission.

If you want to hide your commission, just use a simple php redirect.

As for adding the rel="nofollow" tag, this is because Google is not found of affiliate sites. You add the "nofollow" tag to show Google that you are not passing any pr juice to the site you are promoting.

I hope this makes sense.

Franck

mmarkm55 wrote:I can't seem to get an answer on this so if you know please help. Thanks. If I have links on my web page that go to an affiliate site, do I have to do anything special to that link-- like cloaking or anything else? I am only relying on SEO for my sites and I think I have heard that Google will not give you high rankings if you are promoting companies products as an affiliate....... But I thought that was what we were supposed to be doing. I'm so confused. Thanks again for any help.
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Last edited by michellerana on 12 Nov 09 2:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
 

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PremiumMember
bobb30
Posts: 3
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30 Nov 09 5:42 pm

 You can get a free link cloaker at almost any giveaway event. There is an updated list of upcoming giveaway events at Resellrightscafe.com/giveawayevents

You will need a website and I recommend getting a generic name such as: greatdealsonline or onlinequality. Something you can use in any niche. You an even pick up a .info domain for 99cents.

Your cloaked links would then look something like:
onlinequality.info/fatloss4idiots or greatdealsonline.com/forex

I have two domains that I use for nothing but cloaking links. Once you download one of the free link cloakers you will be able to follow the instructions. It's a simple two step process.

You will need to know how to use an FTP program to upload your link to your server, but they are free. I use Filezilla. And you will also have to have a web hosting account.

Hope this helps.
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mack45
Posts: 236
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02 Dec 09 7:56 am

 I this cloaking is new to me I just use an anchor text for sub domains. As far as seo , google prefers you to use more different links on your sites and I heard deep linking was just good practice. I still like the use of an anchor text idea. If google can see through your clocking then I think unless you are afraid of theft the anchor text would be easier.
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coltgalloway
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20 Dec 10 10:00 am

 For more information about link cloaking your can always visit my site at www.protectyourlink.com
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etfimt
Posts: 136
Joined: 31 Mar 12
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24 Apr 12 7:44 am

 I just read information from clickbank about protecting your hoplink :

HopLinks are an extremely secure and reliable method of promoting products and receiving affiliate credit for sales. However, some affiliates with knowledge of HTML or PHP may want additional ways to encode or “cloak” their HopLinks. Please note that cloaking your HopLinks is not required, as ClickBank HopLinks are now automatically encoded by the HopLink Shield, which provides a great deal of security and protection.

Is this Hoplink Shield really working or is just safer still to cloak .
Thanks Eva
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cecille.l
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24 Apr 12 9:12 am

 Most of the time it is not because hoplinks are insecure and thus need to be cloaked or masked. Affiliates cloak/mask their affiliate links because they don't look good. Users are more like to click a simple-looking and
"safe" - looking link like [Link no longer available] rather than something looks like this http://enterid.clickbank.com/123556656_ ... hoidrs.php

So affiliate marketers cloak their affiliate links.

This is entirely optional of course, and we recommend a redirect instead of cloaking affiliate links.

Hope that helps. Have a good day!
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Cecille

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etfimt
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24 Apr 12 5:42 pm

 Thank You Cecille :)
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cecille.l
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26 Apr 12 2:25 am

 Thanks Eva! :)

Let us know if you have further inquiries. All the best!
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Cecille

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esolutions
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28 May 12 6:01 pm

 A really easy way to achieve this is by using the free Wordpress plugin Prettylink.
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macktheknife
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14 Jun 12 11:57 am
coltgalloway wrote:For more information about link cloaking your can always visit my site at http://www.protectyourlink.com



Hey your link doesnt work????? Is it real or broken?? thanks
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macktheknife
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14 Jun 12 12:10 pm
Cecille L wrote:Thanks Eva! :)

Let us know if you have further inquiries. All the best!



Hi, I am fairly new but I understand why and how of link cloaking using redirect page on my website. But my question is when a customer ends up on the sales page of my affiliate product, then my clickbank ID is clearly visible in the address bar . For example:
http://www.myaffproduct.com/?hop=myclickbankID

Someone can steal it easily. Is there a way to HIDE this?

thanks
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lilygreen289
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19 Jun 12 2:54 am

 You can use redirects. Seeing that you're an Affiloblueprint member, week 7 video 6 lesson is about creating redirects.
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macktheknife
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19 Jun 12 3:56 am
lilygreen289 wrote:You can use redirects. Seeing that you're an Affiloblueprint member, week 7 video 6 lesson is about creating redirects.




Yes I know.......no offense, but if you read all the above posts you can see that issue has already been settled....

I think I figured out that the affID will always show up on the sales page.....
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macktheknife
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19 Jun 12 3:57 am
lilygreen289 wrote:You can use redirects. Seeing that you're an Affiloblueprint member, week 7 video 6 lesson is about creating redirects.



Sorry, are you trying to tell me there is some NEW information in that lesson that is not mentioned here in this post? thanks
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jmaxx01
Posts: 2
Joined: 23 Jul 12
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23 Jul 12 5:35 am

 I FOUND A VERY GOOD AFFILIATE LINK CLOAKER.
IT IS FREE AND EASY TO USE.
http://thevaluehub.com/affiliate-cloaker/
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anil
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27 Jul 12 5:35 am

 The 'redirection' plugin for wordpress also will allow you to have a friendly looking affiliate link that screams click here ;)
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yougpeter
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03 Aug 12 11:41 pm

 Also WordPress plugin "GOCODES"" is great.
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andlosek89
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13 Oct 12 3:49 pm

 So from the thread I can realize that redirects is better than cloaking as most of contributor suggest that. I was confused to watch the word "Cloak" as I know cloaking is a controversial SEO practice.
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esolutions
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16 Oct 12 12:54 am
andlosek89 wrote:So from the thread I can realize that redirects is better than cloaking as most of contributor suggest that. I was confused to watch the word "Cloak" as I know cloaking is a controversial SEO practice.


Yeah, often confused, but not the same. Use redirects!
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