DO i need to cloak my affiliate links ?

[Alphawarrior]

hi guys ,

i know that in order to prevent people to "spy" on my campaigns

i need to cloak my affiliate links , can anyone please advise which softwares

are easy to use for claoking ? i m currently using bemob .for my tracker .

how would i need to setup my cloaked link with my tracker?

i would really really appreciate any advise as Im kinda confused to the whole landing , tracking and cloaking process , thanks once again and have a great one !

 

[Stephen ThriveTracker]

What's up @Alphawarrior, let me see if I can help here

The practice of cloaking is to show your landers and offers only to the audience of your choosing, while the rest of the crowd is redirected elsewhere around the internet. This process takes place during the redirection of the visitor from the traffic source to landing page/offer.

In bemob, I'm not sure there is a built-in option for achieving this. I know for certain Voluum does not offer it in their platform. ThriveTracker offers an option to help protect the integrity of your campaigns, and it is very easy to use, but if you're enjoying bemob, then you'll need to enlist the help of a good third-party platform to handle this task.

Check out options from Traffic Armor or Justcloakits, as they seem to be two of the most popular options.

Here is a great step-by-step on how to accomplish this with your own clever bit of coding: https://crunchify.com/what-is-affil...your-affiliate-link-without-wordpress-plugin/

Meanwhile, a little food for thought on the subject - Charles Ngo put out a great piece on this topic just last year: An Intro: The Underground World of Cloaking

Cheers,

 

[Alphawarrior]

what is up @Stephen ThriveTracker
thanks for your useful post , I will check them out,seems like a lot to read but Im all up for it ! cheers . towards my first successful campaign !

 

[Alphawarrior]

Just rewrite the links on your server
so www.your-domian.com/1/2345 rewrites to =>www.offer.com/index.php?a=1&bb=34jidls&c=te66
Apache .htaccess mod_rewrite
Nginx in that server block configuration file @root

redirect by user agent (aka:device)

 PHP $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];

redirect by country

$userip = getenv(GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE);

Klingon warships cloak

I think you just want to try to hide the link's final destination from the casual observer, yes -- then you need to rewrite the links.

@Graybeard thank u for yr reply, but what i just read is beyond my knowledge .

Im pretty new to this so i very likely would need a software to do it for me .

appreciate the reply tho , and will read again to see if i am able to digest it . cheers!

 

[Alphawarrior]

Just rewrite or redirect the links on your server
so www.your-domian.com/1/2345 rewrites to =>www.offer.com/index.php?a=1&bb=34jidls&c=te66
Apache .htaccess mod_rewrite
Nginx in that server block configuration file as root
redirect by user agent (aka:device)

 $device = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];

redirect by country

$userip = getenv(GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE);

Klingon warships cloak

I think you just want to try to hide the link's final destination from the casual observer, yes -- then you need to server rewrite or redirect the links.

btw who is klingon ?

 

[Alphawarrior]

Nginx webservers can run "stealth" using 444 disconnects.
Cloaking is an overused and inaccurate term.
You have to alter links serverside if you want the link *hidden* from the casual user.
It is trivial to curl the given link, forge the user-agent string, and see the redirects in the headers.
Links are very easy to follow in the headers.

These are Kingons and the Klingon Bird of Prey warship that cloaks.

lol i tot u were serious , thanks for the info!

 

[affmarketer101]

If you are using Wordpress, well, I think you can simply use Simple URL Redirect.

 

[no2pencil]

Additionally, a redirect (regardless if in Wordpress or elsewhere) can be detected by the browser. There are plugins to show the bounce addresses.

Graybeard, I still need to take you up on that suggested to write my own replacement for Google URL shortener. I think all my domain names are too long, & not catchy enough. But replacing the name is the easy part.

 

[Alphawarrior]

If you are using Wordpress, well, I think you can simply use Simple URL Redirect.

hi @affmarketer101 , im not using wordpress thats the thing , cos im not sure if my hosting can withstand traffic spikes

 

[josephbrowne03]

I generally run my offshoot connects through sidetracks – likewise alluded to as shrouding associate connections – for a few reasons: Running them through my sidetracks implies I have a tick tally to coordinate to the one the trader is detailing.

 

[Hearthrobz]

There are many ways to cloak. There are special tools designed for advanced cloaking or you can use dmr php code or htaccess for it.

 

[Eve Jones]

Hey Stephen,
Thanks for such a kind gesture, I didn't know anything regarding this but from now onwards, I'm glad I joined this forum

What's up @Alphawarrior, let me see if I can help here

The practice of cloaking is to show your landers and offers only to the audience of your choosing, while the rest of the crowd is redirected elsewhere around the internet. This process takes place during the redirection of the visitor from the traffic source to landing page/offer.

In bemob, I'm not sure there is a built-in option for achieving this. I know for certain Voluum does not offer it in their platform. ThriveTracker offers an option to help protect the integrity of your campaigns, and it is very easy to use, but if you're enjoying bemob, then you'll need to enlist the help of a good third-party platform to handle this task.

Check out options from Traffic Armor or Justcloakits, as they seem to be two of the most popular options.

Here is a great step-by-step on how to accomplish this with your own clever bit of coding: https://crunchify.com/what-is-affil...your-affiliate-link-without-wordpress-plugin/

Meanwhile, a little food for thought on the subject - Charles Ngo put out a great piece on this topic just last year: An Intro: The Underground World of Cloaking

Cheers,

 

[Graybeard]

... alluded to as shrouding ... Running them through my sidetracks implies I have a tick tally to coordinate to the one the trader is detailing.

Shrouding is an interesting term.

I rewrite my landing pages from nonexistent ^/dir/w=1110-2001 (my tracking code that will be logged, with the GET (HTTP URI Requested [the link clicked]) >>> to real landing pages or redirect locations.
The redirected referrer will be seen in the redirection server's stats/logs (usually -- not always). The landing page "middleman" will show in the target server if the user click's through (usually -- not always).

You can go one step further and just 'roll your own' smart link. Probably the easiest way is
PHP: $_SERVER - Manual
so based on this and GEOIP, *browser* (user agent -- detailed with browser version) you can direct the traffic to the correct offer (or location).

 

[IM_Newbie]

If you are using Wordpress, well, I think you can simply use Simple URL Redirect.

Sorry to bump this thread but im currently looking to learn as much as possible about masking/cloaking affiliate links.
If it was this easy why people pay hundreds of dollars every month for services like prettylinks, leadcloak or justcloakit? Is it really necessary to use these services to be on the safe side? Or is there a cheaper and/or more cost effective way to do it? Cheers!

 

[IM_Newbie]

You can do this on your server with list and a script.

Im running my website on a shared hosting plan...Would i still be able to do this? Or do i need to request help to my hosting service provider?

 

[Graybeard]

Just learn how to do rewrites on your own webserver.
That is *free* however learning has a price.
You can do it with mod_rewrite >>> mod_rewrite - Apache HTTP Server Version 2.4
>>> 7 Nginx Rewrite Rule Examples with Reg-Ex and Flags <<<nginx servers

You can do this on your server with list and a script.
Use a search engine
web server rewrites at DuckDuckGo
php redirect scripts at DuckDuckGo

 

[charles786]

yes you can use but links clocker is cheap,easy to use and best so use links clocker as its best.

 

[Daceyank]

I do not understand what you really want to achieve ? Do you run a lot of paid traffic with some sources like Adwords or Facebook ? Probably more than sure you need to cloak your links just to show them good page by their standarts and your users other page by theirs.

 

[Graybeard]

what server software? with Apache2 you can add this in .htaccess

in your document root

    RewriteEngine On
#just an example
   RewriteRule "^index\.html$"  "welcome.html"

The main http.conf should be AllowOverride setting is All
allowing you to use the mod_rewrite module in your virtual domain. That usually is enabled on shared hosts.


Put this PHP file in your DocumentRoot (where your index.page is [*home])

<?php

var_dump(apache_get_modules());

?>

I get :
array(28) { [0]=> string(4) "core" [1]=> string(6) "mod_so" [2]=> string(12) "mod_watchdog" [3]=> string(9) "http_core" [4]=> string(14) "mod_log_config" [5]=> string(9) "mod_logio" [6]=> string(11) "mod_version" [7]=> string(9) "mod_unixd" [8]=> string(17) "mod_access_compat" [9]=> string(9) "mod_alias" [10]=> string(14) "mod_auth_basic" [11]=> string(14) "mod_authn_core" [12]=> string(14) "mod_authn_file" [13]=> string(14) "mod_authz_core" [14]=> string(14) "mod_authz_host" [15]=> string(14) "mod_authz_user" [16]=> string(13) "mod_autoindex" [17]=> string(11) "mod_deflate" [18]=> string(7) "mod_dir" [19]=> string(7) "mod_env" [20]=> string(10) "mod_filter" [21]=> string(8) "mod_mime" [22]=> string(7) "prefork" [23]=> string(15) "mod_negotiation" [24]=> string(8) "mod_php7" [25]=> string(11) "mod_rewrite" [26]=> string(12) "mod_setenvif" [27]=> string(10) "mod_status" }

 

[Andre Houston]

I m using this new Cloud Software, for cloaking and Links/Clicks Tracking. ClickGum - and they offer 1,500 clicks every month for free. Newbie & starters like me will love it.

 

[olidev]

I thought cloaking links on a website is against google guidelines. This could hurt the credibility of a site in front of Google and adversely affect the ranking.

 

[Phill AdsBridge]

Hi @Alphawarrior ,

Cloaking is used when you work with so called "grey" offers which violate the policy of AdWords or Facebook. I'm not sure what do you mean speaking about prevention from spying your campaigns. Cloaking is used to show moderators the offer that is permitted to be advertised while real traffic is going to another offer.

The matter is that it is barely possible to compose the full data base of Google or Facebook moderators, that's why, cloaking don't live long.

**************************************************************
AdsBridge- tracker and TDS for traffic monetization
**************************************************************

 

[itsDocHQ]

I am using Post affiliate pro for my software and it offers cloaking for affiliates who are joining. Quick question - is this something that an affiliate network should provide? I am told don't cloak as it helps with my SEO. Can you suggest a good URL to read about benefits of cloaking.