Link Cloaking: How To Hide Affiliate Links From Visitors

Want to promote affiliate products but don’t want to disclose your affiliate links? Then you have just landed to the right place.

Link cloaking is the method to hide your affiliate links from visitors. By this you can promote the affiliate products without compromising your integrity or disclosing that they're an affiliate. In this blog post, we'll discuss how to cloak affiliate links and the benefits of doing so. We'll also provide some tips on how to make your cloaked links look natural to visitors. So, if you're looking for ways to improve your affiliate marketing campaigns, keep reading!

Table Of Contents

What Is Link Cloaking?

Link Cloaking is to disguise your affiliate links. It changes your long and complex URLs into more easy and trustworthy links. Link cloaking technique helps you to hide your affiliate IDs, brand name, and other valuable URLs from the hacking scripts.

– Example of Link Cloaking

Take a look at this link:

https://collect.chat#_r_shamima88

The link is a mystery and at first look, it discloses nothing. As a result, many will hesitate to click it. It is not wrong to consider a virus or malware or spam!!!

On the other hand, if the visitors see this link:

https://rgkit.co/collect-chatthey will get a clear idea on the brand, what it represents. And most of all, after redirecting to the site, the URL will be same as the they see in the first place by hiding your affiliate link.

How Link Cloaking Works?

Link cloaking is part of link shortening process. You just replace the link and make it more easy for the audience to read it. Moreover, link cloaking makes it more trustworthy.

Big difference is, when someone clicks the simple shortened link, they will see the actual URL after redirecting. But in case of link cloaking, the URL will be same just the way they saw it in the first place.

Link-Cloaking

How to Cloak Affiliate Link using RetargetKit?

RetargetKit is a retargeting software that offers multiple services like link shortening, lead generation, curated page, biolink along with deep linking, link tracking, link masking and more. RetargetKit is filled with many features. But it is up to you, how you utilize the tool and use it.

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The link clearly shows it is an affiliate link. This might discourage to click it. So it is better to use link cloaking to encourage the user to click the link.

SO why use RetargetKit for link cloaking? Well it not only generates traceable short link, but also helps you customize link metadata as per your requirement.

Step 1: Create Free Account

Create your RetargetKit free account. You will be redirected to the campaign page. Select “Link Cloaking” to create a link cloaking campaign.

Note: You can skip custom domain and retargeting pixel setup. But if you want to use your own domain, setup custom domain from here. And if you want to add retargeting pixel, click here.

Link Cloaking: How To Hide Affiliate Link

Step 2: Create Cloaked Link

Save the campaign and click on ‘New Retarget Link’. Paste your affiliate link on the Destination URL option. Write your custom slug to represent your destination page. Write an attractive meta information in the Meta Information section. You can add a perfect image describing your product, service or special offers.

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Step 3: Copying Cloaked Link

After saving the new retarget link, a pop up will appear with the generated new link.

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Step 4: Share On Social Media

Now just copy the link and share wherever you like.

👉 Custom meta preview when sharing on social media:

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👉 Hide affiliate link: instead of showing the destination link, RetargetKit will wrap your destination link with a custom short link.

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Step 5: Cloaked Link Analytics

Now all you need to do is keep an eye on the RetargetKit analysis page and count the success.

Link-Cloaking
Cloaked Link Analytics

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Should You Cloak Your Affiliate Links?

Link cloaking not only hides your actual affiliate links, but many other benefits are the results of it.

  1. Get more clicks on affiliate links with custom meta title and image.
  2. Link clocking does not change the URL even after clicking.
  3. Increase click rate via sharing a trusted link.
  4. No chance of link theft i.e., your commission is yours.
  5. Manage and track your affiliate links more efficiently.

Is It Possible To Cloak Affiliate Link Without A Website?

Yes, it is possible. You can use the ‘curated page’ feature of RetargetKit for sharing all of your affiliate links.

Why Do I Need Link Cloaking If I Can Do The Job With URL Shortener?

Well both of them are nearly same. But the only difference is, after clicking short link, you get to see the original complex link. But it is different for link cloaking. Once you click cloaked link, you will not see the original link but only cloaked one. This secures your affiliate link.

Final Words

Cloaking an affiliate link means hiding the URL from the user – and only showing a shortened or cloaked URL. This is done for several reasons: to protect the affiliate’s commission, to prevent users from being redirected away from the original site, and to improve click-through rates (CTRs).

Cloaking your affiliate links with RetargetKit is easy – and it’s a great way to keep your commissions safe while still providing a smooth experience for your website visitors. If you’re not currently cloaking your links, sign up for RetargetKit today and start protecting your hard-earned commissions!

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