OK, I have read many posts here regarding hiding your affiliate links. I am a bit confused. I see many say to redirect them, others say cloaking is the way to go and that it is NOT the same thing as redirecting, and yet others will say that it is something Google will penalize your site for. What is the textbook, official, correct way to do this that won't get my site slapped? is it like this? <?php $URL="http://www.cloaked-affiliate-link.com"; header ("Location: $URL"); ?> PHP: or could you have your link out to a script like this? http://www.somewebsite.com/linkoutscript.php?id=cloakedaffilliatelink Code (markup): where linkoutscript.php is written like this? <?php $urls[cloakedaffilliatelink] = 'http://www.affiliatelink1.com'; $urls[anothercloakedlink] = 'http://www.affiliatelink2.com'; $urls[cloakedagain] = 'http://www.affiliatelink3.com'; if(!isset($_GET['id'])) die('Id not found'); $id = $_GET['id']; if(!isset($urls[$id])) header('Location: http://www.othersite.com'); else header('Location: ' . $urls[$id]); ?> PHP: Not sure if any of these are OK by Google's rules or not. Also, I have seen on some blogs where the affiliate link was cloaked like this: http://www.blog.com/recommends/clickbank Code (markup): Is there some sort of Wordpress plugin (possibly named 'recommends') that does this because I have seen this exact link structure on several blog sites?
Im not sure you would even need to cloak your affiliate tracking urls. Google doesn't mind you have affiliate tracking hyperlinks on your site..its completely acceptable from my experience. I have see affiliate redirecting PPC ads through the merchants affiliate url but that is something different. Web visitors rarely, if ever, notice an affiliate url in a hyperlink and not click it...
I have read a lot of posts about hijacking my affiliate links. Even Shoemoney preaches cloaking your affiliate links. Just want to know the best way to do it without unknowingly getting slapped by G. I heard if G detects a temp redirect, they penalize your site. Is this true? Where can I find the facts?
Frameset is a good way, you just need your own URL <frameset rows="0,*" framespacing="0" border="0" frameborder="0"> <frame scrolling="no" noresize> <frame scrolling="auto" noresize src="Your-Affiliate-Link-Here"> </frameset> PHP:
Frameset is a good way, you just need your own URL <frameset rows="0,*" framespacing="0" border="0" frameborder="0"> <frame scrolling="no" noresize> <frame scrolling="auto" noresize src="Your-Affiliate-Link-Here"> </frameset> PHP:
That is something you would have to check out within the individual merchants terms and conditions, TBH, I think most wouldn't have a problem with that, its not like your hiding anything on the page thats displayed, but do check the terms for your own piece of mind, even if you cant find anything related to cloaking, send them an email, usually to some support department and include the code your planing on using. I can tell you that merchants are all for affiliates promoting there products obviously and they are aware of affiliates loosing sales simple because some people for whatever reason, copy and paste affiliate links then removing the affiliate part, thus landing on the base URL, do you think merchants are bothered about that, I don't think so as they get 100% of the sale. You can also(if you didn't know) add your own description and keywords like below, hope this helps you and good luck with your programs... <html> <title>Website Title Here</title> <meta name="Keywords" content="some reavent keywords here"> <meta name="Description" content="something about the site here"> <frameset rows="0,*" framespacing="0" border="0" frameborder="0"> <frame scrolling="no" noresize> <frame scrolling="auto" noresize src="Your-Affiliate-Link-Here"> </frameset> </html> PHP: On another note, do a Google search for "Ninja Affiliate" thats another option should you decide to design your own web page, again check the terms and conditions.
If a frameset works so well, why is it that they are a violation of Clickbank policies? From the Clickbank FAQ: 10. Will I get referral credit if I hide hoplinks by making them open into a frame, iframe, layer, applet, image, or other sub-window object? No. These are illegal hoplinks. For security reasons, and to ensure proper tracking of your referrals, all hoplinks must be targeted to the top level of a new or existing window. Code (markup): I may be confused...
That means exactly what is says, don't make the hoplinks open in an iframe, the links must be open as they are. Your trying to hide the original links thats all right ?
If you use a framset, it hides their link so that would be a bad thing I would think (according to clickbank).
if you use a <frameset your not hiding or altering any of the content displayed, the quote you made from the terms, is basically stating you cant alter how outbound links are opened