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How do you check for broken Amazon affiliate links?

by Capitalist_Pig
3 replies
After several years of being a member of the Amazon Associates program, I have a ton of Amazon affiliate links out there. Many of them pointed to ASINs that no longer exist, and instead drop the user onto a generic page, which of course results in far fewer sales over time.

I noticed this about a year ago, and wrote a small tool that I use to keep my own links "fresh" over time. Instead of linking directly to Amazon I link to my own domain. It acts as a redirect to Amazon itself, which allows me to update the links in posts that I've made months ago, even if the site where I made those posts doesn't allow it. I've also got a script that I can use to identify when links no longer point to the products I intended and alerts me so I have a chance to update them.

Keeping this system of mine up-to-date isn't a huge task, but I'm wondering if there is someone offering this sort of thing as a service?
#affiliate #amazon #broken #check #links
  • Profile picture of the author scrappie
    I am new to all this but what you are describing has crossed my mind and am curious as well.

    I don't know about how to go back and check existing links but I like using the Post Expirator plugin on Wordpress for creating new ones. I can set the post or product to expire after a length of time where it will automatically return to draft. I will check the drafts periodically and if the link is no longer good, just delete it or replace it. Wouldn't work in every situation but its a dream with WooCommerce.
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  • Profile picture of the author affilorama-portal
    SEM Rush has a broken link checker. There is also a WP plugin that notifies you of broken links, you may want to check out WP Link Status.
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    • Profile picture of the author Capitalist_Pig
      Broken Amazon links don't return a 404, and I've not yet found a service that deals with that appropriately.

      Also, broken link checkers don't help when you're checking your forum posts over dozens of forums and several years
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