Link cloaking question. Double beda redirect?

[20092009]

Hello Everyone,

First of all, I am new here! And I have a questions that has been bugging me for a while and I am hoping that you guys can help... So here it is...


For a double beda redirect... Will it work correctly if I just use the domain forward feature with godaddy?

Or do I need to do a real "redirect" with the domains hosted for it to really work and cloak?

Thanks a lot everyone!


Tim

[sevenish]

Originally Posted by 20092009

For a double beda redirect...

It's a "double meta REFRESH", for the record, otherwise known as DMR.

Will it work correctly if I just use the domain forward feature with godaddy?

No.

Or do I need to do a real "redirect" with the domains hosted for it to really work and cloak?

If you're trying to hide your referrer, you'll need to do more than redirection. Perhaps do a google search on "double meta refresh". Otherwise, I've not seen much black hat advice on this forum.

disclaimer: I'm a scholar of black hat, but mercilessly white hat.

[20092009]

Originally Posted by sevenish

It's a "double meta REFRESH", for the record, otherwise known as DMR.

No.

If you're trying to hide your referrer, you'll need to do more than redirection. Perhaps do a google search on "double meta refresh". Otherwise, I've not seen much black hat advice on this forum.

disclaimer: I'm a scholar of black hat, but mercilessly white hat.

Thanks a lot for the reply,

What I am trying to do is block the advertiser from being about to see where my traffic is coming from... I'm doing some cpa stuff and I have been told by many people that I need to cloak the links so the cpa network does not steal my traffic source....

So will the double meta refresh work for what I am trying to do? If so then do I need to do an actual "redirect" with domains that are on my hosting account?


Thanks A LOT!!

[Ben Clemons]

i always use an html redirect. I haven't had a problem ever.

<meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0;
url=http://www.your-affiliate-link.com">

[sevenish]

A DMR would be effective in hiding your traffic source if it were air-tight; trouble is, no DMR is air-tight.

I use Prosper202 orTracking202 to intercept and channel all of my traffic. those are free services and they're damned good ones. I feel they are much more reliable than a DMR.

[sevenish]

Originally Posted by Ben Clemons

i always use an html redirect. I haven't had a problem ever.

<meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0;
url=http://www.your-affiliate-link.com">

Ben, if one is trying to hide one's traffic source from a network, your solution is worthless.

A redirection does nothing to hide the referrer or traffic source. It only impacts the user's experience; which is important, but a very separate issue.

[Bruce Hearder]

You could try something like :

external traffic source ->indexA.html

indexA.html - > indexB.html

indexB.html - > destination URL..

I think the safest way to do this is to have abit of PHP code that checks referer tag and works something like this :

external traffic source - >abc.php

{inside abc.php}
if ($S_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']=='') header('Location: http://destinationurl.com');
else
 header('Location:indexA.html');
{/inside abc.php}

indexA.html ->indexB.html
indexB.html - >abc.php

I hope this completely untested spaghetti code makes, sense?

Take care

Bruce

[Ben Clemons]

looks like I overlooked post #3. So therefore you are correct . I didn't see that was the ultimate question thanks for the input. Only here to help...

[kindsvater]

Tim:

You may learn that there are a zillion ways to 'cloak' your links - some of which may disclose what you want and some will not not.

What I do is use two different domains, and create a cloaked link on my domain 1 that links to my domain 2.

I then look at my log record for domain 2 (available in cpanel) to see what is shown.

The type of cloak and record of what is seen is then kept in a spreadsheet for future reference.

That way you never have to worry about getting bad information or wondering, gee, does this really work, what is being shown? You will know.

[sevenish]

kindsvater,

You've overlooked one critical point: sometimes -- or often -- the originating referral will leak through.

Bear in mind that the issue here might be to hide the referrer from the network or merchant. In this case, we're totally white hat and simply don't wish to reveal our traffic sources or keyword lists.

[sevenish]

Originally Posted by 20092009

Hey sevenish, for your post on #5...
How could a redirect be air tight or not? Most all hosting accounts have the same system for doing redirects?

I'm not entirely sure what your trying to accomplish, but if you're interested in concealing your referral links and keyword lists from the networks, you may want to look into a DMR solution. However I've not seen one yet that can guarantee that your referral isn't leaked.

I'll not claim to know everything about concealing my leads and traffic, but I prefer to use Prosper202 or Tracking202. You can track all of your campaigns very easily while your referrals are cloaked.

No affiliate links there. Hell, they're free resources.

That said, I've just described a somewhat black hat solution, although I love Prosper202 and Tracking202 and use them for tracking only. I'm a scholar of black hat techniques, but the colour of my own hat is best described as "deep eggshell".

I hope that helps.

Edit: Without editing my previous posts, I wanted to clarify my posts about Prosper202 and Tracking202 in that they are fantastic tools for managing and tracking campaigns. In no way did I intend to declare them "black hat" tools, because they're not.

[Bruce Hearder]

I think this thread needs to clarify the OP point of their post:

Are you trying to

1. hide the afilliate link, so that viewers don't see that you are promoting an aff link, or

2. Trying to conceel the source of your traffic to the destination url.
In otherwords if you are promoting a CPA offer, and the CPA offer doesn't like Adwords traffic, you can concel the source of that traffic..

Which one are you try achieve?

Take care

Bruce

[Samuel Lee]

Possibly a DMR would be effective in the cloaking or hiding your traffic source, however this isn't guaranteed. I've found that Prosper202 for the interception and channel of all my traffic is pretty reliable. The best part of Prosper202 is that it is a free service and it is always of the highest quality and reliablity. I would choose this anyday over a DMR, it is much more reliable. Hope this helps!

[20092009]

Originally Posted by Bruce Hearder

I think this thread needs to clarify the OP point of their post:

Are you trying to

1. hide the afilliate link, so that viewers don't see that you are promoting an aff link, or

2. Trying to conceel the source of your traffic to the destination url.
In otherwords if you are promoting a CPA offer, and the CPA offer doesn't like Adwords traffic, you can concel the source of that traffic..

Which one are you try achieve?

Take care

Bruce

Hey Bruce, Yes, I am trying to do #2.

What do you think? A DMR, or one of these companies like Prosper202 or tracking202? Would you mind saying why you would prefer one of these over the other?


Thanks A LOT everyone!

Tim