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Cloaking Amazon Affiliate links?

by Kenmuise
8 replies
Hi,

I've been reading about cloaking my affiliate links lately and I'm worried. I have a new review site that is picking up steam quickly. My worry is that if I don't cloak I'm gonna nuked by the G.

I am using EasyAzon primarily and I do have "cloak links" checked. Is that enough? Is it necessary to cloak the links?

Thanks in advance.

Ken
#affiliate #amazon #cloaking #links
  • Profile picture of the author zdebx
    What if you cloak your links, but Google still comes around and "nukes" your site? What are you going to do then?

    Maybe a better idea would be to focus on other traffic sources apart from Google, so then you won't be too worried about silly things, like hiding your affiliate links from "the big G"...
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenmuise
      Originally Posted by zdebx View Post

      What if you cloak your links, but Google still comes around and "nukes" your site? What are you going to do then?

      Maybe a better idea would be to focus on other traffic sources apart from Google, so then you won't be too worried about silly things, like hiding your affiliate links from "the big G"...
      Well, roger. I got it. I'm just wondering about the cloaking links part that I've been reading about. I don't cloak my links. I'm wondering if I should "worry about silly things'.

      Thanks, though..
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      • Profile picture of the author kevineverett
        Do you want to cloak the links to hide them from the big G or from your visitors (make the link look nicer). If it is the latter, just use a redirect to make a "pretty link" go to your affiliate link. The big G does not like cloaking.
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      • Profile picture of the author zdebx
        Originally Posted by Kenmuise View Post

        Well, roger. I got it. I'm just wondering about the cloaking links part that I've been reading about. I don't cloak my links. I'm wondering if I should "worry about silly things'.

        Thanks, though..
        If Google is not your 100% traffic source, then the only reason to cloak links would be just to make them look a bit prettier for your visitors.

        Although, in that case you can easily do it by creating sub-folders under your domain, like example.com/youramazonoffer and put there an index.html redirect that sends the visitor through your affliate link to Amazon.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrhmamun
    Don't worry, use your clock link in depth article, i mean newbies add more affiliate links rather than quality contents, so care about this.
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  • Profile picture of the author Agusth
    Hi, this is the late reply but better than nothing. It's good value for the future.

    I suggest not to do that (Re: Cloaking Amazon Affiliate links?) as it is against Amazon TOS.

    Here, you can read the clause of "Associates Program Participation Requirements":
    https://affiliate-program.amazon.com...participation/

    Scroll down the page and find clause no 30 :

    30. You will not cloak, hide, spoof, or otherwise obscure the URL of your site containing Special Links (including by use of a redirecting page) or the user agent of the application in which Content is displayed or used such that we cannot reasonably determine the site or application from which a customer clicks through such Special Link to the Amazon Site.

    Your Amazon associates account will be banned for doing this.

    I don't know for Clickbank, any one knows??
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    • Profile picture of the author onSubie
      Originally Posted by Agusth View Post

      Hi, this is the late reply but better than nothing. It's good value for the future.

      I suggest not to do that (Re: Cloaking Amazon Affiliate links?) as it is against Amazon TOS.

      Here, you can read the clause of "Associates Program Participation Requirements":
      https://affiliate-program.amazon.com...participation/

      Scroll down the page and find clause no 30 :

      30. You will not cloak, hide, spoof, or otherwise obscure the URL of your site containing Special Links (including by use of a redirecting page) or the user agent of the application in which Content is displayed or used such that we cannot reasonably determine the site or application from which a customer clicks through such Special Link to the Amazon Site.

      Your Amazon associates account will be banned for doing this.

      I don't know for Clickbank, any one knows??

      That's not true.

      Amazon does not have a problem with cloaking links as long as it conforms to their ToS, which you helpfully quoted but didn't understand:

      "30. You will not cloak, hide, spoof, or otherwise obscure the URL of your site containing Special Links (including by use of a redirecting page) or the user agent of the application in which Content is displayed or used such that we cannot reasonably determine the site or application from which a customer clicks through such Special Link to the Amazon Site."

      So plugins like "Pretty Links" and "Elf Links" are fine because Amazon can see where the traffic is coming from.

      Beware of plugins that use iFrames or that do not display the final destination URL in the browser bar.
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  • Profile picture of the author web lover
    If you are cloaking your affiliate links , I will say that you will get benned soon to your amazon associates account
    the rules are clear , and sadly amazon don't allow affiliates to cloak links
    amazon support are very strict and any mistake from you , you will lose the account without any notification !
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