6 Best Affiliate Link Cloaking Plugins In 2023

Lasso not only offers the most customization when cloaking all your affiliate links, but also comes with a wide range of other essential tools for affiliate marketers, including:

• High-converting affiliate displays.
• Full link management tools.
• Auto-alerts if an affiliate link is out of stock, or if the link is broken.
• Page-level and link-level affiliate link analytics, so you know exactly which pages and links convert into sales.

By cloaking your affiliate links into shorter and more visually appealing versions, you build trust with your audience and increase click-through rates.

In this article, I’ll take you through the benefits of link cloaking , and present the best affiliate link cloaking plugins available for WordPress users.

1. Lasso - the best link cloaking plugin for affiliate marketers

Lasso is an all-in-one affiliate marketing plugin that offers comprehensive link cloaking capabilities. It allows you to create custom product boxes, cloak affiliate links, and perform split-testing to optimize conversions.

Pros:

• Automatic link cloaking
• Range of extra premium tools like high-converting affiliate displays, full affiliate analytics, link management, out-of-stock product alerts

Cons:

• Not free

Intelligent link cloaking so you never break terms of service

Because some affiliate merchants, like Amazon, do not allow link cloaking, Lasso knows when not to cloak links that are not allowed.

So, while it’ll automatically cloak links from merchants that allow it, you’ll never run into issues with Amazon’s terms of service as Lasso is trained to understand which links should not be cloaked.

Cloaking is also automatic, so you don’t need to go into specific areas of your dashboard and manually create these.

You are free to manually change the URL slug with full customization, but Lasso saves you time by automatically generating a concise cloaked slug for you.

Lasso also has the same affiliate link tracking in Google Analytics as the specialist link cloaking plugins, but with all these other extra features also built in. Every click registers as an Event, so you can see instantly which links get the most clicks, and make adjustments accordingly.

Page-level analytics

Lasso has recently released Lasso Performance. This adds custom SubIDs to track affiliate links individually.

Lasso then adds these links to your dashboard, showing you all the data on which affiliate links are working, and which are not converting.

• Lasso Performance shows you data on:
• Page-level and link conversion affiliate revenue data
• Earning per click (EPC)
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Number of clicks and views
• And how this has increased or decreased over time.

With this data, you can focus on the links and pages that are converting well, and maximize your affiliate income.

No other affiliate marketing plugin offers affiliate link tracking data like this, and I have used it to increase my affiliate income by 50%.

High-converting affiliate displays

While a specific link cloaking plugin is useful, Lasso has additional tools for affiliate marketers to further enhance your experience.

Lasso’s affiliate displays have been tested over hundreds of millions of page views and optimized based on what works.

As a result, they are the highest-converting affiliate displays of any affiliate marketing WordPress plugin.

For example, Jared Bauman, the host of the Niche Pursuits podcast, switched from AAWP to Lasso , and increased his affiliate income by 88% . That’s an increase of $700 per month just by switching plugins!

An example Lasso display is shown in the photo above.

Affiliate link management

With Lasso, you can organize and categorize your links for easy management.

Not only does this make affiliate links easier to manage, but Lasso also scans your site to check these affiliate links are still active and earning you money. If it detects broken links, or products that are out of stock, it alerts you so you can fix these.

Then, if you want to fix these links, you can switch the link across every location of your site, even if it is on 50+ pages, in one click, from the central affiliate link dashboard.

You also have the option to automatically insert affiliate links for any mentions on your site where you mention products. In just a few clicks, you can easily add affiliate links where you may have forgotten, as well as Lasso's auto Amazon links to make sure you are credited for all your affiliate sales.

Overall, Lasso is the best affiliate link cloaking plugin, and the best all-in-one affiliate marketing toolset.

Pricing

Pricing: $24/month for the entire affiliate marketing toolset, including page-level affiliate analytics, high-converting affiliate displays, and full link management.

Click here to try Lasso.

2. Simple URLs

Pros:

• Automatic link cloaking
• Free

Cons:

• Lacks the wider range of link cloaking tools that Lasso has

Simple URLs is a free WordPress plugin that enables you to create, manage, and track outbound links on your website. It offers link cloaking functionality along with the ability to shorten existing affiliate URLs.

Simple URLs adds a custom post type to your WordPress site admin menu, allowing you to easily create and manage cloaked links. This plugin also helps you avoid permalink conflicts that could affect your website's SEO.

With this plugin, you can easily cloak your links for a better reading experience and track the click-through rates. It also offers the ability to assign categories to your links, making it easier to organize and analyze your affiliate marketing campaigns.

Pricing: Free.

3. URL Shortener Pro

Pros:

• Range of cloaking and link shortening options
• Designed specifically for cloaking

Cons:

• Cloaking is manual, not automatic
• Not free

URL Shortener Pro is a powerful plugin designed specifically for link shortening that also works for cloaking.

It allows you to create short and optimized URLs for your affiliate links. The plugin offers various customization options, including redirects, nofollow attributes, and the ability to open links in new tabs. URL Shortener Pro also provides advanced tracking features, allowing you to monitor link clicks and analyze the performance of your affiliate campaigns.

It also offers additional features like link replacement and link import.

However, it offers more basic functionalities than other affiliate link cloaking tool options out there, and is restricted to just shortening and cloaking links, rather than offering additional affiliate link tools.

Pricing: $19 per year.

4. Easy Affiliate Links

Pros:

• Variety of link redirection options, including 301 redirects, 302, and 307 temporary redirects
• Free

Cons:

• Multi-step affiliate link cloaking process, which is time-consuming and less productive
• Less modern for the 2023 affiliate marketing meta

Easy Affiliate Links is a versatile plugin that simplifies the process of managing and cloaking affiliate links. It integrates seamlessly with both the classic and Gutenberg editors, making it compatible with any WordPress site.

The plugin allows you to create shortlinks and assign categories to your links for better organization. Easy Affiliate Links also provides click tracking and the option to leave specific links uncloaked for compatibility with Amazon Associates terms.

It also allows you to track monthly and lifetime click counts, import and export links, and add UGC and sponsored link attributes.

5. Pretty Links

Pros:

• Wide range of cloaking features and database options

Cons:

• Costs extra for add-ons for other features like product displays that gets difficult to mange, and costs more
• Other tools do the link cloaking for free, or have extra features if paid

Pretty Links is one of the most popular WordPress plugins for cloaking and tracking affiliate links in WordPress. With Pretty Links, you can create custom branded links that are short and visually appealing.

With Pretty Links, you can track link clicks, organize your links into categories, and integrate with Google Analytics for comprehensive analytics. The plugin also provides automation features such as automatically replacing URLs and creating affiliate link disclosures.

Though the best features are only available in the pro version, the lite version is still a useful option for link cloaking.

However, I can’t justify spending this much on just link cloaking per year, when tools like Lasso offer cloaking along with so many other extra features, for not much more extra money.

They do offer product displays as an add-on you can pay for, but this just ends up with having more plugins to do the same thing Lasso all does in one, and ends up costing just as much with more plugins to maintain.

If you just want to do cloaking, with no extra data, link management, or affiliate displays, then Pretty Links can work – otherwise I recommend Lasso for link cloaking.

Pricing: $99.50 per year for 1 site, $149.50/year for 2 sites.

6. ThirstyAffiliates

Pros:

• Wide range of cloaking features and database options
• Decent free version

Cons:

• Lacks the wider range of affiliate marketing features you may want in a plugin, like displays, and deeper affiliate analytics

ThirstyAffiliates is a widely-used plugin that offers extensive link cloaking capabilities. This affiliate link cloaker automatically add affiliate links to your content based on specified keywords. It also provides advanced features like Google Analytics integration, link categorization, and automatic broken link checking.

ThirstyAffiliates also offers categorization and organization features, making it easy to manage large numbers of affiliate links. The plugin ensures compliance with Amazon's terms by allowing you to turn cloaking on or off for specific links.

The Pro version offers far more features than the free plugin.

It’s similar to Pretty Links in that they have similar pricing, similar features, and both aim to track and cloak affiliate links to make them more clickable and trusted.

For this reason, I have the same reservations with ThirstyAffiliates as I do with Pretty Links. There are free tools with good cloaking uses now, and there are paid tools like Lasso with a far broader range of features.

Pricing: $79.50 for one site, $199.50 for 10 sites.

What is Affiliate Link Cloaking?

Affiliate link cloaking is when you take a lengthy and convoluted affiliate URL that an affiliate network gives you, and turn it into a shorter, branded, and easier-to-read link.

By cloaking your affiliate links, you make them more trustworthy to your audience. Instead of displaying a messy and suspicious-looking URL, you can use your brand’s name, or a more concise and clean slug.

While affiliate links are external links, cloaking makes them look like links on your site.

Why You Should Use Affiliate Link Cloaking

Here’s 3 compelling reasons to incorporate link cloaking into your affiliate marketing strategy:

1. Builds Trust

Long and obscure affiliate links can scare people, and deter potential customers from clicking.

By cloaking your links with shorter and branded URLs, you create a sense of trust. Users are more likely to engage with links that appear legitimate and reliable.

2. Easier to Track Link Clicks

Link cloaking plugins often come with built-in tracking features that allow you to monitor the performance of your affiliate links.

You can gain valuable insights into click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and more generally how effective your affiliate marketing efforts are. This data enables you to refine your strategies and optimize your affiliate campaigns.

3. Increases Click-Through Rates (CTR)

Visually appealing and user-friendly links have a higher chance of getting clicked.

When you cloak your affiliate links, you create URLs that are concise, engaging, and easy to remember. This increased CTR can lead to more conversions and ultimately boost your affiliate earnings.

FAQs About Affiliate Link Cloaking

How do I cloak an affiliate link?

Cloaking an affiliate link is simple with the right plugin. Once you've installed a link cloaking plugin, you can usually cloak your affiliate links by accessing the plugin settings and entering the original link and the desired cloaked link.

The plugin will then generate a shortened and branded link for you to use, or you can type in your own custom slug for the shortened link.

Does Amazon allow link cloaking?

No. Amazon's terms and conditions for their affiliate program, Amazon Associates, state that cloaking or obscuring affiliate links is not allowed. This is why link cloaking plugins such as Lasso and Pretty Links do not cloak Amazon affiliate links.

Does link cloaking affect SEO?

No, not unless you are cloaking for deceptive reasons. Best practices like relevant redirects and indicating sponsored content allow benign cloaking. Search engines understand link cloaking is used to track links, as long as the affiliate site is not being deceptive.

How can you track cloaked links in analytics?

Use URL tagging and campaign parameters on the cloaked link so they pass through to the destination URL, allowing full affiliate tracking in analytics platforms.

Some plugins, such as Lasso, will then automatically tag these as Events in Google Analytics, so you can see the product and link that was clicked, and how many times, to understand what your most successful affiliate links are.

Can you cloak geo-specific like for different countries?

Yes, geo-targeting can be combined with cloaking to redirect users from different locations to country-specific affiliate links and offers.

All major affiliate link cloaking plugins, such as Pretty Links, Lasso, and ThirstyAffiliates, work with tools like Amazon OneLink or Geniuslink to automatically send the user to their local geography, with the affiliate tag still remaining so you are credited with sales.

How often do cloaked links need to be updated or maintained?

Routinely check cloaked links to ensure proper redirects and affiliate credit, updating cloaking endpoints as needed when affiliate URLs change, about once per month or quarter.

However, if you use a plugin like Lasso, it will automatically alert you if your cloaked affiliate links ever break or go out of stock, so you do not need to manually check these.

Final Thoughts

Cloaking your affiliate links is an essential practice in affiliate marketing.

By using the best affiliate link cloaking plugins available for WordPress, you can enhance the appearance of your links, track their performance, and increase the trustworthiness of your affiliate campaigns. Choose the plugin that best suits your needs and optimize your affiliate marketing strategy for maximum success.

Disclaimer: The above is a sponsored post, the views expressed are those of the sponsor/author and do not represent the stand and views of Outlook Editorial.