How to mask affiliate links?

**link22** · 5 September 2014, 4:36 am

I notice on my site when i link

a href="https://youraffiliatelinkhere.com"rel="nofollow">Sign up now

It automatically comes up most of the time as blocked by adblock, and of course this causes issues in terms of reading. If people have adblock switched on they will not see the link, and will presume some of the text is missing and will make the text look wrong.

Is there a way to mask these kind of links so that they aren't blocked by adblock? Or any other way around this?

So instead of seeing something like this
"Sign up to Bet365 now for the latest offers blablablabla"

They will something like this if they have adblock on
"to now for the latest offers blablablabla"

**-Shay-** · 5 September 2014, 4:46 am

Can you elaborate more on "adblock"? Are you talking about something browser based (if so, what browser)? Are you talking about an actual program?

**link22** · 5 September 2014, 5:03 am

It's a Chrome and Firefox addon which allows users to block advertisements.

**-Shay-** · 5 September 2014, 5:14 am

I was not aware this was happening (didn't know about the add-on either). I'll definitely have to play around with the add-on to see what I come up with.

**Gamer** · 5 September 2014, 5:39 am

I do not understand your problem. Are you re-direct people to pop-under or pop-something advertisement ?
If your affiliate link point to another site, no any service can block that.
Anyway, you can use shortening services, I mean to shorten (or mask) the affiliate link.
There are many services that do that, including Google.

**xecutable** · 5 September 2014, 5:40 am

I currently mask my links to be https://yourdomain/go/brand-1 and Adblock doesn't block my links, but indeed when I visit your website, all of your affiliate links are missing. Further more i did some testing and indeed unmasked links are just removed by adblock.

So i'd suggest you cloak your links to avoid this issue.

**Gamer** · 5 September 2014, 6:12 am

By the way, could you tell me what is the best link cloak service??!!

**Scampi** · 5 September 2014, 6:20 am

If you use Wordpress, Pretty Link Lite is good and free.

**Gamer** · 5 September 2014, 6:23 am

I do not use Wordpress

**DaftDog** · 5 September 2014, 6:36 am

I use Simple URLs. Very simple to use and manage.

Seriously though, how many people actually use Adblock? The sites I visit generally don't have too many banners that I find it annoying enough to start blocking ads and pop ups.

**Scampi** · 5 September 2014, 6:39 am

I do not use Wordpress

Don't worry, universal4 posted a thread a while ago about cloaking links in a non-Wordpress website. I can't find the thread right now, but dig through his old posts from a few months ago and you'll find it.

**RacingJim** · 5 September 2014, 6:56 am

Originally Posted by Ixian

I use Simple URLs. Very simple to use and manage.

Seriously though, how many people actually use Adblock? The sites I visit generally don't have too many banners that I find it annoying enough to start blocking ads and pop ups.

I use Adblock Plus for Firefox. Ironic being as I'm an affiliate marketer, but it also blocks all those annoying adverts in YouTube videos etc, so I find it pretty useful.

**xecutable** · 5 September 2014, 7:00 am

Originally Posted by RacingJim

I use Adblock Plus for Firefox. Ironic being as I'm an affiliate marketer, but it also blocks all those annoying adverts in YouTube videos etc, so I find it pretty useful.

Yap #1 reason is those peskkkkkyyyyy youtube ads! I can see how many potential sign ups one can lose cause of this.

**link22** · 5 September 2014, 9:14 am

Thanks for the feedback. For now i'll avoid posting affiliate links directly in my posts until i come up with a solution such as cloaking. On the other subject of blocking ads, simple adsense ads and anything static is generally fine for myself personally, but anything which flashes continuously or causes the page to load slower i usually block.

**Gamer** · 5 September 2014, 9:39 am

I played just a little bit with AdBlock in Firefox.
The affiliate link pointing directly to 888 at com with anchor text "Join 888sport" is not blocked.
However, special landing page like promo.888 at com with anchor text "Get Free Bets at 888sport" is blocked.
Strange.

Perhaps the solution is using simply java script and "on click" method ??

**link22** · 5 September 2014, 12:47 pm

Yes, it all depends on the link. For instance, on my site on the top right you can still see my SkyBet and Paddy Power affiliate links fine with Adblock added, however Unibet is blocked. I think a lot of it depends on the kind of url.

**lowrisk** · 5 September 2014, 6:29 pm

In my opinion, easiest method is to php redirect the links

**Gamer** · 6 September 2014, 5:31 am

I cannot find the thread about cloaking affiliate URL (no wordpress) on this forum. Help, please.

Anyone using Google URL shortener?

**Scampi** · 6 September 2014, 5:44 am

Try this thread: https://www.dietistaktuellt.com/forum/better-lo...+link+redirect

**Gamer** · 6 September 2014, 6:01 am

This is in the private part of the forum. I have not priviledges to read the content there

But thanks Gambling Joe for your efforts.

I'm going to read some reviews about Google URL shortener on the net.

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