Affiliate marketers use link cloaking to turn ugly, long affiliate URLs into clean branded links. But there is confusion about whether it is allowed, what disclosure rules apply, and how to do it correctly.
What Is Affiliate Link Cloaking?
Link cloaking replaces a long tracking URL with a short, clean redirect like yoursite.com/go/product. When a visitor clicks it, they are redirected to the original affiliate URL. The tracking still works and your commission is preserved.
Why Affiliate Marketers Cloak Links
- Appearance — clean links look more professional and trustworthy to readers
- Commission protection — some browser extensions strip affiliate parameters; server-side cloaking protects your commission
- Analytics — centrally manage links and track clicks without editing every page
Is It Legal?
Yes — but the FTC requires clear disclosure of affiliate relationships near every affiliate link. Cloaking the URL is fine. Hiding the fact that it is an affiliate link is not. Check your network terms — Amazon and some other networks have specific cloaking rules.
301 vs 302 Redirects
Most affiliate marketers use 302 temporary redirects to avoid passing SEO value to merchant sites and to keep the cloaked URL as the canonical destination in Google.
How Amazon Specifically Enforces This
Amazon Associates' operating agreement explicitly prohibits cloaking or shortening links in a way that obscures the destination is Amazon.com — violating this specific rule (not just general disclosure rules) has resulted in real account terminations, since Amazon's bots actively scan for redirect patterns that mask the amazon.com destination. This is stricter than most other affiliate networks, which is why redirect-based cloakers built for general affiliate use often explicitly exclude or warn about Amazon links specifically.
A Disclosure Mistake That Gets Accounts Flagged
Simply having a disclosure statement somewhere on the page isn't enough — the FTC's actual guidance requires the disclosure to be "clear and conspicuous," meaning placed near the affiliate link itself, not buried in a footer or a separate "about" page. A single blanket disclosure at the bottom of a long article, with dozens of affiliate links scattered throughout the text above it, is a common pattern that technically has a disclosure but functionally fails the clarity requirement the FTC actually enforces.
Cloak Affiliate Links Free
Use the Anonymiz Affiliate Link Cloaker to create clean redirect links instantly. Choose redirect type, strip the referrer header, and get started with no account needed.
