The raw URL is ugly and untrustworthy
A long tracking URL full of a merchant name and an affiliate ID tells the reader they are about to be monetised. A link on your own domain does not.
Link cloaking
Branded links on your own domain, free.
Turn a long affiliate URL into yoursite.com/go/something, with the nofollow sponsored attribute and a proper redirect applied for you, and the click data kept on your own server rather than a shortener's.
Why bother
Four reasons people cloak links.
None of them is hiding something from the reader. A cloaked affiliate link is still an affiliate link, and it should still be disclosed.
You can change the destination later
When a programme closes or you move to a better one, you edit one link rather than hunting through years of posts for the old URL.
You find out which posts actually earn
Clicks are recorded per link on your own server, so you can see which article is doing the work rather than guessing from a merchant dashboard.
It stays inside Google's rules
Affiliate and paid links are supposed to carry rel="nofollow sponsored" and use a temporary redirect. Both are applied automatically rather than being your job to remember.
The free version
Cloaking itself costs nothing.
This is the whole cloaker, in the free plugin, with no licence key and no quota. Rendered from the same tier data the free-versus-Pro page uses, so these two pages cannot disagree.
- Free Branded /go/ linksTurn a long affiliate URL into a branded link on your own domain, with a configurable prefix.
- Free rel="nofollow sponsored"Applied automatically, which is what Google asks for on paid and affiliate links.
- Free 302 redirectsTemporary redirects rather than permanent, per Google's guidance for affiliate links.
- Free Partnership inquiry workflowA way for sponsors to approach you, rather than a mailto: link and hope.
- Pro Keyword auto-linkingTurn a chosen phrase into a cloaked link everywhere it appears, without editing posts.
- Pro Link scannerFinds raw affiliate URLs already sitting in your content so you can cloak them.
- Pro CSV importBring links across from ThirstyAffiliates or Pretty Links by mapping URL, name and slug.
- Pro Advanced link analyticsDeeper reporting on cloaked links than the click counts the free version keeps.
The full split across every capability is on free versus Pro.
Doing it properly
Cloaking and SEO, without the folklore.
Two different practices share this name and only one of them is a problem.
What this is
Shortening an affiliate URL to a link on your own domain, marked as sponsored, redirecting to the same destination every visitor and every crawler gets. Ordinary, common, and fine.
What it is not
Showing search engines one destination and visitors another. That is deception rather than tidiness, it breaks search guidelines, and no plugin here does it.
Doing affiliate work specifically? The affiliate link cloaking use case goes further into tracking which posts earn.
Questions
What people ask about cloaking.
What is link cloaking?
Replacing a long affiliate or tracking URL with a short link on your own domain, usually something like yoursite.com/go/product. The visitor sees your domain, clicks it, and is redirected to the real destination. The point is a cleaner link you control, not hiding anything from the reader.
Is link cloaking free?
Yes, in this plugin. Branded links, the nofollow sponsored attribute and the 302 redirect are all in the free version, along with 13 capabilities in total. Pro adds keyword auto-linking, link scanner, csv import, advanced link analytics, which are conveniences on top rather than the cloaking itself.
Is link cloaking bad for SEO?
Not when it is done the way search engines ask. Affiliate links should carry rel="nofollow sponsored" so they are not read as an endorsement passing authority, and a temporary redirect is the right kind. Both are applied automatically here. Cloaking becomes a problem when it is used to show search engines something different from what a visitor gets, which is a separate practice with the same name.
Do I need a redirect service for this?
No, and that is the point of doing it on WordPress. A hosted shortener puts a third party between your reader and the merchant, charges monthly, and owns the click data. Running it on your own site keeps the redirect, the data and the domain with you.
Can I move my links from another plugin?
With Pro. Export to CSV from ThirstyAffiliates or Pretty Links, then map the URL, name and slug columns in the importer. The cloaking prefix is configurable, so existing /go/ style links that people have already shared keep working.
What does it cost?
The cloaker is free. Pro is $59 a year for 1 site and includes the complete Pro feature set, not just the link extras.
Install it and cloak one link.
It takes about a minute, and it is the only way to find out whether the click data tells you anything useful about your own posts.