Link Cloaking in Affiliate Marketing

In this report, we will look at both options and tell you which uncloak tools are better to use. Scammers keep up with the progress, and actively use AI and other advanced software to track down your affiliate link and imperceptibly replace the ID. In this case, the income will be received by third parties, not your company. It is not so easy to notice the substitution, and in some cases the losses can be significant. 

If you look at the statistics for the past 3 years, you can see that counterfeiters are increasingly making money from persons who do not comply with security rules regarding links and other data. To avoid financial losses, an organization must fight digital fraud using not only manual methods, but also automatic systems such as the Bluepear tool. We will say a few words about this later. There are many platforms on the web that offer link cloaking, and it's pretty easy to do this. You need to understand that brands cooperate with such platforms not for the purpose of cheating, but to protect themselves. 

It is enough to hide affiliate links, and then it will be much more difficult for hackers to change the code; and to increase security, you can change the URL quite often. However, your partners can also use link cloaking so that you cannot track fraudulent traffic. They can make bids on your brand and stay in the shadows, while you will lose precious traffic or pay for it twice. Partners can use brand bidding and link cloaking at the same time to get as much as possible from you dishonestly. 

What Is Link Cloaking?

When you become a member of the affiliate program, you get special links, which most often have a bulky URL that includes long rows of random characters. Such a line is difficult to perceive, and only serves to ensure that a potential client clicks on the link and goes to the desired site. Initially, the link has a representative appearance and is completely unreadable, but there is a trick to make the link short, clear and attractive to visitors. For instance, the address will contain the phrase "get-a-welcome-bonus", and the gambler will realize that he is going to the page he needs. If the string is chaotic, the client can ignore the link, deciding that it is a link farm. 

At the same time, your partner ID is hidden, and it is not so easy for digital pickpockets to change your URL and receive your dividends. Practice shows that the click-through rating on a site can be increased if you use hidden links, people click on them more willingly; a person intuitively chooses a more understandable and simple one, if there is a choice. Another important advantage is the fact that you will be able to decide for yourself what your links will look like. Cloaking is not so difficult: you need to install the plugin by contacting one of the services. In this case, you can manage your links by sorting them into categories. Specialized software will help you embed links or remove them if necessary.

Tracking Function

You can use the tracking feature to understand which of your hidden links are popular and which remain untouched. You can view your browsing history as a graph or in a table. In some cases, the tracking feature helps you understand where it is best to place links to improve efficiency. These actions can optimize your advertising product and increase traffic. Choose link encryption services that have a tracking feature. 

Negative Link Cloaking

Unfortunately, more and more often link cloaking has been used in a negative way. Fraudulent traffic has become more difficult to track, as dishonest bidders have begun to use this method to hide their identity. Practice shows that it is quite difficult to manually identify such violators. In addition, there is no ban on encrypting links on the Internet, so scammers can use this method over and over again until they are caught. The tool on the Bluepear website can help detect violations against your brand, including unlocking dishonest partner links. Let's talk further about the advantages of automatic services and why 24/7 monitoring is necessary to fully protect the brand.

Sufficient GEO coverage. The automatic tool allows you to quickly change the address in case of unsuccessful attempts. For this purpose, proxy integration with a change of suppliers is used. It is important to quickly find servers for full-fledged tracking on the network. The problem is that detractors can hide their external addresses, masquerading as people from other regions so that you cannot detect their actions. The tool works smoothly, selecting the right proxies and tracking attempts at negative cloaking by partners. Statistics are collected for you, which can be viewed at any time. This way, you will be able to collect data for filing a lawsuit.

Live uncloaking by the BP tool. You are able to expose links in Live mode without waiting for the system to find them. This is useful in cases where you want to check the reliability of your partners here and now. It should be remembered that cloaked links can worsen the reputation of your brand, especially if customers are deceived or receive substandard services. If we talk about affiliate marketing in the field of gambling, then partner verification should be mandatory, and it is recommended to use both automatic verification and independently expose links of new partners. This strategy will lead to improved performance and reduce the risks of abuse of your brand.

Brief Conclusion 

Link Cloaking can be applied in a positive or negative way. It is important to understand that not all bidders are trying to harm your brand and, perhaps, they hide their links so that their customers are more comfortable. On the other hand, you should check your partners, as they can damage your brand with their dishonest actions. For effective uncloaking, you should use automatic Bluepear tools with the ability to quickly change GEO and manually view cloaked links.