Affiliates were asked “Do you cloak/redirect links?” for the 2011 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.
The majority of respondents, at 59%, said no, and the remaining 41% indicated they do cloak their links.
I’ve been cloaking affiliate links for as long as I can remember – first through meta redirects, then via an .htaccess file, before I moved on to using a WordPress plugin called Pretty Link.
I also came across another useful affiliate redirect WordPress Plugin called ThirstyAffiliates last fall.
Additionally, I use bit.ly Pro, which is a free service that enables me to use my own domain to make redirect links. I use aff.bz there.
Over fourteen-hundred affiliates were surveyed on their methods, preferences, and strategies for the 2011 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report.
More details on AffStat at http://affstat.com/.
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Not sure how is it exactly done. Website cloaking is used to fool search engines. It’s like showing content A to search engines and content B to visitors. Lot of AdWords advertisers do it to promote stuff that Google does not allow. It is shocking to see some affiliate networks allow and promote this too. Bad for the industry.
When you mention Website cloaking, are you referring to iframes?
There has been lot of confusion between website cloaking and link cloaking. Website cloaking is bad and not should be done but cloaking links is fine. I cloak links since day one. It allows me to organize all my links properly and get stats too.
The term “cloaking” definitely gives off a sneaky vibe, but I don’t think that is the intentions of most affiliates. If you are disclosing your affiliate associations, like you’re supposed to, then it shouldn’t be particularly shocking to visitors if a link takes them to an affiliate product.
I think you’re right… “Cloaking” sounds sinister, like you’re sneaking around doing something you shouldn’t do. I don’t “cloak” or redirect, though. May start though and “cloak” a few….
Cloak has negative connotations for sure, redirect would be more neutral, and would be a more well known terms IMHO. You could even split test the language showing half of respondents one question and half the other.
Maybe a lot of newbies answered the survey. Maybe I’ll change the wording next time to just redirect and drop cloak. I wonder if people think cloak sounds sinister?
That result surprises me because when I’m out and about I find more cloaked links than straight links on affiliate sites. I truly had the perception that well more than half of affiliates were cloaking.
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