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How to mask URLs in affiliate tracking links

How to Mask my URLs in affiliate tracking links - ClickMeter blog

 

Masking URLs is useful in many cases  – for affiliate links, for sharing friendlier URLs, etc. ClickMeter allows you to mask and track clicks and conversions on your URLs and domains.

To access this feature,  you need to be signed into your ClickMeter account and then you can click on: “CREATE NEW > TRACKING LINK”. Then click on “Mask URL” from the options and you will have access to three handy options:

        1. Mask destination URL
          The destination URL (and the domain it’s hosted on) will not be visible. In fact, a transparent frame will show only your tracking link in the browser address bar.
        2. Page title
          You will able to choose the page title of the landing page, which will increase its rankings on search engines.
        3. Encode destination URL
          Hide the destination URL in the source code as well.

mask URls in affiliate tracking links

We did a test and created a new tracking link using the URL masking feature. The new tracking link is: http://go.clickmeter.com/mask-my-url

This redirects to TechCrunch.

The following is a screenshot of the page that you can see after you click on the tracking link. Although the browser displays the Techcrunch page, the address bar shows your tracking link, and the page title is the one that we have chosen: “My product name”.

The page title will optimize the presence of your link in search engines. Your tracking link is protected even if the page is refreshed or if another link is clicked.

Mask destination URL
In this example, we also used the option: “Encode destination URL”. This allowed us to hide the destination URL, or landing page, inside the source code as well. In our techcrunch.com example, if you inspect the code of the page, you’ll see encoded numbers but not the destination URL.

Mask destination URL
 

Some useful notes:

  • When you mask your URL with ClickMeter, you can maintain all the other important benefits of using our tool, including conversion tracking and 301 redirects for SEO. You can also use your own domain – though, this particular feature is for agency subscription plans only.
  • Masking is different from cloaking. Masking is okay when it is used to help users reach the right content, while cloaking isn’t recommended and often leads to your website being banned from most search engines.

Find out more about how to mask URLs and what exactly it is by reading this handy FAQ.

Related Reading:

This blog post is about:

  • How to mask URLs
  • Masking URLs
  • Cloaking versus masking URLs
  • How to mask links

 

Originally Posted: August 16th, 2017.

Post Updated: March 3rd, 2021.

ClickMeter
The online service helping advertisers, agencies, affiliates and publishers optimize their conversion rates through the management, tracking and monitoring of marketing links. Through an online dashboard or API integration users have access to a portfolio of tools including: click and conversion tracking, short links using user’s domain, split A/B testing, dynamic traffic redirect, landing page monitoring and more.