Why are URL's "cloaked" on many affiliate webiste?

[Calumdf]

Hi,

All of the websites below drive most of their traffic from Google ads. They are clearly affiliate websites making money from reviews and top list of products. But when you however over the buttons you can see that they cloak all their links.

top10.com/online-grocery-services
compare.tech.co/best-crm-software-uk-v1

For example on the last link you can see that the link for monday.com is "compare.tech.co/go/mondaycom-crmsoftware_uk_cpc" which then re-directs you to monday.com?

What is the reason for doing this? Is this so that the google bots don't pick up that you have affiliate links on your landing page? Or is this mearly a tracking thing?

 

[Anthony.]

Hi,

All of the websites below drive most of their traffic from Google ads. They are clearly affiliate websites making money from reviews and top list of products. But when you however over the buttons you can see that they cloak all their links.

top10.com/online-grocery-services
compare.tech.co/best-crm-software-uk-v1

For example on the last link you can see that the link for monday.com is "compare.tech.co/go/mondaycom-crmsoftware_uk_cpc" which then re-directs you to monday.com?

What is the reason for doing this? Is this so that the google bots don't pick up that you have affiliate links on your landing page? Or is this mearly a tracking thing?

Isn't what you're talking about just the display URL option in Google Ads?

I've ran several search campaigns and you can make the url different to what the landing page actually is for relevancy.

Actually no, it wouldn't be able to change the domain, just the url after /

 

[Calumdf]

Hey sorry dont think i explained myself well. As you can see from the image the url is compare.tech/go but when you click on it, it then re-directs you to monday.com. Why do they have it set up like this?

 

[Anthony.]

Hey sorry dont think i explained myself well. As you can see from the image the url is compare.tech/go but when you click on it, it then re-directs you to monday.com. Why do they have it set up like this?

Ah I see what you mean. I see this a lot too and just assume it's to tidy up their affiliate links, maybe for better organisation or how it's seen by a visitor rather than having links like domain.com/clk/wnq3iu4b3q

I suppose the website you're on is the compare.tech site and to make their life easier they organise in folders, different affiliate offers plus tracking reasons.

I maybe wrong but I do know what you mean now

 

[Calumdf]

thanks Anthony makes sense i wonder if anyone on here knows for sure

 

[Graybeard]

For example on the last link you can see that the link for monday.com is "compare.tech.co/go/mondaycom-crmsoftware_uk_cpc" which then re-directs you to monday.com?

What is the reason for doing this?

/go/ is real obvious to me:
/go/ is a script commonly used that it's a php redirection script with a counter and possibly some tracking logging routines added?
php redirect script at DuckDuckGo
that is not 'cloaking'
actually, the redirect part is in JavaScript.

<script>
           
            var adClickRedirectOptions = {"aclid":"OEE0VnhtcVQ","apid":"OGdFPQ","asid":"NO_SESSION_COOKIE","aref":"https:\/\/appwiki.nl","atemp":"default","redirectUrl":"https:\/\/monday.com\/lp\/aw\/crm-software\/?utm_source=mb&utm_campaign=appwiki&utm_medium=crm-uk&utm_content=primary","transactionId":"zAkkakkZsYaTxlIY8ywP","storeRecaptchaResultUrl":"\/link\/store-recaptcha-response","storeRecaptchaErrorUrl":"\/link\/store-recaptcha-error","recaptchaSiteKey":"6LfmG3UUAAAAAJc8fV0_ZMaVuQl3tsnNMRWTT80S","recaptchaTimeout":3,"errorTimeout":2};

            AdClickRedirect.initialize(adClickRedirectOptions);

            /**
             * Perform actions when Recaptcha is loaded.
             */
            function recaptchaLoaded() {
                AdClickRedirect.performRecaptcha();
            }

            // Fall-back in case something fails
            setTimeout(function () {
                //AdClickRedirect.redirect();
            }, 7000);
        </script><script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?render=6LfmG3UUAAAAAJc8fV0_ZMaVuQl3tsnNMRWTT80S&onload=recaptchaLoaded" async
                defer></script>

recaptcha is a bot filter I botted that URL with a simple curl -L -A the newer chromeheadless/selenium bots may defeat recapta --