Link Cloaking Plugin for WordPress
This is a plugin for WordPress that can automatically cloak outgoing links in your posts and/or pages.
Download plugin
(Note: May not be compatible with the latest version of Eclipse Link Cloaker.)
Features
- Choose what to cloak – all links, only the links you specify or no links at all.
- Choose where to cloak – posts, pages or both.
- Exception list – links pointing to domains in this list will not be cloaked. For example, this is useful if you have chosen to cloak all links but don’t want to cloak the links to your own domains.
- Compatible with all browsers – the link cloaker plugin doesn’t use JavaScript so it will work even for visitors that have disabled JS.
- “Smart” cloaking – relative, ambiguous or malformed URLs will not be cloaked. Better safe than sorry.
- If desired, you can also add your own cloaked links manually.
Examples
Lets say you’ve got a link you want to be cloaked.
<a href="http://example.com/?affiliate=me">Cloak Me</a>
Once you install the plugin, it will automatically, without requiring any configuration, turn it into a cloaked link when it’s displayed to a visitor:
<a href="http://yoursite.com/goto/Cloak_Me/12/34">Cloak Me</a>
Here’s a live example: Cloak Me
As an alternative to the fully automatic cloaking, you can switch the plugin to “selective cloaking” and tag the links you want to cloak manually:
<a href="http://example.com/?affiliate=me">Cloak Me<!--cloak--></a>
Note: The plugin does not actually edit your posts or permanently modify your links. Instead, it switches them on-the-fly whenever someone views them on your site. When editing a post in the admin panel, you will see the original, uncloaked link.
Download
Version 1.8.4 : link-cloaking-plugin.zip (16 KB)
Requirements :
- WordPress 2.8 – 3.3
mod_rewrite. If “pretty permalinks” work on your blog then you probably have this already.
(Note: May not be compatible with the latest version of Eclipse Link Cloaker.)
Installation
- Download the link-cloaking-plugin.zip file.
- Unzip the file.
- Upload the `link-cloaking-plugin` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory.
- Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
- (Optional) Go to Settings -> Link Cloaking and modify the default settings to your liking.
FAQ
Why are some of my links not getting cloaked?
The most common possibilities are:
- Links in the sidebar, header, comment area and so on can’t be cloaked by the free version of the plugin. It only works on links in page/post body. Upgrade to the premium version to cloak links anywhere on the page.
- Links added using other plugins, theme features or custom fields are also supported only in the premium version.
- JavaScript links, as well as Flash and context-sensitive ads are not supported by any version of this plugin.
Why are none of my links getting cloaked?
- If using “Seletive cloaking”, make sure you have actually marked some links with the
<!--cloak-->tag. - Double-check that the links in question aren’t added or modified by plugins, the theme, or custom fields.
- Contact me. You might have found a bug.
The exception list doesn’t seem to work. What could be the problem?
Make sure to enter only domain names in the “Exceptions” box. For example, given a link like “http://example.com/directory/page.html”, the domain name is the “example.com” part. So to prevent the plugin from cloaking that link, add “example.com” (sans quotes) to the “Exceptions” box. Entering the full URL or “http://example.com/” will not work.
Additionally, if some of your links point to example.com and some to www.example.com, you will need to add both of those to the exceptions.
Why do some cloaked links redirect me back to my homepage?
Most likely, your post(s) contain links created or modified by other plugins, the theme, or custom fields. Either remove those links, or upgrade to the premium version.
Why do some cloaked links redirect me back to my homepage?
See the previous question.
Why do cloaked links display a “Not Found” error?
- Make sure you’re using pretty permalinks.
- Your .htaccess might be out of date. To update it, go to Settings -> Permalinks and click “Save Changes”.
- Your hosting company may be blocking browser access to PHP files in the /wp-content/plugins/ directory, usually as a security measure. The free version of the plugin is not compatible with these hosts. Consider using the premium version instead.
I have a question not addressed in this FAQ. What should I do?
Either leave a comment below, or email me directly. My email address can be found on the contact page.
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I’m guessing the RSS feeds are pulled in by a plugin. Unfortunately, the free version of the cloaker doesn’t really work with links created by other plugins. You could try the premium version, though 😉
So, are you saying that Eclipse Link Cloaker will cloak rss feeds? If so, I’ll buy it. 🙂
Yep.
(To be completely honest : I haven’t tested it with an RSS feed plugin. I’m 99% sure it’ll work, but if it doesn’t, I’ll give you a full refund.)
OK, I took the plunge the other day and purchased Eclipse Link Cloaker because of the rss feeds I use on a lot of my sites and so far so good! There are a couple quirks or options I’d like to see built in but it does what it’s suppose to do and does it well. I can suck in feeds to my sites and the links look like they are part of the site. Sweet! I’m actually thinking of promoting Eclipse Link Cloaker as an affiliate. Anyway, that’s my review if it helps. Thanks.
Great, I’m glad it worked for you.
What additional options would you like to see? I’m generally very open to feature suggestions.
Well the one option that would be nice is to be able to shut off the cloaking for the blogroll (or links) widget. I post links to authority sites to show search engines that my site is not all about me :). Maybe it would be easier to tweak the code in wp rather tweaking your plugin. Either way, I still like it and it was worth the purchase.
Regards
Well, you could add the link domain names to the exception list (in Settings -> Link Cloaker).
Duh! You’re right. That’s what I’ll do. Thanks.
I am brand new to setting up wordpress sites. I see there are lots of challenges people have with the process, and yet I have been told this is quite essential for affiliate marketing. Is there a dummy proof way to PLUG IN or dummy instructions? Signed WP DUMMY
See Managing Plugins for detailed instructions on how to install plugins. You could also browse around the rest of WordPress Codex a bit, there’s a lot of useful information in there.
This plug-in rocks! Only wanted something to cloak my links and have my domain name first then the affiliate link come after. Just what I was looking for.
However, none of my sidebar links are cloaked. Is it possible to do that?
Thanks,
– Marc
The free version only cloaks links in posts. However, there’s a premium version that can cloak links in any part of your site, including the sidebar 😉
[…] Link Cloaking Plugin […]
I’m having trouble getting the plugin to work – it’s installed fine and I think I’ve configured it correctly, updated .htaccess etc.
When clicking on a cloaked link in the format “http://domain.com/goto/link/12/1” I just get my 404 page.
Any ideas?
Take a look at the .htaccess and make sure the plugin’s code is at the top of the file. The cloaker’s code block is marked by the comment “Link Cloaking Plugin BEGINS”.
Perfect thanks! WordPress had added it’s own code above the plugin code.
Your free plugin works great, and I think I would like to purchase your paid version.
But I noticed on the free version that even though my links appear cloaked when you click on the link and are redirected to the affiliate page, the hop link appears in the URL.
Does this still happen with the paid version? It would be nice not to display any affiliate info.
Thanks
Billy
The paid version supports several different cloaking types, including one that lets you also cloak the address bar URL. You can find more information about the cloaking types on this page (scroll down to the “Cloaking Type” section).
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Thanks for this plugin, it has the features I have been looking for as a WP plugin that I need for a few blogs.
Other cloaking plugins have not lived up to their promises so far, so this is well appreciated.
May have to upgrade!