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 haven’t used Pretty Link Pro myself, but judging by their homepage the main differences are these :
Pretty Link Pro has…
* Link import/export.
* Twitter integration.
* Better built-in click tracking (but no Google Analytics integration)
* “Pretty bar” for links displayed in a frame.
Eclipse Link Cloaker has…
* Automatic link cloaking.
* Conversion tracking.
* Ability to track cloaked links with Google Analytics.
* Lower price. Pretty Link Pro – $97/unlimited sites, Eclipse Link Cloaker – $57/unlimited sites.
There’s probably something I’ve missed, but the above list probably covers the major differences.
Hi,
Yes, you are right.
If you can see this review. http://www.scriptcritics.com/2010/pretty-links-pro-review/
I’ve been used Pretty Link free version. I think it’s little bit difficult to manage. Anyway, thanks for everything. I give your cloaker a try. If I have any problems will let you know.
regards
Kev
Hi man, I have a problem with the cloaker. please see your email. Thanks
Hi,
Why do the cloaked links have the strike through? I am sure there must be a reason, but it looks funny
regards
james
Are you running the “Broken Link Checker” plugin on the same site as the cloaker? There are some server configurations where BLC can’t properly handle redirects (e.g. cloaked links) and thus marks them with a strike-through to indicate that they are “broken”.
Hello again,
I was using the Google Chrome browser so when I switched to firefox, it seems to be ok.
sorry bout the confusion
james
I’m having a problem. I’m using selective cloaking, and when I add before the anchor text in the link, the link goes to a “post not found” page. The link works fine without the . Any ideas?
Okay, problem solved. For some reason, even though my .htaccess file had writable permissions, I had to add the mod_rewrite commands manually.
It took me a while to find these instructions at the bottom of the permalinks settings, though, ’cause I knew my permalink setting was correct, so it wasn’t until I read somewhere that resetting them *again* might fix the problem that I saw the instructions there.
Sorry for posting needlessly!
I want to use this ink, but am having problems. I run a coupon blog and have some posts with LOTS (like 100+ outbound links). It seems like this overwhelms the plug-in and the redirects go to the wrong websites. Like the code might say: Listerine printable coupon and the redirect takes someone to Target.com. They are always other sites that are used within the same post. Is this a known bug? Is there a fix? Is this fixed in the premium version (I have tried twice with the free one and this happened both times…6 months apart). Help please.
I’m guessing that you also have some plugin-generated or custom field links in the posts. That throws off the plugin’s “which link is this?” routine and would produce exactly the sort of symptoms that you describe. This is not a bug per se; the free version just doesn’t support plugin-inserted links.
If this is indeed the cause, getting the Pro version would fix the problem.
Thanx for this! Superb
Hi,
can you tell me please if google spider follow the link? or ist it set as dofollow at standard options. otherwise i will change the robot.txt and set gogo to nofollow
Thanks for plugin
Best regards
The cloaked links are nofollow’ed by default. You can turn the rel=”nofollow” attribute on/off in Settings -> Link Cloaking.
Hi,
I used the option to cloak all links and state the exception. In the exception box
I wrote e.g.
http://www.mrdowling.com/704renaissance.html or
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire
but the the links were still cloaked.
What I am doing wrong? I got version 1.5.
Alena
As the settings page plainly states, “List one domain per row.” http://www.mrdowling.com/704renaissance.html is not a domain, it is a complete URL. Instead, enter only the domain names in the exception box, like this:
Thank you very much. I should have known but sometimes….Thanks again. Alena
I have been running the plugin successfully, but have a question. I run a coupon/deal site and cloak A LOT of links in any given day. Starting yesterday my site has been having issues and sporadically returning this error: “This website is temporarily unavailable. Please check back later. Unfortunately there were no suitable nodes available to serve this request.” I am wondering if it is happening because my site has too much traffic looking at posts with lots of cloaked links simultaneously and it just can’t handle it. White Shadow – have you heard of that happening? I have 7,250 cloaked links and some posts could have lots of cloaked links in one post (like 40+ cloaked links). Any ideas?
I’ve never heard of something like that happening because of this plugin. It sounds more like a general performance/server overload problem. Then again, I also haven’t used the plugin on sites that big.
Perhaps you could try disabling the plugin for a day or two to see if the sporadic errors disappear?
[…] You can download the plugin and get more information here: WordPress Link Cloaking Plugin […]
Hi,
Does the link cloaker works with WP 3.0.1 MU? In WP 3.0.1 it works perfectly. However, once I switch to WP MU error occur.
Thanks