Affiliate Link Shortener: The Smart Way to Protect & Track Your Links

Affiliate marketers lose up to 30% of potential commissions from ugly, untrusted links. An affiliate link shortener solves this by creating clean, branded URLs while preserving all tracking data.

What Is an Affiliate Link Shortener?

An affiliate link shortener (or "cloaker") converts long, spammy-looking affiliate URLs into short, memorable links that:

• Hide the affiliate reference (e.g., ?ref=12345)
• Use your domain instead of the vendor's
• Preserve all tracking functionality

Key Benefits for Affiliate Marketers

Why top marketers use affiliate link shorteners:

• Higher CTR: Clean links get 18-25% more clicks (Source: Impact.com)
• Link protection: Prevent competitors from stealing your affiliate IDs
• Better analytics: Track clicks, conversions, and geography
• Brand trust: Links like urldn.com/recommends/tea look more professional

How Affiliate Link Shortening Works

Our affiliate link tool follows this process:

1. You paste your vendor's affiliate URL
2. We generate a short link on your chosen domain
3. The system creates a 301 redirect with full tracking
4. You get detailed analytics on clicks/conversions

Affiliate Shortener vs. Bulk URL Shortener

While our bulk URL shortener handles mass processing, affiliate shorteners add special features:

• Automatic link cloaking
• Conversion tracking pixels
• Campaign tagging (UTM parameters)
• Bot click filtering

Affiliate Link Best Practices

Maximize your results:

• Use descriptive paths (/recommends/ vs random strings)
• Set up UTM parameters for campaign tracking
• Rotate links periodically to prevent blocking
• Check analytics monthly to optimize top performers