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We know that we can cloak our affiliate links to make it look cleaner and easier to read using plugins like Pretty Links or even Bitly for example.
I am curious to know
Hey Not So Giant,
There's always "a tool for that", LOL!
There are literally 100s of cloaked link checkers online. You can try the one below, simply place the link in the box that you think may be cloaked and forwarded to an affiliate link.
Press enter, and it will tell the "real" website it is linking to, i.e. NOT the affiliate link, but the actual destination website.
Therefore, if someone has for example purchased a domain name (ths is how we used to do it when you could get .info domain names for $0.99) and called it makingmoney .com and then cloaked their WA affiliate link, and then forwarded it to the above domain, when you look in the below checker it will say something like:
makingmoney .info leads to wealthyaffiliate .com
Then you know that the "original" url has been cloaked and forwarded (you can also test bitly, tinyurl links, etc.)
Here's the site:
https://sitechecker.pro/cloaking-checker/
PP
As you know, many types of url shorteners will provide a shorter link.
Recognizing where the link should take you is the best way to tell if it has been shortened.
By looking at the link, you can tell if it has been shortened or cloaked by the way it looks.
Instead of seeing the link as a direct link + affiliate code, you will see the 4 or 5 digit code to the right of the /.
You can tell that Bit.ly links are cloaked because of the bit.ly end tag.
Pretty links can be modified, for example, your domajn link is used with either the 4 or 5 alpha numeric digits, or the actual product name can be used.
Mydomain dot com / aweber for example.
The URL shortener tools help by shortening a link that could get transposed or written incorrectly and that could take you to a 404 error or wrong page altogether.
Rudy
See more comments
Is there an easy or quick way to see if a link has been cloaked?
We know that we can cloak our affiliate links to make it look cleaner and easier to read using plugins like Pretty Links or even Bitly for example.
I am curious to know
Andre - i tend to keep this one pinned at the left of my browser to quickly copy and paste links into to see where they are going to take me....
as Partha says there are tons of these online ....
https://redirectdetective.com/
some take you through the whole chain - others just show the end link....
have fun....
Hey Not So Giant,
There's always "a tool for that", LOL!
There are literally 100s of cloaked link checkers online. You can try the one below, simply place the link in the box that you think may be cloaked and forwarded to an affiliate link.
Press enter, and it will tell the "real" website it is linking to, i.e. NOT the affiliate link, but the actual destination website.
Therefore, if someone has for example purchased a domain name (ths is how we used to do it when you could get .info domain names for $0.99) and called it makingmoney .com and then cloaked their WA affiliate link, and then forwarded it to the above domain, when you look in the below checker it will say something like:
makingmoney .info leads to wealthyaffiliate .com
Then you know that the "original" url has been cloaked and forwarded (you can also test bitly, tinyurl links, etc.)
Here's the site:
https://sitechecker.pro/cloaking-checker/
PP
As you know, many types of url shorteners will provide a shorter link.
Recognizing where the link should take you is the best way to tell if it has been shortened.
By looking at the link, you can tell if it has been shortened or cloaked by the way it looks.
Instead of seeing the link as a direct link + affiliate code, you will see the 4 or 5 digit code to the right of the /.
You can tell that Bit.ly links are cloaked because of the bit.ly end tag.
Pretty links can be modified, for example, your domajn link is used with either the 4 or 5 alpha numeric digits, or the actual product name can be used.
Mydomain dot com / aweber for example.
The URL shortener tools help by shortening a link that could get transposed or written incorrectly and that could take you to a 404 error or wrong page altogether.
Rudy
See more comments
Andre - i tend to keep this one pinned at the left of my browser to quickly copy and paste links into to see where they are going to take me....
as Partha says there are tons of these online ....
https://redirectdetective.com/
some take you through the whole chain - others just show the end link....
have fun....
Thank you Phil very helpful indeed appreciated.