Affiliate links need two things most sites get wrong by default: a rel attribute (sponsored) telling search engines the link is a paid or affiliate relationship, and often a cleaner, cloaked URL that’s easier to manage and update than a long tracking link pasted directly into content.
Affiliate link cloaking & rel attribute setup
Affiliate links properly tagged and optionally cloaked, without breaking your existing tracking.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
What we need from you
- Confirmation of which affiliate programs or networks you use
- Whether you want links cloaked under your own domain, or just the rel attribute added
- Any existing affiliate links already in content that need updating
This or something else?
| You want affiliate links properly tagged and optionally cloaked | This fix covers it |
| Affiliate tracking itself isn’t working, separate from SEO tagging | A different, tracking-specific diagnosis |
| You’re setting up your own affiliate program for others to promote you | Affiliate program plugin configuration, a different service |
What we do
- Identify existing affiliate links across your content
- Add the correct rel attribute (sponsored) to each affiliate link
- Set up link cloaking if requested, redirecting a clean URL to the actual affiliate link
- Configure new links going forward to follow the same pattern
- Test that cloaked links redirect correctly and affiliate tracking still works
- Confirm search engines see the correct rel attribute on crawled pages
What is included
- Existing affiliate links corrected with the appropriate rel attribute
- Link cloaking set up, if requested, for cleaner URL management
- Verified affiliate tracking still functions correctly through cloaked links
- A written note on the pattern to follow for future links
Not included
- Finding or joining new affiliate programs
- Ongoing addition of rel attributes as you add new content, beyond initial setup
- Content writing or affiliate link placement strategy
- Fixing broken affiliate tracking unrelated to cloaking or rel attributes
Questions about this fix
Why does the rel attribute actually matter?
It's part of Google's guidelines for disclosing paid or affiliate relationships in links — not adding it is a guideline violation that can affect how Google evaluates your site's link profile.
Will cloaking my links break my existing affiliate tracking?
Not if set up correctly, which is what we test specifically — a cloaked link should redirect through to the exact same tracked affiliate URL, just via a cleaner path.
Do I need to manually add this to every new affiliate link I create?
We set up a consistent pattern and, where possible, a system that makes it easy to apply going forward, though genuinely new links you add yourself will need the same treatment applied.
Can this help my SEO, not just compliance?
Correct rel attributes are more about accurate disclosure than an SEO boost directly, though avoiding a guideline violation is generally better for search visibility than risking one.
What's the actual difference between 'sponsored' and 'nofollow'?
Sponsored is specifically for paid or affiliate links, which is the more accurate choice for affiliate content; nofollow is a broader signal not to pass ranking credit, useful in other contexts too.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.