Masking Affiliate Links using .htacess...

[tom991]

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Hi all,

I have read many posts on hiding/masking affiliate links, but cannot seem to get this to work using .htaccess.
For example, trying to get the affiliate link:
www. mysite.co.uk/link.php?m=1 to display as:
www. mysite.co.uk/go/1 etc.

I have used:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^go/([^/]+)/([^/]+) link.php?m=$1 [NC]
and
RewriteRule ^go/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\.html$ link.php?m=$1

But neither seem to work.

Any advice appreciated.

Many Thanks.

[thebusiness]

Hi all,

I have read many posts on hiding/masking affiliate links, but cannot seem to get this to work using .htaccess. For example, trying to get the affiliate link: [url=http://www.mysite.co.uk/link.php?m=1]

Any advice appreciated.

Two points of advice:
1) Google doesn't care whether your links are affiliate or not. It's considered good practice to tag paid links no follow but for most network links it makes no odds (Google knows what those links are)
2) Masking external links is against Google's terms of service

Why on Earth are you making life so difficult?

[tom991]

Two points of advice:
1) Google doesn't care whether your links are affiliate or not. It's considered good practice to tag paid links no follow but for most network links it makes no odds (Google knows what those links are)
2) Masking external links is against Google's terms of service

Why on Earth are you making life so difficult?

Thanks for your advice.
1) I already know this. The masking is to make the links look aesthetically better.
2) So is G going to ban the many sites that already do this?

Constructive advice please.

[thebusiness]

Thanks for your advice.
1) I already know this. The masking is to make the links look aesthetically better.
2) So is G going to ban the many sites that already do this?

Constructive advice please.

1)I accept that links can look aesthetically better but who cares really?
2)I think when people do this from a database then Google know what's going on and don't discriminate one way or the other. Personally I do not see the point of risking a change of opinion, but that's my choice.

Either way, I think doing this at server level is going a bit far - just my opinion?

[Aspirin]

Just add this line of code for each link

redirect 301 /go/1 http://www.merchantsite.co.uk/link.php?m=1

Hi all,

I have read many posts on hiding/masking affiliate links, but cannot seem to get this to work using .htaccess.
For example, trying to get the affiliate link:
www. mysite.co.uk/link.php?m=1 to display as:
www. mysite.co.uk/go/1 etc.

I have used:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^go/([^/]+)/([^/]+) link.php?m=$1 [NC]
and
RewriteRule ^go/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\.html$ link.php?m=$1

But neither seem to work.

Any advice appreciated.

Many Thanks.

[Richard101]

I find this link useful, in fact I had to refer to it again this morning
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/sitema...rewriting.html

[tom991]

Thanks Aspirin,

(1) Sorry, maybe I wasn''t clear; re-direct is done with php jump script; so I don't believe a 301 redirect is needed; just need to display a 'cleaner' link.
(2) Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe RewriteRule has a 'catch all', so a line of code for each aff link may not be needed?
For example, for the following aff. links, I'd like:

• www. mysite.co.uk/link.php?m=1 to display as: www. mysite.co.uk/go/1
• www. mysite.co.uk/link.php?m=2 to display as: www. mysite.co.uk/go/2
• www. mysite.co.uk/link.php?m=101 to display as: www. mysite.co.uk/go/101
• ... etc.

[Andrew Starr]

have you tried?

RewriteRule ^go/([^/]+) go.php?m=$1

also don't forget to add some checking to the variable passed to your go.php script

[tom991]

Thanks Andrew,

have you tried?

RewriteRule ^go/([^/]+) go.php?m=$1

I have tried this, still doesn't work.

I thought it may have been the options at the top of the .htaccess, as I read that 'FollowSymLinks' needs to be enabled to use 'RewriteRule'; but these seem Ok, as the options are as follows:
Options +FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI -Indexes

Seems strange as other RewriteRule's in the .htaccess seem to be working, i.e. non-www to the www version of URL.

also don't forget to add some checking to the variable passed to your go.php script

Checking is done in the go.php, and the actual affiliate links work fine.

[Andrew Starr]

have you got any other rewriterules in the same .htaccess which are working?

[tom991]

Yes, this one:

# Redirect non-www to the www version #
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mysite.co.uk [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mysite.co.uk/$1 [L,R=301]

But I believe this is a redirect (301), i.e. if user types domain into browser, they'll be redirected, whereas I just need to mask the links on the page (if this is possible).

[Andrew Starr]

this is what works on my server

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mysite\.co.uk [NC,OR]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.mysite.co.uk/$1 [R=301,L]

RewriteRule ^go/([^/]+) go.php?m=$1

don't know whether you will need the 'Options +FollowSymLinks' line or not as I don't fully understand it but I believe it has something to do with how your server is set up

[tom991]

Thanks Andrew. :tup

Most likely this could be a server issue, so I will contact my host (as its still not working).