Direct Link Tracking allows affiliates to link directly to your site without the need for an affiliate link.

This is a major incentive for your affiliates, and may help earn you more money.

If a visitor recognizes an affiliate link whilst on an affiliate’s site, they’ll know the affiliate will earn a commission if they click that link and purchase your product. In some instances, an affiliate link may make a visitor skeptical of your site content, and they won’t click the link. A potential customer turned off by an affiliate link could mean a missed sale for you (and a missed commission for your affiliate).

By using Direct Link Tracking, visitors will be completely unaware of any affiliate links, greatly increasing the chance of clicking a link to your site and going on to complete a purchase. You’ll be happy because you get more sales, and your affiliates will be happy because they earn more commission.

Use Direct Link Tracking for:

An increased opportunity for more sales
Visitors won’t know they are clicking on affiliate links.

Happier and more motivated affiliates
Since there’s no affiliate link, affiliates have a higher chance of earning a commission, and they’ll work harder to get it. Visitors can’t copy and paste the link into a new window and remove their tracking parameters, because there are none!

Enhanced SEO
Links to your site do not contain any affiliate parameters, so they will be more SEO-friendly.

How does Direct Link Tracking work?

When the Direct Link Tracking add-on is activated, affiliates will be able to enter their domain (or domains) into their Affiliate Area on your site. Once they have submitted a domain for approval, and it is approved by the site administrator, the affiliate can link directly to your site, from theirs, without using their referral link.

When a visitor clicks the link on the affiliate’s website and arrives on your site, the domain is looked up in the database. If the domain belongs to an affiliate, that affiliate’s ID is stored in the browser’s cookies, just like a normal affiliate link.

If the customer then goes on to complete a purchase (or a conversion), a referral will be created for the affiliate.

Features

Dedicated “Direct Links” screen: Adds a “Direct Links” area to the WordPress admin for a full overview and easy management of all direct link tracking domains
Domain approval: An affiliate cannot earn commission and link directly to your site unless you approve their domain
Enable globally or per-affiliate: Enable Direct Link Tracking on a global or per-affiliate level
Maximum number of domains: Set the number of domains an affiliate can enter on a global or per-affiliate level
Change domain status: Approve, reject, delete, or make direct links inactive from the central “Direct Links” admin screen
Easily manage your affiliate’s domains: Add, update, approve, reject or delete direct links for your affiliates, right from the WordPress admin.
Email notifications: Send an email notification to the site administrator when a new domain has been submitted for approval and send an email notification to the affiliate when their domain has been approved or rejected.
Blacklist domains: Add domains to the domain blacklist to prevent them from being added, and also prevent a visit from being stored if they are already in use.

Important Note

There are certain web browsers, such as Safari on iOS, that have more restrictions. For example, when an affiliate’s site is using http:// and your site is using https://, your site may not properly detect the direct affiliate traffic. There is a workaround, however, that you can instruct your affiliates to apply to their website to ensure this works properly. See this document for more detailed information: Direct Link Tracking troubleshooting