how to mask a url??

**carrielulu** · 09-07-2007, 04:11 PM

Hi there,

I am wanting to mark the url links on my site stardietsecrets.com. As you can see there are some affiliate links in the posts AND in the side bar. When you scroll over them they show the lynxtrack url, I want to mask this so that it doesnt show anything..is this possible?? if so how?

Thanks in advance!

**Learning Newbie** · 09-07-2007, 04:30 PM

Not really. You could assign javascript event handlers to change the status bar text to "super happy link" but I can turn off your site's ability to mess with my status bar. You could also try using sneaky java redirects, but that's likely to get you banned from Google.

**whym** · 09-07-2007, 04:45 PM

You could just use Adsense rather than affiliate marketing - that way, people wouldn't think you were sneaky, which by the subject of this post, I'm sure you're not...

**carrielulu** · 09-07-2007, 05:02 PM

hehe thanks! ya i just notice that on a lot of other affiliate sites in particular, when you scrolled over the l;ink it would be like www.mysite.com/hgkjg and not the affiliate site. just wondered how this was done

**whym** · 09-07-2007, 05:21 PM

That's done via redirects, not via code on the page.

It would be OK to do manually as long as you don't have too many affiliate links to redirect

**Learning Newbie** · 09-07-2007, 05:25 PM

You would actually set up that page on your site, but you would either tell your server to direct requests for that page out to your affiliate. Or you could have javascript on that page, like <body onLoad="window.location = 'somesite.com'"> but that's really not a path you want to go down.

I'm not sure whether you have to or not, but if you do this, it would be a very good idea to prevent search robots from seeing that page and its redirects.

**whym** · 09-07-2007, 05:50 PM

What do bots do in the case of affiliate links? I mean couldn't they just click on them and it would be money in your pocket?

**Learning Newbie** · 09-07-2007, 06:12 PM

Not really sure - that would be one reason. Stop click bombs. But I think if you set up a bunch of pages with no content and affiliate redirects, Google would be upset if those pages wound up in their SERPs. I know the question was about how to code such a thing in html, but I think the person asking the question would do well to know the potential consequences this might have. Some poor girl over in the general forum is getting sued over something one of her site members did, and I don't think she woke up expecting that. Getting banned from Google would be almost as bad, and I just have a gut feeling that might be the end result here if carrielulu doesn't tread carefully.

**carrielulu** · 09-07-2007, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whym

That's done via redirects, not via code on the page.

It would be OK to do manually as long as you don't have too many affiliate links to redirect

ahh i see, ok. i have about 10 aff link i would like to mask..not trying to be sneaking or anything..just thought it looked tacky and would like the look of a redirect instead so it looks like www.stardietsecrets.com/123.php instead of www.lynxtrack.com/ytr677tgt87.php

now redirects hey...hmm does this involve php? hope not lol

**whym** · 09-07-2007, 06:43 PM

If you are using cPanel, then you can setup redirects there. That's the easy way.

**carrielulu** · 09-07-2007, 06:47 PM

cool i will give it a try....thanks both of u ! interesting posts!!

**whym** · 09-07-2007, 06:49 PM

OK. No worries. Talkupation appreciated for me and Newbie

Hope we've been able to get this working for you

**Michel Samuel** · 09-07-2007, 07:57 PM

frames.
fastest and easiest way

**whym** · 09-07-2007, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michel Samuel

frames.
fastest and easiest way

Not very useful for visitors though, accessibility-wise and not good for SEO either - it seems like overkill just to hide these URLs

**brandrocker** · 09-08-2007, 01:28 AM

NO need to hide affiliate links from search engine crawlers if you have original content. Rather - if you hide links and somehow caught notice of the bots ( yah! spam reports) - your site may be penalised.

**carrielulu** · 09-08-2007, 12:48 PM

where do go in cpanel for redirects?

**whym** · 09-08-2007, 02:40 PM

It depends what version of cPanel you are using.

For cPanel 10, its the 3rd or 4th row down, with an icon and the word "redirects" under it.

In cPanel 11, it's under the domains area.