Amazon Affiliate Link Cloaking: What's Allowed and What Gets You Banned
Link cloaking is one of those affiliate habits that's harmless on most networks and a problem on Amazon. The plugins that turn amazon.com/dp/B0…?tag=yoursite-20 into yoursite.com/go/best-tent are built for programs that don't mind. Amazon does, in a specific way that's easy to get wrong and easy to get right once you know the rule.
This post covers what the rule says, which link setups comply, which ones have closed accounts, and how to keep the convenience of link management without the risk.
The short answer
You may not make it unclear that a link goes to Amazon. That's the rule. A redirect, a pretty link or a shortener is allowed as long as the reader can tell, before clicking, that they're heading to Amazon. A bare /go/product link with no label is not.
Amazon's own shortener, amzn.to, is always fine. Hiding the tag, hiding the destination, or hiding which site the click came from are the three things that get accounts closed.
What the policy says
The relevant lines are in the Participation Requirements section of the Associates Program Policies. The one that matters most says you will not use a link shortening service, button, hyperlink or other placement "in a manner that makes it unclear that you are linking to an Amazon Site".
Two other rules sit next to it. You may not obscure the URL of the site your links appear on, including by using redirecting links, which is about hiding the referring page from Amazon rather than hiding Amazon from the reader. And you may not alter or remove the Associates ID from a link, which cloaking plugins never do on purpose but sometimes do by accident.
Read the first rule carefully. It doesn't ban redirects. It bans confusion about where a link goes.
Why Amazon cares when other programs don't
Most affiliate networks are happy for you to hide their tracking links; cloaking protects the commission from being stripped and keeps the site tidy.
Amazon's concern is different. Its reputation rides on shoppers knowing when they're being sent to Amazon, and its fraud team needs to see which page a click came from. A link that hides either of those looks, to Amazon, like the tools used for cookie stuffing and click fraud.
That's why the rule targets the reader's understanding, not the technology. A redirect the reader understands is fine. A direct link the reader doesn't understand isn't.
Link setups, ranked from safe to banned
| Setup | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Direct link with your tag | Safe | Destination and tag both visible |
| amzn.to short link | Safe | Amazon's own domain; tag included |
| Redirect with a clear label ("View on Amazon") | Safe | Reader knows the destination before clicking |
| Redirect plugin set to show the real Amazon URL | Safe | Managed centrally, displayed uncloaked |
| Bare /go/product link, no label | Risky | Nothing tells the reader it's Amazon |
| bit.ly or similar with no context | Risky | Same problem, plus a third-party domain |
| Link that strips the referrer | Banned | Hides which site the click came from |
| Link that swaps or drops the tag | Banned | Alters the Special Link |
| Redirect through a page that sets cookies first | Banned | This is cookie stuffing |
The middle of the table is where most sites sit, and the fix is usually a label. "Check price on Amazon" on the button, or "on Amazon" in the sentence, turns a risky link into a safe one without changing the plugin.
The three ways cloaking gets an account closed
1. Hiding the destination
A grid of product cards, each with a "Buy now" button that goes through /recommends/…, with no Amazon logo, price note or wording anywhere. The reader has no idea where they're going. This is the plain case the rule was written for.
2. Hiding the referrer
Some redirect setups strip or replace the referrer header, so Amazon sees the click arrive from nowhere, or from a domain other than the one you registered. Amazon treats this as obscuring your site, and it's the reason "no-referrer" options in link plugins are dangerous for Amazon links even when the destination is obvious.
3. Losing the tag on the way
Plugins with link rotation, geo-redirects or affiliate-tag "management" can rewrite the URL and drop the tag, or swap in a default one. The click still lands on Amazon, but it earns nothing, and a tag that doesn't match the site it's used on is itself a violation. The link-not-tracking post shows how to check what actually arrives.
How to keep link management without the risk
You don't have to give up central link management. Three approaches keep it compliant.
- Use amzn.to for Amazon. SiteStripe produces it, it's short, it carries the tag, and the domain says Amazon. Use the plugin for other programs and amzn.to for Amazon.
- Turn on uncloaking for Amazon links. Most redirect plugins have a per-link or per-category option to display the real destination URL. Set it for everything pointing at Amazon.
- Label every button and link. If the redirect stays, the words around it do the work: "on Amazon", "View at Amazon", "Check Amazon price". It costs nothing and satisfies the rule.
Whatever you choose, test one link the way a reader would: hover, read the surrounding text, click, and confirm the landing page carries your tag in the address bar. If any of those three fails, fix it before Amazon notices.
Doing it with AffSERP
AffSERP's X Best Review tool builds every product link as a direct Amazon URL with your Associates ID in it, labelled "Check Price on Amazon" on the button and in the comparison table, and marked rel="nofollow sponsored". There's no redirect layer to configure and nothing between the reader and the destination, which is the setup Amazon's rule describes.
If your site also runs a link plugin, leave the generated Amazon links out of it. They're already in the form Amazon wants, and every layer added on top is one more place for the tag to go missing. The link-building post covers the URL formats if you're building links by hand elsewhere.
FAQ
Is link cloaking against Amazon Associates rules?
Cloaking that hides the fact that a link goes to Amazon is. The Participation Requirements say you may not use a shortening service, button or link in a way that makes it unclear you are linking to an Amazon Site. A redirect whose anchor text, button or context makes the destination obvious is a different matter, and many sites use one without trouble.
Can I use amzn.to short links?
Yes. amzn.to is Amazon's own shortener, produced by SiteStripe, and it carries your Associates ID. It is the one shortener Amazon has never objected to, because the domain itself names Amazon.
Can I use Bitly or another third-party shortener for Amazon links?
Only if the reader can still tell the link goes to Amazon, from the text around it or a label. A bare bit.ly link with no context fails the rule. Most people who use a shortener for Amazon links use amzn.to instead and avoid the question.
Do redirect plugins like Pretty Links or ThirstyAffiliates break the rules?
Not by themselves. The risk is a /go/product-name style link with nothing telling the reader it leads to Amazon. Label the link or button, or use the plugin's option to show the real Amazon URL for Amazon links, and the redirect is fine.
AffSERP publishes buyer guides with direct, labelled Amazon links and your Associates ID on every one.
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