Quick answer: Affiliate link cloaking means sending visitors through a short link on your own domain, like yoursite.com/go/brand, which redirects to your tracking link. It's legitimate and widely used. What gets sites penalised and ad accounts suspended is a different thing with the same name: showing search engines or ad reviewers different content from what real visitors see.
I'm Rihards, founder of Seven Affiliates, and I've spent five years in iGaming. "Cloaking" is the most misunderstood word in affiliate marketing, because it means one sensible thing and one account-ending thing.
Here's the difference in one picture. Link cloaking is putting a nice coat on your link. [Holds up a tidy coat.]
Ad cloaking is putting a fake moustache on your landing page so the reviewer doesn't recognise it. [Holds up a moustache. Everyone gasps.]
Coats are fine. Moustaches get you banned. Let's keep it that way.
Link cloaking vs cloaking: what's the difference?
| Link cloaking (the coat) | Search or ad cloaking (the moustache) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A short link on your domain that redirects to your affiliate link | Showing search engines or ad reviewers different content from visitors |
| Who sees what | Everyone lands on the same offer | Reviewers see one page, real visitors another |
| Purpose | Tidy links, easy updates, click tracking | To trick rankings or ad review |
| Allowed? | Yes, if links are labelled and disclosed | No. Google treats it as spam and suspends ad accounts |
Same word, opposite meanings. It's like "sick" meaning both "ill" and "amazing", except one of these meanings costs you your Google Ads account forever. Language is wonderful. Language is also a trap.
Why do casino affiliates cloak their links?
Three practical reasons: cleaner links, easier updates, and protection for your tracking. Pretty Links, a popular WordPress tool for this, puts the first and last plainly: "Cloaking can replace long, unsightly URLs with branded, memorable ones", and "Cloaking can prevent commission theft, where someone could potentially replace the affiliate ID in a URL" (Pretty Links).
| Reason | Why it matters in iGaming |
|---|---|
| Tidy, branded links | yoursite.com/go/brand looks trustworthy. A 200-character tracking link looks like a ransom note |
| Update once, fix everywhere | When an offer or tracking link changes, you edit one redirect instead of fifty pages |
| Click tracking | See which pages and placements send clicks before a conversion ever happens |
| Protect your tracking ID | Harder for anyone to swap your affiliate ID for theirs |
The "update once" reason is the one casino affiliates feel most. Brands change domains, offers change terms, and links break at the worst possible moment, usually a Saturday during a big match. With cloaked links, you fix one thing and go back to shouting at the television.
Does Google allow affiliate link cloaking?
Yes, as long as the redirect doesn't deceive anyone. Google's spam policies define cloaking as "the practice of presenting different content to users and search engines with the intent to manipulate search rankings and mislead users" (Google spam policies). A /go/ link that sends everyone to the same offer does neither.
The same page says "there are many legitimate, non-spam reasons to redirect one URL to another". What it bans is redirecting "maliciously", to show users and search engines different content or send people somewhere they didn't expect. The coat is fine. The coat with a different person inside it is not.
Google also wants affiliate links labelled. It's "not a violation of our policies to have such links as long as they are qualified with rel='nofollow' or rel='sponsored'", and it describes sponsored as the value for "advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links)" (Google Search Central). So your cloaked links get rel="sponsored", cloaked or not.
What kind of cloaking gets Google Ads accounts suspended?
The moustache kind. Google Ads bans "Showing Google a landing page or an ad's destination that complies with Google Ads' policies while showing people different content", under its circumventing systems policy (Google Ads).
| Allowed in Google Ads | Not allowed |
|---|---|
| "Showing a landing page or ad destination in different languages" | Showing reviewers a compliant page and players a different one |
| Click trackers and redirects that land everyone on the same content | Redirects that change the destination depending on who's looking |
The penalty is not a warning: "If violations of this policy are found, your Google Ads accounts will be suspended upon detection and without prior warning." For gambling affiliates, who already need Google's gambling certification to advertise at all, that's not a slap on the wrist. That's the whole wrist, removed, and posted back to you in a small box.
How do you set up link cloaking safely?
Use a proper redirect tool, keep one link per offer, and label everything. The popular WordPress options are plugins such as Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates, while other sites use server redirects or a link management service.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Pick a folder | Use one clear path for all offers, such as /go/ |
| 2. Choose the redirect type | Pretty Links suggests 302 or 307 for affiliate links |
| 3. Label the links | Add rel="sponsored" wherever the link appears |
| 4. Keep one link per offer | So one edit fixes every page |
| 5. Test it | Click through and check your tracking ID survives the redirect |
Why 302 or 307 rather than 301? Google says a permanent redirect is used "as a signal that the redirect target should be canonical", while a temporary one isn't (Google Search Central). Affiliate destinations change often, so temporary makes sense. That's common practice rather than a Google rule, and I'm contractually obliged by my own conscience to tell you.
Do you still need to disclose cloaked affiliate links?
Yes. A nicer-looking link is still an affiliate link, and a coat doesn't make you invisible. In the US, the FTC tells affiliates to "disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site", suggests wording like "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post", and says "the closer the disclosure is to your recommendation, the better" (FTC).
| US (FTC) | UK (ASA) | |
|---|---|---|
| The rule | Disclose the relationship "clearly and conspicuously" | Marketing must be "obviously identifiable as such" |
| Where | "The closer the disclosure is to your recommendation, the better" | With the content, not tucked away |
| Not enough | Vague or distant disclosures | A standalone "*affiliate" label |
In the UK, the ASA requires marketing to be "obviously identifiable as such", and ruled that a standalone "*affiliate" label on an Instagram Story "was not sufficient". It also says "Both the business and the affiliate marketer are responsible under the Code" (ASA). So say it plainly, near the link, in words a human would understand. Footnotes are where disclosures go to be ignored.
Check your program's terms before you cloak
Most programs don't mind a tidy redirect, but some care how your links look and where traffic comes from. Amazon Associates is the famous strict example: it says you "will not cloak, hide, spoof, or otherwise obscure the URL of your site containing Special Links (including by use of a redirecting page)" in a way that stops Amazon seeing where a click came from (Amazon Associates).
Casino programs have their own rules, often about traffic sources and brand terms rather than link format. Read the terms for each offer, and if they don't mention redirects, ask. It's one email, and it's much cheaper than a surprise. Our guide to brand bidding rules covers the paid search side.
| Ask your program | Why |
|---|---|
| Are redirects or link cloaking allowed? | Some programs want to see the referring site |
| Is direct linking from ads allowed? | Many programs restrict it |
| Which traffic sources are banned? | Brand bidding and some sources are often excluded |
How we approach it at Seven Affiliates
We're building a curated network of private iGaming offers, and each offer comes with its own terms. Before you cloak links or run paid traffic for an offer, check its terms with your account manager, and keep the answer in writing.
Our standing rules are simple. Brand bidding is not allowed unless the specific offer explicitly allows it, generic PPC traffic is allowed subject to each offer's terms, and our dashboard tracks your traffic in real time.
We offer CPA, RevShare and Hybrid deals, with RevShare calculated on NGR, 35% by default, and no negative carryover. Coats welcome. Moustaches, never.
| Rule | At Seven Affiliates |
|---|---|
| Brand bidding | Not allowed unless the specific offer explicitly allows it |
| Generic PPC traffic | Allowed, subject to each offer's terms |
| Offer terms | Agreed privately with your account manager |
| Tracking | Real-time, in your dashboard |
FAQ
Is link cloaking legal?
Yes. Redirecting a short link on your own domain to an affiliate link is a normal, legitimate practice, as long as everyone lands on the same content and you disclose that it's an affiliate link. Some programs have their own rules, so check their terms.
Does link cloaking hurt SEO?
Not when done properly. Google allows legitimate redirects and says affiliate links should be marked rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". What hurts is cloaking in the spam sense: showing search engines different content from visitors.
Should I use a 301 or 302 redirect for affiliate links?
Many affiliate tools suggest a 302 or 307, because affiliate destinations change often. Google treats a 301 as a signal that the destination should be the canonical URL, while a temporary redirect isn't.
What is the difference between link cloaking and ad cloaking?
Link cloaking tidies a link that sends everyone to the same place. Ad cloaking shows ad reviewers a different page from real visitors, which Google Ads bans and punishes with account suspension without warning.
Do I need to disclose cloaked affiliate links?
Yes. In the US the FTC expects a clear disclosure close to the recommendation, and in the UK the ASA requires ads to be obviously identifiable. A cloaked link is still an affiliate link.
Tidying up your links? See how the Seven Affiliates iGaming affiliate program works, then apply here. Tracking too? Read our postback URL setup guide.