How to Manage Affiliate Links in WordPress With ThirstyAffiliates

Affiliate links multiply. A year into monetizing a blog you can have hundreds of them across old posts, and when a program changes its tracking URL or moves to a new network, every one of them has to be found and updated. A link manager fixes that: you create one short link per product, use it everywhere, and change the destination once. ThirstyAffiliates is the plugin RoadToBlogging has used for every /go/ link since 2014, and this guide shows how to set it up, cloak links, add them automatically, track clicks, and keep them out of search engines. Updated October 2026 for the current plugin and pricing.

Free vs Paid ThirstyAffiliates

The free plugin on WordPress.org handles cloaking, categories, nofollow and new-window settings, link insertion in the editor, and basic click reports. The paid version (Basic $99.60 first year for 1 site, Plus $149.60 for 5 sites, Advanced $199.60 for 10 sites; renewals at full price) adds automatic keyword linking, advanced reports, geolocation links, Amazon API import, link scheduling, CSV import and export, and Google Analytics click tracking. The separate add-ons that existed when this post was first written (Autolinker, Stats, and the Blogger Pack) have all been folded into those plans.

Step 1: Install and Configure ThirstyAffiliates

Go to Plugins > Add New, search for ThirstyAffiliates, install, and activate. A ThirstyAffiliates menu appears in the sidebar. Open ThirstyAffiliates > Settings and set these on the General and Link Appearance tabs:

• Link prefix: the word that goes before each cloaked link. We use go, so links look like roadtoblogging.com/go/studiopress/. Pick it once and never change it, or every existing link breaks.
• Show category in URL: off. It only makes links longer.
• Redirect type: 301 is the default and fine. Some marketers prefer 302 so the redirect is not cached by browsers if they change destinations often; either works for tracking.
• Nofollow and open in new window: turn both on globally. Nofollow (or the newer sponsored attribute, which ThirstyAffiliates can also add) tells Google the link is paid; a new window keeps your post open.
• Disable title attribute on links: optional, keeps your HTML cleaner.

Save. Everything else can stay on defaults.

Step 2: Add and Cloak an Affiliate Link

A raw affiliate link looks like this:

https://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?B=346200&U=928612&M=28169&urllink=

Cloaking turns it into something readable that you control:

https://roadtoblogging.com/go/studiopress/

Go to ThirstyAffiliates > Add New:

1. Link name: the product name. It becomes the slug after /go/.
2. Destination URL: paste the raw affiliate link.
3. Redirect type, nofollow, new window: leave on global settings unless this link needs an exception.
4. Categories: group links (hosting, themes, tools) so you can filter the list later.
5. Attach images: upload a banner here if you want to insert it as an image link.

Click Save Link. The cloaked URL appears at the top; use that URL everywhere from now on.

Step 3: Insert Links in Posts

In the block editor, select text and click the link button; start typing the product name and ThirstyAffiliates links appear in the suggestions, marked with its icon. There is also a ThirstyAffiliates toolbar button to search and insert a link, a shortcode, or an image link, and a quick-add popup to create a new affiliate link without leaving the post.

Step 4: Add Affiliate Links Automatically With Keywords

This is the paid feature that justifies the price. Open any affiliate link and find the Autolink Keywords box. Enter the words that should become this link (the product name and common variations), set how many times per post to link (one or two is plenty), and save. ThirstyAffiliates then links those keywords in every post, old and new, without editing anything. You can exclude specific posts, headings, and link text, and limit it to posts rather than pages.

Use product names only. Linking generic words such as “hosting” turns your posts into a mess and reads as spam to readers and to Google.

Step 5: Track Clicks

ThirstyAffiliates > Reports shows clicks per link over time, so you can see which programs get attention and which posts drive them. The paid version adds filtering by link, date range, and referring page, and can send click events to Google Analytics 4. Clicks are not sales, but a link with thousands of clicks and no commissions tells you the landing page or offer is the problem.

Step 6: Keep Affiliate Links Out of Search Engines

Cloaked links are a custom post type, and you do not want Google indexing them. Three settings:

• Exclude from the sitemap: Rank Math > Sitemap Settings > Affiliate Links (set Include in Sitemap to Off); Yoast > Settings > Content types > Affiliate Links > off. ThirstyAffiliates also has a setting to disable the sitemap entry.
• Block the prefix in robots.txt: add Disallow: /go/ (using your prefix). See our robots.txt guide.
• Nofollow or sponsored on every link, which you already set globally in step 1.

Alternatives to ThirstyAffiliates

Pretty Links works almost identically, with a free version and a Pro plan from $99.50 a year, and is a good choice if you also want to shorten non-affiliate links. Lasso ($39 a month) adds product display boxes and Amazon integration on top of link management. For most bloggers, ThirstyAffiliates free plus the Basic plan when you need keyword linking is the sweet spot.

Once links are organized, our step-by-step affiliate marketing guide covers choosing programs and writing posts that convert, and these 21 tips help increase sales from the traffic you already have.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is affiliate link cloaking allowed?

Yes, as long as the links are marked nofollow or sponsored and you disclose that they are affiliate links. Amazon Associates is the exception: Amazon requires its links to be visible as Amazon links, so use ThirstyAffiliates’ uncloaked option for them.

Will changing the link prefix break old links?

Yes. Every link already published with the old prefix will 404. If you must change it, add a redirect rule from the old prefix to the new one first.

Does ThirstyAffiliates slow down WordPress?

No measurable effect for cloaking. Keyword autolinking adds processing when a post is rendered, which page caching makes irrelevant.

Can I import affiliate links in bulk?

The paid version imports and exports links as CSV, and can import Amazon products through the Amazon API.