Google says you benefit not anything by way of hiding associate links

Google’s John Mueller was requested approximately the pros and cons of hiding associate links. John replied on Twitter pronouncing: “I don’t suppose you benefit some thing with the aid of obscuring associate links, it simply provides complexity. You could use a DB pushed setup without obfuscation.”

The query became, “As an affiliate, i have been the usage of cloaking to manipulate heaps of ad link places throughout my website (not conceal them), I handiest need to replace 1 link in my database if the affiliate endpoint modifications.”

The reaction turned into also thrilling:

hiya @JohnMu a query i have constantly put off.

As an associate i have used cloaking to control thousands of advert hyperlink locations on my site (without hiding them), I best have to update one link in my database if the affiliate endpoint adjustments.

is that this nonetheless taken into consideration horrific practice?

— Martin McGarry (@seomcgarry) August 24, 2022

Aff managers don’t run databases, they may be vendors, they also use WordPress
some examples:https://t.Co/m7mXuNTELEhttps://t.Co/wmJI7CHSKu

allow’s alternate tohttps://t.Co/7XfBWAqjI9https://t.Co/2dvcvQd3Dz

this is a good deal simpler for the aff team as we aren’t looking to conceal hyperlinks

— Martin McGarry (@seomcgarry) August 24, 2022

recently a person requested Fr change of affiliate links try to see upgrades after updating the product reviews, which John also responded to.

discussion board dialogue at Twitter.