The Simple URLs plugin by StudioPress helps you make affiliate links shorter. And because you control the text in the link, you can make your outbound links easier to understand for your site visitors.
A link that looks like this…
Is made to look like this…
After you install and activate the Simple URLs plugin you need to re-save your permalinks.
Save Permalinks.
Don’t change anything here. You’re just saving the settings to make sure the plugin knows what permalink settings you’re using.
Set up a Simple URLs redirect.
Simple URLs > Add New.
Put a name for your link in the “Enter Title Here” box.
I typed StudioPress in this box because I wanted my StudioPress affiliate link to open when the link was clicked.
Redirect information > Redirect URI > Paste your link in this box.
Paste the link you got from Share a Sale in this box. This could be a very long affiliate link.
Click the blue Publish button to the right of the screen.
Click the View URL button to make sure your link works.
Copy the link near the edit button.
This link will end with /go/studiopress in this example. If you typed a different word or phrase in the text box at the top of the page, that word or phrase will appear here. If you typed multiple words they’ll be separated-with-hyphens.
Use this link whenever you want to use your affiliate link. When someone clicks the shorter link, they’ll be automatically sent (redirected) to your much longer affiliate link.
Make as many URL’s as needed.
How to change the word /go/ in your links.
Beware! Editing PHP can break your website.
Only do this next step if you know what you are doing.
There’s no need to change this text, but if you want to you can.
Plugins > Editor.
In the top right corner of your screen you’ll see a box that says…
Select plugin to edit: Choose Simple URLs, click the Select button.
Find this line in the code…
'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'go', 'with_front' => false )The easiest way to find this is using Firefox’s search box. Press CTRL + F on your keyboard. A search box opens at the bottom of Firefox. Type ‘go’ in this search box and press enter on your key board or press the next button in the search tool.
Replace the word go with something else…
'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'go', 'with_front' => false )
'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'out', 'with_front' => false )Click the blue Update File button.
Re-save your permalinks.
Settings > Permalinks.
In our example the links will now end with /out/…
…/go/studiopress, becomes …/out/studiopress.
Some people choose to set their links to be no follow or to set disallow in their robots txt. You can find more information on Yoasts website, affiliate links and SEO.