Affiliate Link Tracking

How does AnyTrack track affiliate links, what you need to do and how you can perfect your data collection with link attributes.

Reminder about affiliate link tracking

In order for tracking and attribution to take place, AnyTrack AutoTag your links with unique tracking id data.

Example: https://affiliatelink.foo?aff_id=123&offer_id=23&subid=xU4VVnJyCbFWIloIPdYap1

When AnyTrack is on your site, the entire data generation and link tagging happens automatically, without any special setup or additional configurations.

This is what we call AutoTag and it's part of the redirectless tracking feature.

Anatomy of an affiliate link:

• Affiliate link: https://affiliatelink.foo?aff_id=123&offer_id=23

• Query string: subid

• Dynamic string (click ID): xU4VVnJyCbFWIloIPdYap1

We call the dynamic string Click ID and it looks like this xU4VVnJyCbFWIloIPdYap1

When a conversion takes place, the Click ID is appended to the Postback URL, which is called by the affiliate network. ⚠️ Without the Click ID, no conversion can be recorded and attributed.

Postback URL example with Click ID

https://t1.anytrack.io/account_id?click_id=xU4VVnJyCbFWIloIPdYap1&payout=12

Postback URL Explained | AnyTrackAnyTrack

Since each affiliate software uses different URL formats and query strings, AnyTrack must be able to identify affiliate links so it can append the correct Query String and Click ID.

Examples of affiliate networks query strings

Affiliate Program	Query String
CJ Affiliates	sid
Rakuten	u1
Impact	subId1
Hasoffers	aff_click_id
ShareASale	afftrack

Examples of affiliate links that have been "autotagged":

HasOffers

✅ Each tab shows a different method.

Native

<a class="lp-element lp-pom-button" id="lp-pom-button-250" 
href="https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=2&aff_id=4479&
aff_click_id=Ww7Bz3Rxm47Eou0Fn3Eply" target="_self">
<span class="label">Click Me!1</span></a>

CSS

<a class="lp-element lp-pom-button tgid-hasoffers" id="lp-pom-button-250" 
href="https://anytrack.io/go/nordvpn/?aff_click_id=Ww7Bz3Rxm47Eou0Fn3Eply" 
target="_self"><span class="label">Click Me!1</span></a>

Rel Attribute

<a class="lp-element lp-pom-button" id="lp-pom-button-250" 
href="https://anytrack.io/go/nordvpn/?aff_click_id=Ww7Bz3Rxm47Eou0Fn3Eply"
rel="sponsored hasoffers" target="_self"><span class="label">Click Me!1</span></a>

Link Attribute

<a class="lp-element lp-pom-button" id="lp-pom-button-250" 
data-tracking-group="hasoffers" href="https://anytrack.io/go/nordvpn/
?aff_click_id=Ww7Bz3Rxm47Eou0Fn3Eply" target="_self">
<span class="label">Click Me!1</span></a>

AnyTrack Integrations Catalog

Specific Instructions are given for each affiliate network when you add it to your AnyTrack account.

If you work with your own internal redirect system or with a link cloacker, make sure you pass the query string parameters to the destination URL. 💡 Learn how AnyTrack works with redirect plugins like Thirsty Affiliates.

pageThirsty AffiliatespagePretty Links Integration with AnyTrack

Query string in the offer link URL

If you prefer to add the query string directly to the offer link or if the affiliate network is not integrated in AnyTrack, you can manually add it to the link.

As long as the macro {click_id} or --CLICK-ID-- is added to the link, AnyTrack will identify it as a Call To Action.

https://mysite.foo/goto/offer?aff_click={click_id}
https://mysite.foo/goto/offer?aff_click=--CLICK-ID--

Additional options

<a href="https://mysite.foo/goto/888" rel="888" ></a>
<a href="https://mysite.foo/goto/leadpages" rel="impact" ></a>
<a href="https://mysite.foo/goto/wpengine" rel="shareasale" ></a>
<a href="https://mysite.foo/goto/wpengine" rel="noreferrer shareasale" ></a>

👉 You can check on our site where we have have a list of the best affiliate marketing tools. Hovering on some of the links will show you the "subid" parameters.

16+ Affiliate Marketing Tools To Dominate Your Market | AnyTrackAnyTrack

If you've published your links as provided by your affiliate program directly on your site, your can skip this part as AnyTrack tag will automatically track them.

What are link attributes?

In the example below, you can see that the link href is surrounded by several attributes. Those attributes are set to give more context to the link.

<a class="aff links" data-table="top10" data-action="cta" data-page="Top 10 Brands" 
data-brand="888.com" data-position="1" href="https://888.com" target="_blank"></a>

• data-table="top10"

• data-action="cta"

• data-brand="888.com"

How does AnyTrack use link attributes?

When you add the data-tracking-group attribute to your links, Anytrack will automatically append the required Query String and Click ID to the link when a visitor clicks on the link.

Example: 888 Affiliate Program

• Affiliate link https://mmwebhandler.aff-online.com/C/47984?sr=1664238

• URL Redirector: https://mysitedomain.foo/goto/888

• Data Tracking Group: data-tracking-group="888"

Code as it should appear on your site:

<a  href="https://mysitedomain.foo/goto/888" data-tracking-group="888" target="_blank"></a>A

Alternative method: add the data-tracking-group as a url query string

https://mysitedomain.foo/goto/888?data-tracking-group=888

When adding the tracking group as a query string, you do not need to surround it with ".

URL during the click event

https://mysitedomain.foo/goto/888?anid=0as8df0sad8f

URL after the redirect

https://mmwebhandler.aff-online.com/C/47984?sr=1664238&anid=0as8df0sad8f

Your Link Redirector must be able to pass query string to the affiliate links. If your site runs on WordPress, you will find many URL redirection plugins. Check here

Each affiliate program has its own data-tracking-group name.

The data-tracking-group information is displayed on the dashboard when you setup an affiliate network. This list serves as an example.

Affiliate program / software	Data Tracking Group
CellXpert	cellxpert
Hasoffers	hasoffers
cake	cake
maxbounty	maxbounty
CJ.com	cj
ShareASale	shareasale
ClickBank	clickbank
HitPath	hitpath

Optional link attributes that AnyTrack uses for tracking additional information.

Attribute	Example Value	Google Analytics	Aliases
data-payout	20	Event Value	data-commission
data-brand	NordVPN	Event Label	data-label, data-name, title
data-category	page category	Event Label	data-page, data-table

Here is an example of how a link should be added on your site.

<a href="https://anytrack.io/goto/leadpages" data-payout="1" 
data-tracking-group="impact" rel="nofollow" data-brand="leadpages" linkId="blog" 
data-at-href="https://anytrack.io/goto/leadpages">Try LeadPages Free</a>

CSS standard attributes

You can use the following CSS attributes to enable redirectless tracking on your links.

• Tracking Group: tgid-{affiliateNetwork}

• Commission: at-com-{numericValue}

• Brand Name: at-label-{brandName}