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.
Last updated
How does AnyTrack track affiliate links, what you need to do and how you can perfect your data collection with link attributes.
Last updated
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.
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
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.
Affiliate Program
Query String
CJ Affiliates
sid
Rakuten
u1
Impact
subId1
Hasoffers
aff_click_id
ShareASale
afftrack
✅ Each tab shows a different method.
Specific Instructions are given for each affiliate network when you add it to your AnyTrack account.
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.
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.
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.
data-table="top10"
data-action="cta"
data-brand="888.com"
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.
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:
When adding the tracking group as a query string, you do not need to surround it with ".
URL after the redirect
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
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
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
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}
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.
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.
