Description
Affiliate URLs can get long, messy, and hard to manage — especially once they’re embedded across pages, posts, emails, and ads.
Kitgenix Affiliate Link Manager gives you a simple, central place to create and manage short affiliate links, and redirect visitors using a clean URL format:
/go/{slug} (prefix configurable)
It’s designed to be lightweight and practical:
– Create links with a Name, Slug and Destination URL
– Configure the redirect prefix (default: go)
– Choose redirect status: 307, 302 or 301
– Track click counts per link
– No third-party redirect/short-link service (redirects happen on your site)
SEO note: you can choose a per-link rel value (nofollow / sponsored / both). When placing your short URL into content, use sponsored/nofollow to follow search engine guidelines for affiliate links.
Notes
- This plugin stores links in a private custom post type and performs redirects via WordPress rewrite rules.
- After changing the redirect prefix, you may need to re-save Permalinks (Settings Permalinks) to ensure rewrite rules are refreshed.
Quick Start
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Go to Kitgenix Affiliate Links.
- Add a link (Name + Destination URL + optional custom slug).
- Copy the generated short URL and use it anywhere.
Developers
Text domain:
kitgenix-affiliate-link-manager
Custom post type:
– kitgenix_aff_link
Post meta:
– Destination URL: _kitgenix_affiliate_destination_url
– Click count: _kitgenix_affiliate_clicks
– Rel value: _kitgenix_affiliate_rel (allowed: nofollow, sponsored, nofollow sponsored)
Settings option:
– kitgenix_affiliate_link_manager_settings
Settings group (Settings API):
– kitgenix_affiliate_link_manager_settings_group
Redirect query var:
– kitgenix_affiliate_slug
Admin actions / nonces:
– Admin-post action (save): admin_post_kitgenix_affiliate_link_save
– Admin-post action (delete): admin_post_kitgenix_affiliate_link_delete
– Link save nonce action: kitgenix_affiliate_link_save
– Link save nonce field name: kitgenix_affiliate_link_nonce
– Link delete nonce action: kitgenix_affiliate_link_delete
– Link delete nonce query arg: nonce
– Settings save nonce action: kitgenix_affiliate_link_manager_settings_save
– Settings save nonce field name: kitgenix_affiliate_link_manager_settings_nonce
Settings UI field identifiers:
– Redirect status id: kitgenix_affiliate_redirect_status
External Services
This plugin includes a shared “Kitgenix hub” component in wp-admin which may fetch publicly available plugin metadata from WordPress.org using WordPress core’s plugins_api() function.
Caching:
– Transient: kitgenix_hub_wporg_active_installs_v1
– Transient: kitgenix_hub_wporg_ratings_v1
Redirect destinations:
– When a visitor uses a short URL like /go/{slug}, the plugin redirects them to the destination URL you configured for that link. Destination URLs are commonly on third-party domains (affiliate programs).
Security & Privacy
- No tracking cookies are added.
- Admin actions are protected with capability checks and nonces.
- Redirect destinations are validated before redirect.
Uninstall
Uninstall removes only plugin settings and plugin-only transients (but does not delete stored affiliate link posts or click data).
Deleted:
– Option: kitgenix_affiliate_link_manager_settings
– Transient: kitgenix_affiliate_link_manager_do_activation_redirect
– Transient (short-lived): kitgenix_affiliate_link_manager_do_rewrite_flush
Support Development
If this plugin saves you time managing affiliate URLs, you can support ongoing development here:
https://buymeacoffee.com/kitgenix
Credits
Built with ❤︎ by @kitgenix – https://kitgenix.com
Installation
- Install via Plugins Add New and search for “Kitgenix Affiliate Link Manager”, or upload the ZIP to
/wp-content/plugins/. - Activate the plugin.
- Open Kitgenix Affiliate Links.
- (Optional) Update Settings Prefix and Redirect Status.
- If you changed the prefix, re-save Settings Permalinks.
FAQ
-
What URL format does it use?
-
By default it redirects from
/go/{slug}. You can change the prefix in settings. -
Does it track clicks?
-
Yes. Each redirect increments a click counter stored against the link.
-
Can I use a 301 redirect?
-
Yes, but it is generally better to use a temporary redirect for affiliate links. Use 307 (recommended) or 302 unless you have a specific reason to make the redirect permanent.
-
Should I add nofollow/sponsored?
-
Yes. When you add the short URL to a post/page, tag the link with
rel="nofollow"orrel="sponsored"(ideally both) to comply with search engine guidelines. -
Does it require WooCommerce?
-
No.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Kitgenix Affiliate Link Manager” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate “Kitgenix Affiliate Link Manager” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
= 1.0.0 (01 March 2026)=
* New: Initial release.
* New: Create and manage affiliate links with Name, Slug, and Destination URL.
* New: Redirect visitors via clean short URLs using /go/{slug} (prefix configurable).
* New: Settings to configure the redirect prefix and redirect status (307/302/301).
* New: Click tracking per link.
* New: Optional per-link rel guidance (nofollow / sponsored / both) for SEO compliance.
* New: Admin UI for listing, adding, and editing affiliate links.
* New: Links stored in a private custom post type.
* New: Redirect handling via WordPress rewrite rules.
* New: Security hardening with capability checks and nonces for admin actions.
* New: Destination URL validation prior to redirect.
* New: No external services and no tracking cookies.