Question

I have domain mydomain.com (my website)

I have partner link partnerlink.com/something?partnerId (thirdparty provider)

Partner link opens destination.com (thirdparty website)

My problems:

1. When I try bit.ly and click it, I see redirections in browser: bit.ly/123 –> partnerlink.com/something?partnerId –> destination.com

2. When I try to use .htaccess redirect or header in php script, I also an see partner link in browser on slow internet connection.

I want to hide partner link. The scheme is:

click on mydomain.com –> result is destination.com

user in this case don’t see partner link in browser.

But such user click should count my provider partnerlink.com

Is it possible?

Answer 1

No, it isn’t possible.

The user’s browser has to pass the affiliate id to the target. It will do so in a way that is visible to the user.

(As a general rule of thumb, being open about affiliations is a good idea. Efforts to hide them will hurt your visitors’ trust in you when they fail.)