The affiliate-link manager mistake that traps you forever

The affiliate-link manager mistake that traps you forever

The failure: building 2,000 cloaked links in a plugin with no clean redirect export. Lasso, Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates all store redirects in custom DB tables, not your .htaccess or server config. Migrate hosts, switch plugins, or the plugin gets abandoned (RIP, several) — and every /go/ link 404s at once. That's your entire link equity and click history gone.

The fix:
— Before you commit, confirm the tool exports redirects as CSV AND can output server-level rules
— Keep a master spreadsheet: slug → destination, maintained outside the plugin
— Better: run cloaking at the server/edge (Cloudflare Worker or nginx map) so it's plugin-independent. The plugin becomes a UI, not the source of truth

Gotcha nobody mentions: WordPress link managers create a real post/page for each redirect, bloating wp_posts — at 5k links your DB queries and backups slow noticeably, and some links collide with real URL slugs.

Bottom line: own your redirect map in portable form, or your link manager owns you.