Link cloaking: network short link vs your own domain redirect

Link cloaking: network short link vs your own domain redirect

Who owns the redirect decides who keeps the trust and the data.

— Network's short link (e.g. their go.xxx domain): zero setup, but if the network kills the link or rebrands, every post you ever made breaks. You don't control it.
— Your own domain redirect (go.yoursite.com → offer): one-time setup, but now you own the slug. Swap the destination later without editing 50 posts. Survives the offer dying.

Decision rule:
— If the link goes in evergreen content (YouTube, blog, pinned) then always your own domain — destinations rot, your slug shouldn't.
— If it's a one-off Story then the network link is fine.

Tradeoff: own-domain redirects can trip some platforms' spam filters if overused — warm the domain, don't blast 20 fresh links day one.

Checklist:
— Redirect is 301, not 302 (preserves trust on the slug).
— Destination editable in one place.
— Sub-ID passed through the redirect.

Definition of done: changing one offer URL updates every post automatically.