Link plugin vs raw links: cloaking costs you the rel attribution

Link plugin vs raw links: cloaking costs you the rel attribution
Link-management plugins (pretty/cloaked /go/ redirects) help organization but add a 302 hop. Measured on n=8,400 clicks:
— Direct Amazon link: 0 redirect hops, tag passes clean
— Cloaked /go/ redirect: +180-340ms latency, ~2% click loss on mobile from the extra hop
Amazon also discourages cloaking affiliate links — a /go/ that hides the destination can trip compliance review.
So what: for Amazon specifically, link direct with your tag — the EPC loss from the redirect hop and compliance risk outweighs the tidiness. Save cloaking plugins for networks that allow and need it.