If you work with affiliate marketing — whether at Hotmart, Eduzz, Amazon Associates, Kwai, or any other platform — you already know that the difference between earning well and earning very well is often in the details. One of these details, which most amateur affiliates completely ignore, is the way you manage and share the links.
In this guide we will talk openly about shortening affiliate links, source tracking, cloaking and UTM parameters — and how to combine all this to make smarter decisions about where to invest your time and money.
Why long affiliate links cost money
A typical Hotmart or Amazon affiliate link looks something like this:
https://go.hotmart.com/U12345678A?ap=b1c2d3e4f5g6h7i8j9k0&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social
It's long, ugly, and immediately recognizable as an affiliate link. When people see this type of URL, the natural instinct is distrust — especially in social networks where digital literacy is increasing. Many people avoid clicking on links that look like "suspects" or too long.
In addition to the issue of trust, there is a practical problem: these links do not fit well in an Instagram bio, tweet, YouTube description or business card. And if the link breaks because of a wrong formatting, you lose the commission.
How to shorten affiliate links without penalties
Shortening an affiliate link is completely legitimate and legal on the vast majority of platforms. What you're doing is creating a redirect — when someone clicks on your short link, it is automatically sent to the original affiliate link with your tracking ID intact.
With Kortilink, the process is simple:
- Copy your full affiliate link (with your ID)
- Glue in Kortilink and choose a custom alias (eg
kortilink.com/curso-x) - Use this clean link in your communications
- Kortilink will redirect to the original destination and your affiliate ID will be preserved
The result: a clean, memorable and professional link that still correctly attributes the commission when someone buys it.
Platforms such as Amazon Associates explicitly allow for shortening as long as the final destination is the product and your ID is preserved. Always read the terms of each program before shortening it.
Trace clicks by source: The Secret of Professional Affiliates
Imagine that you have your affiliate link shared in 5 sites: Instagram, YouTube, Email, WhatsApp and a group on Telegram. At the end of the month, you have 500 clicks and 23 sales. But do you know where the sales came from? Without tracking, you don't know—and that's a huge waste of information.
With Kortilink, you can create different links for each channel:
kortilink.com/curso-instagram→ for Instagram biokortilink.com/curso-youtube→ For the description of the videoskortilink.com/curso-email→ for the newsletterkortilink.com/curso-whatsapp→ for groups and conversations
All these links point to the same product, but Kortilink's Analytics shows you exactly how many clicks came from each one. If you find that email converts 3x more than Instagram, you know where to focus on energy. If WhatsApp brings clicks but no sale, it is a sign that the public is not qualified.
This is the difference between working hard and working well.
As an Amazon associate, I earn a commission on qualified purchases.
Links cloaking: what it is, risks and good practices
The "cloaking" of links is the process of completely hiding the nature of an affiliate link. Instead of a transparent redirect, the user sees a completely different URL without any indication that it is affiliated.
Attention: Aggressive cloaking violates the terms of service of many affiliate platforms, including Amazon Associates and Hotmart in certain contexts. It may result in the suspension of your account and loss of commissions. He always uses with knowledge of the terms of the program and always considers to disclose that the link is an affiliate — in addition to being a good ethical practice, it is mandatory by law in many EU countries.
Simple shortening (what Kortilink does) is not cloaking — it is a redirect that preserves the original destination. The distinction is important. What you should avoid is technically disguising the destination of the link or omitting it is an affiliate link in your public communications.
How to use UTM to optimize affiliate campaigns
UTM parameters are labels that you add to the URL to identify the source of traffic in Google Analytics or other analysis tools. For affiliates who have a website or blog, they are essential.
A link with UTM looks like this:
https://teu-site.com/review-produto?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=lancamento-maio
Then shorten this link with Kortilink to something clean like kortilink.com/review-produto-ig. So you have two levels of tracking: Kortilink Analytics tells you how many people clicked on the link and Google Analytics tells you what they did after (how long they stayed on the site, if they bought it, etc.).
The 5 main UTM parameters
- UTM_SOURCE — Where does traffic come from (Instagram, Google, Newsletter)
- utm_medium — the channel type (social, email, cpc, organic)
- UTM_CAMPAIGN — The name of the campaign (releasing-course, black-friday)
- UTM_Content — Differentiates ad variations (Banner-Top, Link-Bio)
- UTM_TERM — Mainly used for paid search (keyword)
In professional affiliate marketing, each link has UTMs defined so that at the end of the month you can get a clear report: this email campaign generated X visits and y commissions; This Instagram post generated Z visits but 0 commissions. Data that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't work.
Most affiliates who start treat all links the same and never realize what really works. Those who get serious in the business quickly realize that tracking is not optional — it is the foundation of the entire strategy.