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/ AffiliateWP – External Referral Links

AffiliateWP – External Referral Links

By Syed Balkhi

E-commerce & Shopping /

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

AffiliateWP – External Referral Links Review - In-Depth Analysis

This plugin allows affiliates to promote external landing pages by including their ID or username in outbound links. It tracks referrals to your e-commerce store seamlessly.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.74/10

User Rating

3/5 (based on 2+ reviews)

Active Installations

700+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

This plugin was built to be used in conjunction with AffiliateWP.

Like other affiliate plugins, AffiliateWP must be installed on the same domain as your e-commerce system to properly track visits and referrals. This plugin allows your affiliates to promote any landing page that exists on a completely separate domain. Simply install this plugin on the external WordPress site and your affiliates can now promote it using the site's URL and their affiliate ID or username appended. If a customer uses the affiliate's referral URL, any outbound links to your e-commerce store will automatically include the affiliate's ID or username. If the customer then makes a purchase on your e-commerce store, the proper affiliate will be awarded commission. The affiliate's ID/username is stored in a cookie so even if the customer moves between pages on your site, the outbound links will still have the affiliate's ID/username appended.

AffiliateWP provides a complete affiliate management system for your WordPress website that seamlessly integrates with all major WordPress e-commerce and membership platforms. It aims to provide everything you need in a simple, clean, easy to use system that you will love to use.

Comparing to Alternatives

AffiliateWP – External Referral Links has several alternatives within the affiliate marketing plugin space, offering various features for managing affiliate programs and links.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Helps prevent main website from being banned due to affiliate link spamming.
Integrates well with AffiliateWP ecosystem.
Offers external referral link management to protect primary site reputation.
Has a pro version with additional features.
Supports affiliate marketing strategies effectively.

Weaknesses

Has a known security vulnerability fixed only in recent update.
Limited number of total ratings, making reliability assessment difficult.
Some users report it not working as expected.
Security risk score is moderate, indicating some risk history.

User Sentiment Analysis

The plugin has a mixed user reception with a 3 out of 5 rating based on only two reviews, split evenly between very positive and very negative feedback.

Positive highlights

"This plugin is very useful for us. It avoids main web being banned so we just risk the landing page only (site B)." - Budakboygolf

Common complaints

Plugin does not work as expected for some users.

Weaknesses

Limited user base and feedback make it hard to gauge overall reliability.
Security vulnerability was present before recent fix.
Some users experience functionality issues.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users who need to manage external referral links within the AffiliateWP ecosystem and want to protect their main site from being banned due to affiliate link spamming.

Not ideal for

Users who require a highly reliable plugin with extensive user feedback or those concerned about past security vulnerabilities may want to consider alternatives or wait for further updates.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers basic external referral link management to help protect your main website from affiliate link-related bans.

Pro version

The pro version typically includes advanced features for more comprehensive affiliate link management and integration with AffiliateWP, though specific premium features are not detailed.

Final Verdict

AffiliateWP – External Referral Links serves a niche purpose within the AffiliateWP plugin family, offering useful protection against site bans from affiliate link spamming. However, its limited number of reviews and mixed user feedback suggest it may not be fully reliable for all users.

Potential users should weigh the benefits of its integration and functionality against the moderate security risk history and reported issues. Those needing robust, well-supported affiliate link management might consider exploring the available alternatives.