[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #34614: Wordpress breaks Amazon affiliate link tracking

[WordPress Trac]

#34614: Wordpress breaks Amazon affiliate link tracking
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 Reporter:  cookieandkate  |      Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)   |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal         |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Editor         |    Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal         |   Keywords:
  Focuses:  ui             |
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 Hello,

 I've discovered that every time I switch from the post/page code editor to
 the visual editor, Wordpress inserts extra characters in my Amazon
 affiliate links. More specifically, it inserts the letters amp; after each
 ampersand symbol. This seems to automatically happen when the link is
 inserted in the visual editor, too. I'll paste examples here, but
 Wordpress messes with them even in these forum situations, so I'm not sure
 you'll be able to see it.

 Original link as provided by Amazon:
 {{{
 <a rel="nofollow"
 href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007Y9WHQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007Y9WHQ&linkCode=as2&tag=myaffiliatetag-20&linkId=HMVJSFJ5HEIDZRJ2">Product
 Title</a>
 }}}


 Wordpress output upon switching from visual to text editor:
 {{{
 <a
 href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007Y9WHQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007Y9WHQ&linkCode=as2&tag=myaffiliatetag-20&linkId=HMVJSFJ5HEIDZRJ2"
 rel="nofollow">Product Title</a>
 }}}


 I've deactivated all of my plugins and switched to the Twenty Fifteen
 Wordpress theme. The issue persists in that scenario, so I believe it to
 be caused by Wordpress itself.

 I've tested these links in Amazon's broken link checker, which says that
 the links FAIL with the extra letters in the code. "Fail: The link above
 was not tagged or was not a valid Amazon link."

 I've also confirmed with Amazon associates that these links are not
 trackable, which means that I'm not earning affiliate revenue for the
 sales generated from those links. Here's their response:

 "I first tested the second link that you provided which had the WordPress
 inserted characters added and unfortunately I found that the link is not
 formatted correctly. Unfortunately, In this situation, your Link Checker
 was correct. This tool is intended primarily however for people
 constructing or modifying their own Associate links to Amazon.com.

 I would also like to apologize that because we are unable to track any
 activity and sales placed via this link and any other link that would have
 this type of added coding, there wasn't any way to track sales that might
 have been made through those links.

 Since we are unable to provide HTML techniques beyond the code we provide
 in Associates Central, you might want to continue to get in contact with
 the WordPress technical support team about these added characters that
 were inserted on your website."


 I run a reputable food blog and use Amazon affiliate links to link to
 relevant cooking products within my posts. I'm very disappointed that a
 core Wordpress functionality is preventing me from earning rightfully
 earned Amazon affiliate revenue. I've started replacing the defunct Amazon
 links with shortened Amazon links, which Amazon offers. They don't include
 ampersand signs so I don't think they'll break. I recommend self-hosted
 Wordpress solutions to all other food bloggers, but this is a big
 downside. I hope someone can prevent this issue from happening in the
 future! I also feel like Wordpress should let their users know to check
 their links.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/34614>
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