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Frequently Asked Questions
General
What is Link Manager Pro?
Link Manager Pro is a WordPress plugin that centralizes link masking, click tracking, affiliate management, link health monitoring, and internal link auditing in one dashboard. You create branded redirect URLs on your own domain, track every click with country and device data, and detect broken links automatically. It runs entirely on your WordPress server with no external service dependencies.
Do I need technical skills?
No. You create links, manage affiliates, and view analytics through the WordPress admin dashboard. If you can install a plugin and navigate WordPress menus, you can use every feature. No coding, command line, or server configuration is required.
Will it slow down my site?
No. Redirects resolve in milliseconds with a single database lookup. Health scans, link audits, and data cleanup run as background cron jobs that never block page loads. The auto-linking feature uses a tiered cache to avoid repeated content processing.
Is link masking legal?
Yes. Link masking is legal, but you must follow FTC disclosure guidelines when using affiliate or sponsored links. Link Manager Pro includes a built-in disclosure feature to help with this.
Installation
How do I install?
See the Getting Started guide for step-by-step instructions.
What are the requirements?
- WordPress 6.0 or higher
- PHP 8.0 or higher
- Administrator access
Will it work with my theme?
Yes. Link Manager Pro works with all standard WordPress themes.
Links
How do I create a link?
Go to Pretty Links → New Pretty Link, fill in the required fields, and click Register Link. See the full walkthrough at Creating Links.
Can I edit a link later?
Yes. In the Pretty Links list, click the Edit icon on any link, make your changes, and click Update Link.
What happens if I delete a link?
The link returns a 404 error. If you want to stop using a link without breaking it, create a redirect to another URL instead of deleting it.
Can I password-protect a link?
Yes. Set a password in the link editor. Visitors must enter the password before the redirect completes.
Can I schedule a link?
Yes. Set Active From and/or Expires At dates in the link editor. A scheduled link shows a 404 before its active date. An expired link also returns 404.
What are conditional routing rules?
Per-link rules that redirect visitors to alternate URLs based on conditions: total click count, visitor country, or date ranges. Rules evaluate in priority order — the first match wins.
Can I import links?
Yes. Go to Settings → Backup & Restore → Restore and upload a JSON backup file.
Tracking & Analytics
Are clicks tracked automatically?
Yes, when Click Tracking is enabled in Settings → Tracking.
What data is tracked?
Each click records a timestamp, anonymized IP address, resolved country (via GeoLite2 database or CDN headers), device type, operating system, browser, referrer URL, and a unique visitor flag. Unique visitors are identified by a first-party cookie with a UUID v4 value and a one-year TTL. You control IP anonymization and data retention period in Settings.
How long is click data kept?
You set the retention period in Settings > Data. Link Manager Pro automatically purges click records older than your configured number of days via a daily WordPress cron job. You can also trigger a manual purge at any time. There is no hard-coded maximum — you choose the retention window that fits your needs.
What is the coverage score?
The coverage score is a number from 0 to 100 (graded A through F) that measures your site's internal linking health. It scans every post and classifies it as orphaned (zero inbound internal links), weak (below your configured threshold), or healthy. Penalties are weighted: orphaned posts reduce the score more than weak posts. Weekly snapshots track your progress over time.
How does the email digest work?
An automated email report sent weekly or monthly. It includes your coverage score, broken link counts, and top-performing links. Configure the frequency in settings. Every digest includes an unsubscribe link.
Affiliate
How do I add an affiliate partner?
Go to Affiliates → New Partner. Enter the site name and affiliate URL (the domain is auto-extracted), then configure attributes and auto-linking keywords.
What is auto-linking?
Auto-linking automatically replaces keywords in your content with affiliate or pretty links. It works for both affiliates and individual links. Configure it in Settings → Auto-Linking.
What is the disclosure feature?
An automatic FTC-compliant affiliate disclosure notice inserted on pages that contain sponsored or affiliate links. You configure the text, position, and style in Settings → Disclosure.
Migration
Can I migrate from Pretty Links?
Yes. The plugin auto-detects Pretty Links and offers a guided migration with selectable items and conflict handling (skip or overwrite).
Can I migrate from BetterLinks?
Yes. The same guided migration workflow applies to BetterLinks.
Categories & Tags
How do categories and tags work?
You organize links with custom categories (with color labels) and tags. Filter links by category or tag in the Pretty Links list.
UTM & Campaigns
What are UTM templates?
Reusable sets of UTM parameters (source, medium, campaign, term, content). Create a template once and apply it to links instead of typing values manually each time.
How do campaigns work?
Campaigns aggregate links that share the same utm_campaign value. The plugin auto-detects campaigns from your link UTM data. You can also create managed campaigns with descriptions and default UTM values.
Troubleshooting
Links not working?
- Flush permalinks: Settings → Permalinks → Save Changes
- Check Active From / Expires At dates on the link
- Clear all caches (browser, WordPress, CDN)
See the full Troubleshooting guide.
Clicks not tracking?
- Verify Click Tracking is enabled in Settings → Tracking
- Check the Blocked IP Addresses list
- Check Bot Detection is not filtering legitimate traffic
See the full Troubleshooting guide.
Need more help?
Visit https://linkmanagerpro.com/support or email support.