Playbook¶

Recommended campaign setups for common traffic sources. Always start in In Review or In-Active, confirm the Click Log, then switch to Active.

Google Ads¶

1. New Campaign → Traffic source Google.
2. Set Enable GCLID to Yes if the affiliate page should only open when a Google click ID is on the URL.
3. Set Safe URL to the page you want Google to see.
4. Add the offer under Affiliate Pages (100% unless you split-test).
5. Include only the countries you buy in Google Ads. Exclude any geos you never want on the offer.
6. Turn Allow VPN and Allow Datacenters off unless you have a reason to keep them on.
7. Optionally require utm_source / utm_campaign under UTM forwarding.
8. Install PHP or WordPress on the final URL domain (not only on a tracker hop).
9. Status In Review while the account is checking the site, then Active.

If you use a Google tracking template, also follow the next section.

Google Ads with tracking template¶

1. Same as Google Ads.
2. Enable Tracking Template on the campaign.
3. Put Cloakerly on the page the tracking template finally lands on, or use the Link Cloaking URL as the tracking / final URL (see Integration).
4. Keep GCLID and your Google ValueTrack parameters on that URL so they survive into Cloakerly and onward to the affiliate page.
5. Enable Forward All UTM Parameters if the offer needs the same query string.

If GCLID is required but the tracking template strips query parameters, visitors will stay on the safe page. Check the Click Log reason.

Facebook / Meta Ads¶

1. Traffic source Facebook.
2. Set Enable FBCLID to Yes if only Facebook clicks should reach the offer.
3. Safe URL = the page the ad preview / review should see.
4. Affiliate URL = the offer.
5. Match Allowed Languages to the ad set language if you want a tighter filter.
6. For in-app / mobile traffic, enable Mobile / Desktop → Mobile, or set a Mobile Url on the affiliate page.
7. Install the script on the Facebook final URL. Client-side JavaScript is weaker here because in-app browsers can delay or block it — prefer PHP or WordPress.
8. Use In Review during page review, then Active.

TikTok, Microsoft Ads, and other sources¶

There is no dedicated click-ID toggle for these sources. Use the same campaign shape:

1. Pick the matching Traffic source (or the closest generic option).
2. Safe URL + affiliate URL.
3. Countries / languages that match the ad set.
4. Device and OS filters if the campaign is mobile-only or desktop-only.
5. Optional strict UTM if your ads always append utm_source, utm_campaign, and similar.
6. PHP/WordPress on the landing domain, or Link Cloaking in the ad URL.

Repeat the same pattern for X (Twitter), Yandex, Snapchat, and similar: source label for reporting, then geo + device + UTM + VPN/datacenter filters.

Native ads¶

Taboola, Outbrain, MGID, and similar sources often send mixed quality and many referrers.

1. Create a campaign with that traffic source (or a generic source if it is not listed).
2. Keep Allow Datacenters off.
3. Use Frequency Cap (for example 2 visits / 5 minutes) to cut reloads and bot loops.
4. Require a UTM that only your native ads append, with Block redirect if any required UTM parameter is missing.
5. Prefer server-side PHP so the check runs before HTML.

Hide the traffic source¶

Hide Referral / Enable Referral Spoofing (on by default for new campaigns):

• On: Cloakerly does not pass the original referrer. The next hop sees your landing origin instead of the ad network.
• Off: the real Referer is forwarded when the integration can see it.

Turn this on when the offer or affiliate network must not see the buying source. Turn it off when the offer needs the original referrer for attribution.

This is a campaign switch plus behaviour in the generated SCRIPT. After you change it, copy the script again.

Block bot and datacenter traffic¶

A practical “clean traffic” baseline:

1. Status Active.
2. Allow VPN off, Allow Datacenters off.
3. Network Type on, allow Residential and Wireless only (add Business if you need office users).
4. Add known bad ranges under IP Listing → Blacklist.
5. Optional User Agent Filter to allow real browsers only (Chrome, Safari, and so on).
6. Optional Frequency Cap.

Confirm in Click Log that Hosting, VPN, Proxy, Scraper, and Tor flags match what you expect. If too much real traffic is blocked, loosen network type or turn Allow VPN on for that campaign only.