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Access Links – How to Configure AriseAds Access Links

Updated on May 10, 2025

Access Links are powerful, unique URLs you can create to direct visitors to specific pages on your site or elsewhere, while also enabling special conditions like advanced ad displays or tracking. They are perfect for marketing campaigns, affiliate links, or providing special access to content.

How to Activate the Access Link Module

On your WordPress admin menu, click on AriseAds > Modules.

Next, click the Activate button under the Access Links module.

On activation, click on the Manage button to access the module page.

See Activating/Deactivating the AriseAds Modules

This page shows a table of all your created Access Links with the following columns:

  • Name: The name you assigned to the access link.
  • Status: Shows if the link is Active (working) or Inactive (disabled).
  • Ad Vantage: Indicates “Yes” or “No” if the link is configured to work with the AdVantage module (if active).
  • Stats: A quick summary of Visits and Unique visits for the link. Click the “View Stats” button to see detailed analytics (covered later).
  • Landing Type: The type of destination for the link (e.g., URL, Post, Taxonomy).
  • Access Link: A button to quickly “Copy Access Link” to your clipboard.
  • Redirection Type: The method of redirection used (e.g., Temporary, Permanent).
  • Created At: The date and time the link was created.
  • Updated At: The date and time the link was last modified.

Actions & Navigation Overview

When viewing the Access Links list, you have several ways to manage your links:

  • Add New Access Link: A button at the top of the page lets you create a new link from scratch.
  • Row Actions: By hovering your mouse cursor over an individual link’s name, a set of quick actions (Edit, Activate/Deactivate, Duplicate, Delete) will appear directly below it.
  • Bulk Actions: You can select multiple links using the checkboxes on the left side of the table. Then, choose an action (like Activate, Deactivate, Delete) from the “Bulk Actions” dropdown menu at the top or bottom of the table and click “Apply”.
  • Filtering: You can narrow down the list by status (All, Active, Inactive) using the links above the table.
  • Search: A search box allows you to find links by their name or ID.

Click “Add New Access Link” or “Edit” an existing one to access the settings form.

Basic Configuration

Name: Enter a descriptive name for your link (e.g., “Spring Sale Promotion,” “Guest Post Link”). This is for your reference.

Unique Key: This is a short, unique identifier that will be part of your access link URL.

  • It can be auto-generated, or you can customize it (e.g., springsale24).
  • Allowed characters: letters and numbers, no spaces. Max 20 characters.
  • Click “Regenerate Unique Key” to get a new random key.

Enable Pretty Link Format:

  • Checked: Your link will look clean, like yourwebsite.com/youruniquekey.
  • Unchecked: Your link will use a query parameter, like yourwebsite.com/?uk=youruniquekey.
  • Note: Using pretty links generally requires your site’s permalinks to be set up correctly (e.g., not “Plain”).

Landing Type & Destination

This determines where users are sent when they click the access link.

Landing URLs:

Select this if you want to redirect to one or more specific web addresses.

  • Field: Landing URLs
  • How to use: Enter one full URL (e.g., https://www.example.com/product-page) or multiple URLs separated by commas.
  • If you provide multiple URLs, one will be chosen randomly for each visitor.

Landing Posts:

Select this to redirect to existing content on your WordPress site.

  • Field: Landing Posts (a searchable multi-select box).
  • How to use: Start typing the title of a post, page, or any custom post type. Select one or more items from the search results.
  • If you select multiple posts, one will be chosen randomly for each visitor.

Landing Taxonomy Posts:

Redirect to a random post belonging to a specific category or tag term.

  • Fields: Taxonomy: Select the taxonomy (e.g., Category, Tag).
  • Taxonomy Terms: Once a taxonomy is selected, search and select one or more terms from that taxonomy (e.g., “Featured Products” category, “Travel” tag).
  • A visitor will be redirected to a random post from one of the selected terms.

Bridge Pages:

If you have the AriseAds “Bridge Page” module active, you can use this option.

  • Field: Bridge Pages (a searchable multi-select box).
  • How to use: Select one or more of your published Bridge Pages.
  • One of the selected Bridge Pages will be chosen randomly for redirection.

Redirection Type

This setting tells browsers and search engines how to treat the redirect.

Temporary (307): (Default) The standard way to say the redirect is temporary. Good for most cases.

Permanent (301): Tells search engines that the content has permanently moved to the new location. Use if the access link’s destination is the new permanent home for that content.

Meta Refresh: Uses an HTML meta tag for redirection. Can be slower and is generally less preferred for SEO than 301/307.

JavaScript: Uses JavaScript code to redirect. Relies on the user having JavaScript enabled.

Clean Referrer: Attempts to obscure or remove the referring site information when the user is passed to the destination URL.

Integrations

Enable for AdVantage: If you use the AriseAds “AdVantage” extension, check this box to apply AdVantage rules and ads to users who arrive via this access link.

Custom Ad Designs (CAD): Access Links can also trigger specific Custom Ad Designs if your site is set up with the CAD module. This is often managed through parameters passed by the access link during redirection.

Allow Retention

This feature works with the “Enable for AdVantage” option.

Checkbox: Allow Retention

If checked, new fields appear:

  • Retention Time: Enter a number (e.g., 24, 48).
  • Retention Unit: Choose Minute(s) or Hour(s).

Purpose: If a user clicks this access link and AdVantage is enabled, the AdVantage features will remain active for that user for the specified retention period, even as they browse other pages on your site.

Advanced Settings

Enable Tracking:

  • Checked (Default): The plugin will track the number of visits (impressions) and potentially other metrics for this link. These stats are viewable in the Access Links list.
  • Unchecked: No stats will be recorded for this link.

Nofollow & Noindex:

  • Checked: Adds a nofollow and noindex directive to the redirect. This tells search engines not to pass any “link juice” to the destination and not to index the destination page as a result of this specific link path.
  • Unchecked (Default): The redirect behaves like a normal link in terms of SEO.

URL Parameters:

  • Checked: If your access link has parameters (e.g., yoursite.com/promo?utm_source=newsletter), these parameters will be automatically added to the final destination URL.
  • Unchecked (Default): Parameters from the access link are not passed to the destination.

Status

  • Active: The access link is live and will redirect users.
  • Inactive: The access link is disabled and will not work. Users visiting an inactive link might see a standard page from your site or an error, depending on your site’s setup.

After configuring all settings, click “Create Access Link” (for new links) or “Update Access Link” (for existing ones).

You might want to temporarily disable an access link (deactivate) without deleting it, or re-enable a previously inactive link (activate).

  • Active Link: The link will work and redirect users as configured.
  • Inactive Link: The link will not work and will not redirect users.

To change a link’s status using Row Actions:

  1. Navigate to AriseAds > Access Links.
  2. Find the access link you want to change in the list.
  3. Hover your mouse cursor over the link’s name to reveal the row actions.
  4. If the link is currently active, click on the “Deactivate” link. If the link is currently inactive, click on the “Activate” link.
  5. The status of the link will update immediately.

To change the status of one or more links using Bulk Actions:

  1. Navigate to AriseAds > Access Links.
  2. Check the box next to each access link whose status you want to change.
  3. From the “Bulk Actions” dropdown menu (either at the top or bottom of the list), select “Activate” or “Deactivate” as needed.
  4. Click the “Apply” button.
  5. The selected links will have their status updated.

Duplicating an access link is useful if you want to create a new link that is very similar to an existing one, saving you from re-entering all the settings.

  1. Navigate to AriseAds > Access Links.
  2. Find the access link you wish to duplicate in the list.
  3. Hover your mouse cursor over the link’s name to reveal the row actions.
  4. Click on the “Duplicate” link.
  5. A new access link will be created and will appear in the list. It will typically have the same name as the original but with “(Copy)” appended, and it will have a new, unique key. You can then Edit this new link to make any necessary changes.

Note: Duplication is typically available as a row action, not a bulk action.

Deleting an access link is a permanent action. It will remove the link from your site, and it will also delete any statistics that were collected for that link. If you only want to temporarily disable a link, use the “Deactivate” option instead.

To delete an access link using Row Actions:

  1. Navigate to AriseAds > Access Links.
  2. Find the access link you want to delete in the list.
  3. Hover your mouse cursor over the link’s name to reveal the row actions.
  4. Click on the “Delete” link.
  5. A confirmation prompt will appear asking, “Are you sure? This action is irreversible and will delete all data.” Click “OK” to confirm and permanently delete the link, or “Cancel” to go back.

To delete one or more access links using Bulk Actions:

  1. Navigate to AriseAds > Access Links.
  2. Check the box next to each access link you want to permanently delete.
  3. From the “Bulk Actions” dropdown menu (either at the top or bottom of the list), select “Delete”.
  4. Click the “Apply” button.
  5. The selected links will be permanently deleted. Be very careful with this option, especially when multiple links are selected, as there is usually no further confirmation for bulk deletions.

In the Access Links list, each link that has tracking enabled will show a “View Stats” button. Clicking this opens a pop-up with detailed analytics for that link:

Overall Stats:

  • Total Visits: The total number of times the link has been accessed.
  • Unique Visits: The number of individual users who have accessed the link (approximated using cookies).

Top 10 Lists:

  • Top 10 Countries: Shows which countries visitors are coming from.
  • Top 10 Devices: Breakdown by Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile.
  • Top 10 Referrers: Shows where the traffic originated (e.g., Google, Facebook, another website, or Direct if unknown).

Period Filter: You can filter these stats by time period: Today, Yesterday, This Week, This Month, Last Month, or All Time.

This shortcode allows you to display content on your pages or posts only if a visitor arrived through an access link or has an active retention cookie from an access link.

Basic Usage (Show content if any access link is active):

[ariseads_access_link]
This content is shown to users from an access link.
[/ariseads_access_link]

Show content for a specific access link: Provide the ID or Unique Key of the access link.

[ariseads_access_link id="youruniquekey"]
Special offer for users from our 'youruniquekey' link!
[/ariseads_access_link]

or

[ariseads_access_link id="123"]
Content for access link with ID 123.
[/ariseads_access_link]

Hide content if an access link is active: Use hide="true".

[ariseads_access_link hide="true"]
This content is hidden from users who came via an access link.
It shows for everyone else.
[/ariseads_access_link]

This is useful for personalizing messages, showing special offers, or hiding certain elements based on how the user arrived at your site.

Tips for Effective Use

  • Clear Naming: Use descriptive names for your access links so you can easily identify them later.
  • Test Your Links: After creating a link, always test it in an incognito browser window to ensure it redirects correctly and applies any intended conditions.
  • Use Pretty Links: When possible, enable pretty links for cleaner, more shareable URLs.
  • Campaign Tracking: Combine access links with UTM parameters (forwarded via the “URL Parameters” option) for detailed campaign tracking in analytics tools like Google Analytics.
  • Retention Wisely: Use the retention feature thoughtfully. While it can enhance ad visibility, ensure it doesn’t negatively impact user experience over extended periods.
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