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Take Link: integration and configuration

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Take Link is a Takeads product that helps publishers profit off of their platforms, such as content websites, blogs, and forums.

1. Take Link analyzes content on the platform pages and finds direct links leading to the websites of advertisers from the Takeads catalog.

An advertiser is a brand (e.g., a store, bank, online school, etc.) that seeks to boost sales and is ready to pay platform owners for leading traffic to advertiser websites and encouraging users to perform a target action (e.g., purchase a product, place an order, or install an app).

2. Take Link automatically processes such links by adding special tags to them to track user orders and clicks. These 'converted' links are called affiliate links.

3. The platform owner receives a reward if the following conditions are met:

  • The platform user came to the advertiser's website through an affiliate link and placed an order or bought something.
  • The advertiser checked and confirmed that the order was made and did not violate the rules.

Platforms Take Link can work for

Take Link can be integrated with the following types of websites:

  • Forums
  • Personal blogs
  • Review websites
  • News websites and aggregators
  • Thematic resources

List of types and categories of websites where Take Link cannot be used

Unique features of working with Take Link

  • Take Link only processes direct links for which advertisers were found in the Takeads catalog.

  • Take Link does not process links if they are already affiliate links (for example, if you already cooperate with the affiliate network and publish affiliate links you generated there). Learn more

Take Link integration methods

Currently, there are several integration methods available:

  • Deploying a JavaScript code in the platform's source (see guide)
  • API (see documentation)
  • Via WordPress plugin, if your website is built with WordPress (see guide).

To integrate Take Link with JavaScript, you need to have access to the source code of your website that you use as a platform in Takeads. If your website is built on a CMS, you can deploy the code through the website template.

How to integrate Take Link with JavaScript

Do the following to integrate your platform with Take Link:

How to add a platform

A platform is your website, blog, or forum that you need to add to Takeads for further integration with one of the products.

1. Go to Take Link and click Set up in JavaScript.

You will be taken to the JavaScript integration page.

adding_platform.png


2. Provide information about your platform.

  • Platform type. Select a type that corresponds to your website's type.
  • Platform link. Specify the link to your platform.
  • Name. You can give your platform any name. It will only be shown in your account. You can change it anytime if necessary.

3. Click Add platform.

Ready! Your website has been added as a platform to Takeads.

How to deploy a JavaScript code onto the platform

To integrate Take Link with JavaScript, you need to have access to the source code of your website that you use as an ad space in Takeads.

Takeads will automatically generate a unique JavaScript code.

Copy it and deploy it into the code of your website that you added as a platform to Takeads.

  • If your website was built on a CMS (e.g., WordPress, HubSpot, Joomla, etc.), you need to deploy the JavaScript code in all templates whose content you want to process with Take Link.
    Add the JavaScript code before the closing tag </body>.

Example:

...
  <script src="https://convertlink.com/script/ea581da5-666d-405b-5f8e-212ecbd2ce07/bundle.js"></script>
 </body>
</html>

 

  • If you don't use a CMS system, you need to deploy the JavaScript code manually on all pages whose content you want to process with Take Link.

Pages and templates where you don't deploy the JavaScript code will not be processed by Take Link.

If you use dynamic content generation (e.g., if your website operates as a single-page application and uses such frameworks as Angular, React, or Vue), you'll need to initialize the JavaScript code after deployment. Learn more about initialization methods

How to make sure the JavaScript code is deployed correctly and Take Link processes links in your website's content

To make sure the deployment was a success and Take Link processes links in your website's content, use one of the methods below:

  • Find a hash code from the JavaScript code on the page (see the guide)
  • Make sure the links on your website's page turn into affiliate links. Use Link Redirect Trace for it (see the guide)
  • Enable debug mode. This method not just allows to just check whether Take Link's JavaScript code operates correctly but also shows its current settings and statistics (see the guide)

How to use the hash code to make sure Take Link's JavaScript code is correctly deployed on the website

1. Go to the page of your platform where the JavaScript code is deployed.

2. Open the page code. For that, click the right mouse button and click View page source.
You will see the tab with the source code.

3. Find the code fragment "convertlink.com/script/" on the page.

For that, open the Search on page menu by clicking Ctrl+F (for Windows) or cmd+F (for MacOS). In the search bar, type

convertlink.com/script/

mceclip2.png

1. Install Link Redirect Trace for Google Chrome.

2. In Takeads' Advertisers section, go to any brand's card, then click Go to website and copy the URL of the opened page.

3. Add the link to any page on your website where the JavaScript code is deployed.

4. Go to your website in Google Chrome and follow the deployed link. On the page, open the extension and make sure you were redirected through linkitten.com.

MonetizeLink_________________________3.png

  • If the extension has a redirection via linkitten.com, it means the JavaScript code has been deployed and Take Link processes links in its content.

  • If the extension doesn't has a redirection via linkitten.com, get back to the How to deploy a JavaScript code onto the platform chapter and make sure you completed all the steps correctly.

What to do if the links do not turn into affiliate links even though the advertisers are in the catalog?

How to use debug mode to check Take Link operation

Debug mode is the interface that allows to check Take Link and get information about settings and statistics (learn more).

1. In the HTML template, add the variable with the following value after the opening tag <script>:

var ao_ml_debug = true;

7528c375-5a51-469c-a2d9-7acbe5f829ff.png

2. Go to the page of your platform where the JavaScript code is deployed.

3. Press Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows) or cmd+option+I (macOS) to open Developer Tools.

4. Open the Console.

6a291f85-4ee3-40f1-a281-c8d64b0f8b02.png

5. In the Filter field, type TAKE LINK.


  • If you see information without any errors , it means the JavaScript code has been deployed and Take Link processes links in its content.

Other debug mode functions

After the request is completed, you will also see the results of the script operation. You will see the following details:

  • Numbers of:
    • Links that were turned into affiliate links after script operation
    • Links whose domains are added to the Blacklist
    • Plain-text links that turned active after Link Activator action
    • Branded keywords that turned into affiliate links after being processed by Branding Words
    • Found branded keywords (brand names)

If you don't want to make the stats available to end users, delete the string with the variable you added in Step 1:

var ao_ml_debug = true;

Take Link JavaScript: Available settings

After deploying the JavaScript code on your platform and checking that it's working, you can configure it.

You don't have to configure the JavaScript code; it'll start processing links right after deployment.
Configuration will only come in handy if you exclude certain domains of some websites or certain areas on your platform's pages from being processed, or, vice versa if you set up Take Link to process the text names of brands.

There are two ways to configure the JavaScript code's operation:

  • On the Take Link integration page in the account, by following this guide.
    Doing so allows you to do the following:
    • Forbid conversion of direct links to certain websites to affiliate links
    • Enable conversion of inactive (plain-text) links or brand names to clickable affiliate links
    • Select which sections or elements of your website Take Link will process or ignore
  • In your platform's source code, by following this guide.
    Doing so allows you to do the following:
    • Add SubIDs to links to track orders and clicks on a certain page or for certain links
    • Configure what the links processed by Take Link will look like

Configuring the JavaScript code in the account

Do the following to configure the JavaScript code in the account:

1. In the Take Link section, click MonetizeLink_________________________4.png in the table (in the row of your platform).

2. You will be taken to the Take Link integration page. Go to Settings.

This tab has 4 groups of settings:

  • Blacklist. Excludes domains whose links you don't want to convert to affiliate links. Learn more

  • Link Activator. Converts plain-text links into clickable affiliate links. Learn more

  • Section Targeting. Enables/disables Take Link for certain areas on every page of the website. Learn more

  • Branding Words. Turns plain-text brand names into affiliate links. Learn more

Blacklist

This setting allows you to exclude domains of certain websites from being processed.

If this setting is enabled, Take Link won't process blacklisted links if it finds any of them on your platform. Such links won't get any tags to track orders and/or clicks, even if an advertiser is found for this link in the Takeads catalog.

How to use Blacklist

1. Toggle the switch to enable this option.

2. Enter the domain in the Website domain field and click Add.

Specify the domain in the format hostname.tld. For instance, booking.com.

To delete a domain, click the X to the right of it.

3. Save the changes. Click Save at the bottom of the settings page.

Please note that by default Blacklist applies to links to domains of some social media, search engines, news and entertainment websites, and other resources directly promoting products and services.

This setting allows Take Link to convert inactive (plain-text) links into clickable affiliate links.

To do this:

1. Toggle the switch to enable this option.

2. Save the changes. Click Save at the bottom of the settings page.

A link will only become an affiliate link if a corresponding advertiser is found in the Takeads catalog. If there's no such advertiser in the catalog, the word or phrase will just turn clickable.

Example
Before: https://www.booking.com/hotel/in/the-foothills.de.html

After: https://www.booking.com/hotel/in/the-foothills.de.html

Link Activator features

Link Activator ignores links that:

  • Contain domains you added to Blacklist
  • Are located in the inactive area you specified in Section Targeting.

Section Targeting

This option lets you set the following:

  • Active areas. Take Link will process such sections and elements—i.e., it'll convert default links to affiliate links in such areas.

  • Inactive areas. Take Link will ignore these areas, leaving all links in them unchanged.

If you don't use Section Targeting, the whole page where the JavaScript code is deployed will be set as active. All the links for which ad offers are available will be converted to affiliate links.

How to use Section Targeting

The areas Take Link will ignore or process are defined within the page elements. For example, you can disable Take Link for all div containers of the same class.

To set such an area, fill out the fields in New Section Targeting.

1. Select a Section Targeting rule.

  • active in. Take Link will only process the specified area.
    If you set at least one active area, Take Link will convert default links into affiliate links in this area only, ignoring all other sections and elements.

For example, you can enable Take Link only for the area containing the main content (highlighted in green):

MonetizeLink_________________________5.png

  • inactive in. Take Link will ignore the specified area of the page.
    If you set at least one inactive area, Take Link will ignore links in this area only, being active in all other sections and elements of the website.

For example, you want to exclude the banner area (highlighted in red):

MonetizeLink_________________________6.png

 

The only way to combine active and inactive areas is when you set an inactive area within an active one. The reverse setup—an active area within an excluded area—won't work.

To ensure optimal operation of Take Link, it's not recommended to use the active and inactive areas at a time. Usually, you need only to add the Inactive in rule to prevent Take Link from processing links in the specified areas of the page.

MonetizeLink_________________________7.png

2. Specify the parameters (type, ID, and name) of the element for which you set the rule.

  • Element types:
    • <div>
    • <span>
    • <article>
    • <section>
    • <table>
    • <tr>
    • <td>
    • <p>
  • Element IDs:
    • id
    • class
  • Specify the element name manually.

3. Click Add.

4. Save the changes. Click Save at the bottom of the settings page.

Example

Take Link with the settings shown in the screenshot below will process content in all areas <div id="postmenu">.
mceclip3.png

 

Branding Words

Using this option, you can allow Take Link to recognize brand names in content and turn such words and phrases into affiliate links. Affiliate links will be evenly distributed on the webpage of your platform.

To enable the Branding Words option, do the following:

1. Toggle on the Branding Words switch.

2. Save the changes. Click Save at the bottom of the settings page.

Additionally, you can enable the “Take Keywords” option, which allows you to affiliate words in your website content more accurately based on your audience, location, and the specific product categories you choose.

To enable this setting, email your manager and specify:

  • The country where the majority of your audience is located. Affiliate links will lead to brand websites with the relevant location and language locale

  • Up to 5 product categories for your platform. For example: jewelry, fashion, and electronics.

When the manager receives your message, they will configure the settings for your platform and let you know when they’re done.

After that, if a word in your content matches the stated category, it will be automatically turned into an affiliate link to a corresponding brand website.

You can customize the density of affiliate links on the webpage of your platform by specifying the number of letters after a keyword that must be skipped before the next keyword is turned into an affiliate link. See how

A brand name will only turn into an affiliate link if a corresponding advertiser is found in the Takeads catalog. If there's no such advertiser in the catalog, the word or phrase will just turn clickable.

In the text below, Take Link automatically found two mentions of Xiaomi and converted them to affiliate links.

MonetizeLink_________________________9.png


Other features of Branding Words

You can also use some extra settings:

  • Blacklist words. Specify the brands whose names Take Link shouldn't turn into affiliate links. For that, specify the brand name (e.g., "Nike" or "nike") and click Add.

  • Max brand names on page. Specify the maximum number of brand names on one page that Take Link will convert to an affiliate link. Just specify a number.

Configuring the JavaScript code in the page source

By adding specific parameters for Take Link to your platform's code, you can use the following extra settings:

  • You can add special tags (SubIDs) to the links to track orders and clicks on a specific page or for specific links (see the guide).

  • Customize how links should look after they are processed by Take Link (see the guide).

  • Customize the affiliate links density on the webpage of your platform (see the guide).

Adding links using SubID

A SubID is a tag that helps track orders and clicks:

After you add a SubID, you will receive information about orders and clicks through the link with this SubID in the Reports section. To view the performance of a certain SubID, select it in the SubID filter.

SubIDs can only be added to affiliate links—i.e., links processed by Take Link. SubIDs can't be added to default links for which Take Link didn't find an advertiser in the Takeads catalog.


How to add SubIDs to all affiliate links on a page

Define the variable ao_subid within the HTML template of the page.

The variable's value:

  • Can be any
  • Must have the value in the string format

To make it more convenient for you to analyze your performance, use the section or page name as the title.

For example, you can use the value main_page for the homepage:

<script>
  var ao_subid = 'main_page';
</script>

If you don't define ao_subid or if it's empty, a SubID won't be added to affiliate links.

Add the attribute data-ao_subid with any value you need to an affiliate link. Example:

<a href="//aliexpress.ru/item/1005001612796759.html?" 
data-ao_subid="link_inside_review_block">Buy</a>

You can highlight the links that Take Link processed and converted into affiliate links.

This setting will come in handy if the laws of your country require publishers to somehow denote affiliate links or if you want to warn users about ad offerings on your website.

You can highlight affiliate links using the following methods:

Visual indication is only available for affiliate links—i.e., links processed by Take Link.
For example, if a plain-text link is made clickable (because Link Activator was enabled in Take Link settings) but wasn't converted to an affiliate link because no ad offering was found for it, it will not be highlighted.

How to change the typeface for an affiliate link

To do this, add a specific class for processed links to the code using the variable var ao_marker_classname.

Example:

<script>
  var ao_marker_classname = 'custom_class_for_affilated_links';
</script>


Affiliate links processed by the code in the example will look like the one in the screenshot below. In this case, the code processed Realme, Poco, and Oppo links:

mceclip4.png

Be sure to define all the classes in your CSS file.

To add a brand logo to an affiliate link, enable logos using var ao_offer_show_logo = true.

You can also customize how logos look. For that, add a specific class using ao_logo_classname.

Example:

<script>
  var ao_offer_show_logo = true;
  var ao_logo_classname = 'custom_сlass_for_logos';
</script>


Affiliate links processed by the code shown in the example will be complemented with brand logos and will look as follows:

mceclip5.png

You can manage the number of affiliate links on the webpage of your platform by specifying the number of letters after a keyword that must be skipped before the next keyword is turned into an affiliate link.

To do this:

1. In the HTML template of the page, before the convertlink.com/script/ code fragment, add the bw_spacing_in_letters variable.

2. Specify the value of the added variable as a number.
This number shows how many letters after a keyword must be skipped before the next keyword is turned into an affiliate link.

  • Minimum value is 0, maximum is 5000.
  • By default, this value in Take Link is 120.

If you set the bw_spacing_in_letters value equal to 0, Take Link will consequently turn every keyword or brand name it finds into an affiliate link, until the end of the page is reached, or until the Max brand names on page limit is reached.

Example:

<script>
    var bw_spacing_in_letters = 200;
</script>

According to the code above:

1. Take Link will find the first keyword or brand name on the page and turn into an affiliate link.

2. Then Take Link will skip 200 letters in the text, even if it contains any brand names or keywords.

3. After that, Take Link will find and turn the next keyword into an affiliate link.

This cycle will be repeated until the end of the page, or until the Max brand names on page limit is reached.

FAQ

Unfortunately, you can't. Take Link can only be used on allowed types of websites.

What's more, you need to have access to the website's source code.

What do I do if I cannot access the platform source?

  • If you own a website you want to use as an ad space in Takeads but you cannot access the code, ask your technical specialist or developer to deploy the code onto the website.

  • If you can't access the source code since you are not the owner, you won't be able to integrate it with Take Link. The rules do not allow publishers to monetize platforms they don't own.

What website categories and types may Take Link be unavailable for?

Some types of websites cannot be integrated with Take Link. Such platforms will be blocked immediately if such a violation is found.

The following categories and types of websites cannot be integrated with Take Link:

  • Toolbars
  • Coupon websites or cashback services
  • Websites under construction
  • Websites whose content consists exclusively of banners
  • Websites employing click generation methods (incentivized clicks, forced clicks)
  • Websites employing illegal promotion methods (cookie stuffing, spyware, adware)
  • Websites whose domains are similar to those of popular websites
  • Lottery websites
  • Websites with illegal content or content encouraging or promoting illegal activities
  • Websites displaying pornographic, erotic, radical, political, discriminatory, criminal, or immoral content or containing links to websites with such content

If you cooperate with other affiliate networks and deploy ready-to-use affiliate links on your platform, they will remain unchanged.

Take Link only processes default links and only if relevant offers are available from advertisers from the Takeads catalog.

To prevent Take Link from processing certain links, you can use Blacklist and Section Targeting.

1. Go to the page of your platform where the JavaScript code is deployed.

2. Press Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows) or cmd+option+I (macOS) to open Developer Tools.

Go to the Network tab (1).

3. While keeping the panel open, reload the page, and wait until it's fully loaded.

4. In the Filter field in Developer Tools, enter "takeads.com" (2).

5. In Name, click resolve (3).

In the section on your right, switch to the Preview tab (4). Expand data (5), and you will see the following:

  • If affiliate links are on the page, you will see them in a numbered list, each item including affiliate link, image URL and original link.
  • If there are no affiliate links on the page, the list will be empty.

take-link-en.png

If the JavaScript code doesn't process links to websites of advertisers who are in the Takeads catalog, make sure that:

  • The script is installed and operates on the right page (see the guide)
  • The domains of these links are not added to the Blacklist (if you use this option)
  • The JavaScript code is active in the area where the link is located (if you use Section Targeting)

If you don't use these settings or they do not apply to the link but it is still not processed, contact support.

How do I initialize a JavaScript code on a dynamic content website?

No special initialization is required for static websites. The JavaScript code deployed before the closing tag </body> is initialized and activates right after the page content is loaded.

Additional initialization is needed if you use dynamic content generation, e.g., if your website works as a single-page application and uses such frameworks as Angular, React, or Vue.

If content is generated dynamically, the JavaScript code must only come into action after the content is fully loaded and rendered on the user's end.

However, deployment before the closing tag </body> doesn't guarantee that the content will already be loaded by the time the JavaScript code is initialized.

For dynamic content websites, there are two ways to initialize the JavaScript code (click on a method to see the full guide to it).

  • The timeout will help you configure the delay for the JavaScript code to start working. During this pause, the page content must be fully loaded and rendered on the user's end.

    To configure initialization with a timeout, define the variable ao_ml_type_start with the value timeout between the <script> and </script> tags in your platform's HTML template.

    <script>
     var ao_ml_type_start = 'timeout';
    </script>

    By default, the timeout lasts 700 milliseconds. This amount of time is a good buffer to ensure that the page content is loaded and rendered in full.

    To change the timeout duration, set the optional variable ao_ml_type_start_timeout with the necessary duration value in milliseconds.

    In the code below, the JavaScript code will launch one second after the page is fully loaded:

    <script>
     var ao_ml_type_start = 'timeout';
     var ao_ml_type_start_timeout = 1000; //timeout in milliseconds
    </script>


    How to set a timeout from when the page starts to load

    The timeout will help you configure the delay for the JavaScript code to start working. During this pause, the page content must be fully loaded and rendered on the user's end.

    To configure initialization with a timeout, define the variable ao_ml_type_start with the value timeout between the <script> and </script> tags in your platform's HTML template.

    <script>
     var ao_ml_type_start = 'timeout';
    </script>

    By default, the timeout lasts 700 milliseconds. This amount of time is a good buffer to ensure that the page content is loaded and rendered in full.

    To change the timeout duration, set the optional variable ao_ml_type_start_timeout with the necessary duration value in milliseconds.

    In the code below, the JavaScript code will launch one second after the page is fully loaded:

    <script>
     var ao_ml_type_start = 'timeout';
     var ao_ml_type_start_timeout = 1000; //timeout in milliseconds
    </script>

  • To configure initialization with the method call, define the variable ao_ml_type_start with the value handlerInit between the <script> and </script> tags in your platform's HTML template:

    <script>
      var ao_ml_type_start = 'handlerInit';
    </script>


    Add the window.MonetizeLink.init() method call to the part of the code where the content will already be generated.

    It can be located either with the JavaScript code variables between the <script> and </script> tags or in another part of the code.

    <script>
      window.MonetizeLink.init();
    </script>

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