Recommended hot-fix release. Resolves a PHP 8+ fatal error on the Edit Link screen for links with existing A\/B Testing variants, fixes a save-blocking HTML5 validation error on the A\/B Testing fields when A\/B Testing was off, and adds a dismissable Royal Plugins Founders Bundle banner on the Settings and Analytics pages.<\/p>","2.0.3":"
Adds a per-link "is affiliate?" toggle so Royal Links can be used for non-affiliate purposes (WhatsApp buttons, internal redirects) without injecting FTC disclosure language on every page where they appear. Existing links auto-flag as affiliate during upgrade \u2014 disclosure behavior is preserved by default.<\/p>","2.0.0":"
Massive free upgrade! All premium link management features are now included at no cost. Geo-targeting, A\/B testing, QR codes, auto-linking, product displays, and more \u2014 no paid tier, no upsells.<\/p>","1.0.4":"
Security hardening release with proper SQL escaping and output sanitization.<\/p>","1.0.3":"
Improved import error handling and dismissible admin notices.<\/p>","1.0.0":"
Initial release of Royal Links.<\/p>"},"ratings":[],"assets_icons":{"icon-128x128.png":{"filename":"icon-128x128.png","revision":3447917,"resolution":"128x128","location":"assets","locale":""},"icon-256x256.png":{"filename":"icon-256x256.png","revision":3447917,"resolution":"256x256","location":"assets","locale":""}},"assets_banners":{"banner-1544x500.png":{"filename":"banner-1544x500.png","revision":3516880,"resolution":"1544x500","location":"assets","locale":""},"banner-772x250.png":{"filename":"banner-772x250.png","revision":3516880,"resolution":"772x250","location":"assets","locale":""}},"assets_blueprints":{"blueprint.json":{"filename":"blueprint.json","revision":3517950,"resolution":false,"location":"assets","locale":"","contents":"{\"$schema\":\"https:\\\/\\\/playground.wordpress.net\\\/blueprint-schema.json\",\"meta\":{\"title\":\"Royal Links \\u2014 Live Demo\",\"description\":\"Create custom short URLs, track clicks, and manage link health. This demo loads a WordPress admin in your browser with Royal Links installed and 10 sample links pre-seeded.\",\"author\":\"royalplugins\",\"categories\":[\"Link Management\"]},\"landingPage\":\"\\\/wp-admin\\\/edit.php?post_type=royal_link\",\"preferredVersions\":{\"php\":\"8.2\",\"wp\":\"latest\"},\"phpExtensionBundles\":[\"kitchen-sink\"],\"features\":{\"networking\":true},\"login\":{\"username\":\"admin\",\"password\":\"password\"},\"steps\":[{\"step\":\"setSiteOptions\",\"options\":{\"blogname\":\"Royal Links Demo\",\"blogdescription\":\"Live preview \\u2014 create short links, track clicks, manage redirects.\"}},{\"step\":\"installPlugin\",\"pluginData\":{\"resource\":\"wordpress.org\\\/plugins\",\"slug\":\"royal-links\"},\"options\":{\"activate\":true}},{\"step\":\"runPHP\",\"code\":\" $title,\\n 'post_name' => $slug,\\n 'post_type' => 'royal_link',\\n 'post_status' => 'publish',\\n ] );\\n if ( $post_id && ! is_wp_error( $post_id ) ) {\\n update_post_meta( $post_id, '_royal_links_destination_url', $dest );\\n update_post_meta( $post_id, '_royal_links_slug', $slug );\\n update_post_meta( $post_id, '_royal_links_redirect_type', '301' );\\n update_post_meta( $post_id, '_royal_links_nofollow', 0 );\\n update_post_meta( $post_id, '_royal_links_sponsored', 0 );\\n update_post_meta( $post_id, '_royal_links_new_tab', 0 );\\n $link_ids[] = $post_id;\\n }\\n}\\n\\nglobal $wpdb;\\n$table = $wpdb->prefix . 'royal_links_clicks';\\n\\\/\\\/ Table is created on plugin activation; seed clicks so analytics charts render non-empty.\\nif ( $wpdb->get_var( \\\"SHOW TABLES LIKE '{$table}'\\\" ) === $table ) {\\n $browsers = [ 'Chrome', 'Firefox', 'Safari', 'Edge' ];\\n $oses = [ 'Windows', 'macOS', 'Linux', 'iOS', 'Android' ];\\n $devices = [ 'desktop', 'mobile', 'tablet' ];\\n $countries = [ 'US', 'GB', 'DE', 'CA', 'AU', 'FR', 'BR', 'JP' ];\\n foreach ( $link_ids as $idx => $lid ) {\\n $clicks = 30 + ( count( $link_ids ) - $idx ) * 8 + wp_rand( 0, 20 );\\n for ( $i = 0; $i < $clicks; $i++ ) {\\n $days_ago = wp_rand( 0, 29 );\\n $click_date = gmdate( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', time() - ( $days_ago * 86400 ) - wp_rand( 0, 86399 ) );\\n $wpdb->insert( $table, [\\n 'link_id' => $lid,\\n 'click_date' => $click_date,\\n 'ip_address' => sprintf( '192.0.2.%d', wp_rand( 1, 254 ) ),\\n 'user_agent' => 'Mozilla\\\/5.0 (demo)',\\n 'browser' => $browsers[ array_rand( $browsers ) ],\\n 'os' => $oses[ array_rand( $oses ) ],\\n 'device_type' => $devices[ array_rand( $devices ) ],\\n 'country' => $countries[ array_rand( $countries ) ],\\n 'is_unique' => ( wp_rand( 0, 10 ) > 2 ) ? 1 : 0,\\n 'click_source' => 'direct',\\n ] );\\n }\\n }\\n}\\n\\n\\\/\\\/ Flush permalinks so \\\/royal, \\\/seobolt etc short-slug redirects work in the demo.\\nflush_rewrite_rules();\\n\"}]}"}},"all_blocks":{"royal-links\/link":{"name":"royal-links\/link","title":"Royal Link"},"royal-links\/product":{"name":"royal-links\/product","title":"Product"}},"tagged_versions":["1.1.2","2.0.1","2.0.2","2.0.3","2.0.5"],"block_files":[],"assets_screenshots":{"screenshot-1.png":{"filename":"screenshot-1.png","revision":3495612,"resolution":"1","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-10.png":{"filename":"screenshot-10.png","revision":3509516,"resolution":"10","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-2.png":{"filename":"screenshot-2.png","revision":3495612,"resolution":"2","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-3.png":{"filename":"screenshot-3.png","revision":3495612,"resolution":"3","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-4.png":{"filename":"screenshot-4.png","revision":3495612,"resolution":"4","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-5.png":{"filename":"screenshot-5.png","revision":3495612,"resolution":"5","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-6.png":{"filename":"screenshot-6.png","revision":3509516,"resolution":"6","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-7.png":{"filename":"screenshot-7.png","revision":3509516,"resolution":"7","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-8.png":{"filename":"screenshot-8.png","revision":3509516,"resolution":"8","location":"assets","locale":""},"screenshot-9.png":{"filename":"screenshot-9.png","revision":3509516,"resolution":"9","location":"assets","locale":""}},"screenshots":{"1":"Link management dashboard with click stats","2":"Create\/edit link with all options","3":"Geo-targeting with country-based redirects","4":"A\/B split testing results","5":"QR code generator","6":"Product display boxes","7":"Analytics dashboard with charts","8":"Auto keyword linker settings","9":"Migration wizard \u2014 import from Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates, BetterLinks","10":"Link health monitoring"},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"plugin_section":[],"plugin_tags":[5362,5375,5353,17938,5530],"plugin_category":[35],"plugin_contributors":[253970],"plugin_business_model":[],"class_list":["post-276071","plugin","type-plugin","status-publish","hentry","plugin_tags-affiliate-links","plugin_tags-click-tracking","plugin_tags-link-cloaking","plugin_tags-link-management","plugin_tags-url-shortener","plugin_category-advertising","plugin_contributors-royalpluginsteam","plugin_committers-royalpluginsteam"],"banners":{"banner":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/banner-772x250.png?rev=3516880","banner_2x":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/banner-1544x500.png?rev=3516880","banner_rtl":false,"banner_2x_rtl":false},"icons":{"svg":false,"icon":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/icon-128x128.png?rev=3447917","icon_2x":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/icon-256x256.png?rev=3447917","generated":false},"screenshots":[{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-1.png?rev=3495612","caption":"Link management dashboard with click stats"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-2.png?rev=3495612","caption":"Create\/edit link with all options"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-3.png?rev=3495612","caption":"Geo-targeting with country-based redirects"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-4.png?rev=3495612","caption":"A\/B split testing results"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-5.png?rev=3495612","caption":"QR code generator"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-6.png?rev=3509516","caption":"Product display boxes"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-7.png?rev=3509516","caption":"Analytics dashboard with charts"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-8.png?rev=3509516","caption":"Auto keyword linker settings"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-9.png?rev=3509516","caption":"Migration wizard \u2014 import from Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates, BetterLinks"},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/royal-links\/assets\/screenshot-10.png?rev=3509516","caption":"Link health monitoring"}],"raw_content":"\n
The most powerful free affiliate link management and URL shortener plugin for WordPress.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/1dPJ7uNaiWk<\/p>\n\n Royal Links is a complete link cloaking, click tracking, and link management solution that gives you every tool you need to shorten, cloak, track, and optimize your affiliate links and marketing URLs \u2014 without paying a cent. No \"lite\" version, no feature gates, no upsells. Everything competitors charge $200\/yr for is included free.<\/p>\n\n Whether you manage affiliate links, run marketing campaigns, track click performance, or just want clean branded short URLs on your own domain, Royal Links has you covered.<\/p>\n\n Royal Links works with any URL \u2014 cloak, shorten, track, redirect, or A\/B test it. Common use cases:<\/p>\n\n Switching from another plugin? Royal Links imports your links, categories, and click data in one click:<\/p>\n\n Most link management plugins offer basic features for free and lock the good stuff behind a paid upgrade. Royal Links takes a different approach \u2014 every feature is included from day one. Geo-targeting, A\/B testing, QR codes, auto-linking, product displays, device redirects, and link scheduling are all built in with no restrictions.<\/p>\n\n Royal Links is built by the team behind Royal MCP<\/a> and SiteVault<\/a> \u2014 free WordPress plugins trusted by thousands of sites. We believe powerful tools should be accessible to everyone.<\/p>\n\n This plugin connects to the following external service under specific conditions:<\/p>\n\n Royal Links uses the ip-api.com<\/a> geolocation API to determine a visitor's country for the geo-targeting feature. This service is only contacted when a site administrator has configured country-based redirect rules on a specific link<\/strong>. If no geo-targeting rules are configured, no data is sent to this service.<\/p>\n\n When geo-targeting is active on a link and a visitor clicks that link, the visitor's IP address is sent to ip-api.com to determine their country. The country result is then used to decide which destination URL the visitor should be redirected to.<\/p>\n\n Royal Links gives you every feature for free. Geo-targeting, A\/B split testing, QR codes, automatic keyword linking, product displays, device-based redirects, link scheduling \u2014 features that other plugins charge $100-200\/yr for are all included at no cost. There is no premium tier and no upsell.<\/p><\/dd>\n Yes. Go to Royal Links > Tools<\/strong> and use the Migration Wizard. It imports your links, categories, and click history from Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates, or BetterLinks in one click. Your existing short URLs and redirects will keep working.<\/p><\/dd>\n Yes. Configure country-based redirect rules on any link at no cost. When a visitor clicks that link, their country is detected and they are redirected to the appropriate destination. No API key needed, no usage limits.<\/p><\/dd>\n Yes. Amazon's terms require that affiliate links are not cloaked (the destination must be visible). Royal Links supports uncloaked redirects \u2014 just set the redirect type and Amazon links will work within their guidelines. You can also use the nofollow attribute for compliance.<\/p><\/dd>\n Royal Links supports 301 (permanent), 302 (temporary), and 307 (temporary, preserves method) redirects. On top of that, you can layer device-based redirects, geo-targeting redirects, and time-based redirects that automatically switch destinations on a schedule.<\/p><\/dd>\n No. Royal Links is the full version. Every feature is included and there is no paid upgrade. We built this as a completely free plugin.<\/p><\/dd>\n Define keywords and associate them with your links. Royal Links automatically scans your post and page content and turns matching keywords into linked text pointing to the destinations you configured. You control the maximum number of links per keyword, which post types to scan, and which content areas to target.<\/p><\/dd>\n Your links, analytics, and settings are stored entirely in your own WordPress database. The only external service Royal Links contacts is ip-api.com, and only when you have configured geo-targeting rules on a specific link. If you don't use geo-targeting, no external requests are made. See the External Services section for full details.<\/p><\/dd>\n Link cloaking replaces long, ugly affiliate URLs with clean, branded short links on your own domain (e.g., yoursite.com\/go\/product-name instead of affiliate-network.com\/ref?id=12345&tracking=abc). This makes links more trustworthy to visitors, easier to share, and protects your affiliate commissions from being stripped. Royal Links handles all of this automatically with 301, 302, or 307 redirects.<\/p><\/dd>\n Install Royal Links and create a new link with your affiliate URL as the destination. Royal Links automatically tracks every click with detailed analytics \u2014 browser, device, operating system, country, referrer, and timestamp. View performance in the analytics dashboard with charts, top-performing links, and referrer breakdowns. You can also track QR code scans separately.<\/p><\/dd>\n Your links and click data remain in the database. If you reactivate Royal Links, everything will be restored. If you want to permanently remove all data, use the standard WordPress uninstall process (delete the plugin from the Plugins page).<\/p><\/dd>\n Pretty Links Pro and ThirstyAffiliates Pro are paid plugins that charge $99\u2013200\/yr for features like geo-targeting, A\/B testing, QR codes, automatic keyword linking, and product display boxes. Royal Links includes all of those features for free with no upgrade tier. The Migration Wizard imports your existing Pretty Links or ThirstyAffiliates links, categories, and click history in one click \u2014 no manual re-creation needed.<\/p><\/dd>\n Yes. Create a Royal Link for each destination (your shop page, latest blog post, YouTube video, lead magnet, podcast, etc.) and use those Royal Links wherever you put a single bio link \u2014 Instagram, TikTok, Twitter (X), YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads. Royal Links tracks every click with referrer, country, and device data so you can see which platform drives traffic. Rotate destinations by editing the Royal Link without changing the bio URL \u2014 perfect for promoting different campaigns from the same shareable link.<\/p><\/dd>\n No. The redirect handler is lightweight and the auto-keyword linker runs once per post on save (not on every page load). Click logging happens asynchronously after the redirect fires, so visitor experience is unaffected. The admin UI, analytics, and migration tools do not run on visitor-facing pages.<\/p><\/dd>\n Yes. Royal Links short URLs are processed by WordPress's redirect layer before any page caching kicks in, so cached content does not interfere with link redirects, click tracking, or geo-targeting. The plugin's admin pages are not cached (caching plugins exclude Yes. Royal Links is store-agnostic \u2014 use it to track clicks from product pages to external suppliers, affiliate offers, or partner sites. The Auto-Keyword Linker can scan product descriptions and turn brand or model names into tracked outbound links automatically.<\/p><\/dd>\n Royal Links can be configured to be GDPR-friendly. By default the plugin does NOT store IP addresses in the click log (the \"Store IP Addresses\" setting is opt-in and disabled out of the box). Browser, device, country, and referrer data are stored without tying them to a specific identifiable visitor. With IP storage disabled, the click log retains only aggregate analytics suitable for GDPR-compliant reporting under legitimate interest.<\/p><\/dd>\n\n<\/dl>\n\n\nWhat You Can Use Royal Links For<\/h4>\n\n
\n
yoursite.com\/go\/product<\/code> instead of network.com\/ref?id=12345<\/code>). A free alternative to Bitly, Rebrandly, TinyURL, or Switchy.<\/li>\nLink Management<\/h4>\n\n
\n
Click Tracking & Analytics<\/h4>\n\n
\n
Advanced Redirects<\/h4>\n\n
\n
Content & Display<\/h4>\n\n
\n
Site Health<\/h4>\n\n
\n
Migration Wizard<\/h4>\n\n
\n
Why Royal Links?<\/h4>\n\n
Powered by Royal Plugins<\/h4>\n\n
External Services<\/h3>\n\n
ip-api.com<\/h4>\n\n
\n
\n
royal-links<\/code> folder to \/wp-content\/plugins\/<\/code> or install directly from the WordPress plugin directory.<\/li>\n\n
What makes Royal Links different from other link management plugins?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Can I import my links from Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates, or BetterLinks?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Is geo-targeting really free?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Does Royal Links work with Amazon Associates?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
What redirect types are supported?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Is there a Pro version?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
How does the automatic keyword linker work?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Is my data private?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
What is link cloaking and why do I need it?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
How do I track affiliate link clicks in WordPress?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
What happens to my existing links if I deactivate the plugin?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
How does Royal Links compare to Pretty Links Pro or ThirstyAffiliates Pro?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Can I create a link-in-bio page using Royal Links?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Will Royal Links slow down my WordPress site?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Does Royal Links work with caching plugins like WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or LiteSpeed Cache?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
\/wp-admin\/<\/code> by default).<\/p><\/dd>\nCan I use Royal Links with WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Is Royal Links GDPR-compliant?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
2.0.5<\/h4>\n\n
\n
render_variant_row()<\/code> now casts the index to int before computing the variant letter, eliminating the Unsupported operand types: int + string<\/code> TypeError.<\/li>\n2.0.3<\/h4>\n\n
\n
is_affiliate=true<\/code> so disclosures continue rendering as they did before. No action required.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n2.0.2<\/h4>\n\n
\n
2.0.1<\/h4>\n\n
\n
2.0.0<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.2.0<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.1.3<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.1.2<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.1.1<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.1.0<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.0.6<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.0.5<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.0.4<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.0.3<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.0.2<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.0.1<\/h4>\n\n
\n
1.0.0<\/h4>\n\n
\n