> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ctracker-docs.keywordrush.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ctracker-docs.keywordrush.com/shops-and-cashback-rates/tracking-links.md).

# Tracking links and the Go to shop button

Every route from your site to a merchant goes through a tracking link. It carries two things: your affiliate ID, so you earn the commission, and the member's tag, so they get the cashback.

### The Go to shop button

It appears on every shop page bound to a network. Pressing it sends the visitor to the merchant through the network's link.

**For a signed-in member**, the link carries their tag — `cbtrkr-412` — and any sale is credited to them.

**For a signed-out visitor**, there is nobody to credit. Rather than sending them anyway and losing the cashback silently, they are sent to register first. Set where with **Registration URL** in `Settings` → `General`; leave it empty to use the WordPress registration page.

{% hint style="info" %}
On a coupon site there is no member to credit, so this step is pure friction and is skipped. It disappears on its own when cashback features are off — see [Running a coupon site](/running-your-site/coupon-site.md).
{% endhint %}

### Styling the button

**"Go to shop" button class** in `Settings` → `General` adds your own CSS class to the button.

The usual reason is a login popup: if your theme opens one when a link has a particular class, put that class here and signed-out visitors get the popup instead of a page change.

### Putting a link anywhere

The `[tracking-link]` shortcode builds one for any shop, so you can put a tracked link in a post, a review, a comparison table or a menu.

See [\[tracking-link\]](/putting-it-on-your-pages/shortcodes/tracking-link.md).

### Crediting the author instead of the visitor

**Credit the post author** in `Settings` → `General` puts the *author's* ID in tracking links rather than the visitor's.

This is for a specific arrangement: contributors who write shop content and are paid on what their pages earn. Every sale from a page then credits whoever wrote it, no matter who clicked.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Switch this on and **no member ever earns cashback again** — every link credits an author instead. It is not a tweak; it changes what your site is. Leave it off unless you are running exactly that arrangement.
{% endhint %}

### Running several sites on one network account

If you use the same publisher ID on more than one WordPress install — separate domains, subdomains, or a site in a subdirectory — every one of them sends the same style of tag. Member 412 on your fashion site and member 412 on your travel site both become `cbtrkr-412`, and the sale is credited to whichever site's member happens to hold that ID.

Give each site its own prefix so the tags cannot collide. In your theme's `functions.php`:

```php
add_filter( 'cbtrkr_subid_prefix', function () {
    return 'travel';
} );
```

That site now sends `travel-412` instead of `cbtrkr-412`, and only it will claim those sales.

Use lowercase letters only, and set it **before** the site takes any real orders — orders already reported carry the old prefix and will no longer match.

{% hint style="info" %}
One site on one network account needs none of this. The default is fine, and changing it for no reason only creates a chance to get it wrong.
{% endhint %}

### Why a click is not recorded

Nothing is stored on your site when someone presses the button. The plugin does not know a click happened.

That is not an omission — the affiliate network is the one keeping score, and it only tells you anything once a sale exists. It is why there is no clicks report, and why a member who says "I clicked yesterday" cannot be checked against anything until the network reports.

See [How affiliate networks fit in](/affiliate-networks/how-networks-work.md).

### When a link does not credit the member

Working through it in order:

**Was the member signed in?** By far the most common cause. A signed-out visitor produces no tag at all.

**Did they use your link?** Opening the merchant in another tab, from a bookmark, or via a search after leaving your site all break the trail. The network credits whoever it saw last.

**Did they have an ad blocker or strict privacy settings?** Some block affiliate redirects entirely. Nothing on your side can fix that.

**Is the shop's link correct?** A shop whose deep link is wrong sends visitors to the merchant perfectly well and credits nothing — it looks fine right up until no orders ever arrive. Check the shop in the Shop catalog.

### Related

* [How affiliate networks fit in](/affiliate-networks/how-networks-work.md)
* [Shop pages](/shops-and-cashback-rates/shop-pages.md)
* [\[tracking-link\]](/putting-it-on-your-pages/shortcodes/tracking-link.md)