The WordPress plugin

On WordPress, use the plugin. It does everything the manual setup does, plus a couple of things the manual setup cannot.

Installing

1. Plugins → Add New, search for AffyLink, install and activate.
2. AffyLink appears in your admin menu. Open it.
3. Paste an API key from your AffyLink settings (Settings → API keys → Create key).
4. Press Connect.

That is the whole setup. Your site is registered on your account and the tracker is live. There is no theme file to edit and no script to paste.

What the plugin does

• Installs the tracker properly, through WordPress's own script queue, rather than by editing your theme. A theme update cannot wipe it out.
• Registers your site on your account, so you do not have to add the domain separately.
• Imports your existing links from ThirstyAffiliates or Pretty Links, if either is installed.
• Shows your plan usage in wp-admin, so you can see where you are without leaving the site.
• Warns you if another auto-linker is running, which would otherwise double-link your posts.

The plugin never bundles the tracker itself. It fetches it from us, which means if we ever ship a bad version we can roll it back for everyone in minutes instead of waiting for a plugin update to reach a hundred thousand sites.

Importing from ThirstyAffiliates or Pretty Links

If either is installed with links in it, the AffyLink screen offers to import them.

Preview import shows you what would happen — how many links, how many are already in your account — and writes nothing. Import now does it.

Your keywords come across too, where the source plugin had them.

Afterwards, turn off the other plugin's automatic linking, or your posts will be linked twice by two different tools. You do not have to uninstall it — its links will keep working — but only one thing should be auto-linking.

About API keys

A key is a credential. Treat it like a password.

A key can do whatever the person who created it can do. If you are handing a key to a client's site or to a contractor, create it from an account with a limited role — then it can manage links but cannot touch billing.

You can revoke a key at any time from Settings → API keys. Revocation is immediate; the site using it stops connecting on its next request.

Removing it

Deactivating the plugin stops the tracker loading. Your posts are unchanged, because they were never changed. Uninstalling removes its settings and leaves nothing behind.