New in 1.12: send link clicks to 20 analytics tools, and turn Novashare shares into branded links. Read the changelog
GT Link Manager
Branded links, fast redirects and click reports for WordPress. Change a destination once and every /go/ link in your content follows it.
Version 1.12.0 · WordPress 6.4+ · Tested up to 7.1 · PHP 8.0+ · GPL, no paid tier
Four releases made it a different plugin.
GT Link Manager started as a fast Pretty Links replacement. Since 1.9 it reports where clicks come from, talks to your analytics, takes orders from an AI agent and drops the /go/ prefix when you want it gone.
| Version | What it added | Default |
|---|---|---|
| 1.12.0 Latest | Analytics integrations for 20 tools, Novashare short links, a ? help link on every screen, and direct and regex links limited to administrators | Off |
| 1.11.0 | Prefix-free links at yoursite.com/your-slug, with old /go/ links still redirecting, plus a Random slug button | Off |
| 1.10.0 | AI agent support through Site Agent, an AI agents screen and settings grouped into cards | Off |
| 1.9.0 | Advanced Analytics: trends, referring pages, breakdowns, retention controls and CSV export | Off |
Every new feature ships switched off, so an update never changes how your existing links behave. Full changelog
Make a link once, then point it anywhere.
Every link gets a name, a slug and a destination. When a program changes its tracking URL, you edit one field and every post using that branded link sends readers to the new place.
- Three link modes: standard
/go/slug, direct paths with no prefix, and regex rules with capture groups - Prefix-free links: serve every link from the site root, and the settings screen lists any slug that clashes with a page
- Random slug: six characters with no look-alikes such as 0 and o
- Redirect types: 301, 302 or 307, with nofollow, sponsored, ugc and noindex per link
- Library tools: nested categories, tags, notes, filters, Quick Edit, bulk actions and Undo
Redirects that never wait for your theme.
A branded link resolves at the very start of the WordPress request and exits before a single template loads. On a test install, a redirect measured about 9 ms.
- Speed
One indexed lookup
Links live in their own table with a unique index on the slug, so 2,000 links resolve as fast as 20. Your posts table stays clean.
- Speed
The visitor goes first
The redirect reaches the browser before click counting or analytics run, on PHP-FPM and LiteSpeed alike.
- Caching
Caches can’t hold stale redirects
Redirects send no-store headers, so a page cache or CDN never serves an old destination after you change it.
- SEO
Dead links return a real 404
A trashed or paused link gets a proper 404 from your theme instead of your home page at HTTP 200.
See which pages earn the clicks.
Advanced Analytics records each eligible redirect inside WordPress. You get the trend, the top links and the posts readers clicked from, without adding a script or a cookie to your pages.
- Reports: daily or hourly trends, top links and a Clicked from view of referring pages
- Breakdowns: sources, countries, devices, browsers, OS and UTM campaigns
- Retention: minute-level records for 7 days by default, then daily totals, or keep reports forever
- Export: CSV with your current date, category, link and page filters
- Privacy: no IP addresses or raw user agents stored, and nothing collected until you opt in
Send every click to the analytics you already use.
Outbound clicks are the part of the visit most analytics tools miss, because the visitor leaves your site. GT Link Manager sends the click itself, after the redirect has gone out.
Each service gets a two-second limit, so one that’s down costs a little server time and nothing for the visitor. It also reads the settings MonsterInsights, Site Kit, ExactMetrics and similar plugins already hold.
| Route | Tools | How the click arrives |
|---|---|---|
| From your server 10 services | Google Analytics 4, Plausible (beta), Matomo, Umami, Simple Analytics, PostHog, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Rybbit, Clicky | Sent server-side, so ad blockers can’t drop it |
| WordPress plugins 7 plugins | Independent Analytics, Koko Analytics, WP Statistics, Burst Statistics, SlimStat, Statify, Matomo for WordPress | Recorded in the plugin’s own reports. Nothing leaves your server. |
| Browser tags 3 tags | Google Tag Manager, Fathom Analytics, Microsoft Clarity | A small script reports clicks made on your own pages |
Visitor IP addresses and countries are shared only if you turn that on. The suggested privacy policy text updates to name the tools you use, and the gtlm_integrations_should_send filter waits for your consent tool.
Send each country to the right store.
Add country rules to a link and readers in India land on the Indian store while everyone else keeps the default. The country comes from a header your CDN or server already adds, so there’s no GeoIP database and no external lookup.
- Auto-detect: Cloudflare first, then CloudFront, Vercel, App Engine and web-server GeoIP variables
- Check Detection: lists every country header on the request and runs a loopback test
- Safe default: unknown countries use the link’s normal destination
Country rules Edit Link · Geolocation
| Country | Destination |
|---|---|
| India | amazon.in/dp/…?tag=you-21 |
| United Kingdom | amazon.co.uk/dp/…?tag=you-21 |
| Everyone else | amazon.com/dp/…?tag=you-20 |
Use 302 here. Browsers cache a 301 and pin the first country.
Ask your AI agent to manage links.
Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor through the free Site Agent plugin and it picks up the GT Link Manager skill on its own. “Create a sponsored link for this affiliate URL” or “which links got the most clicks last month?” becomes a sentence instead of a session in the dashboard.
- Agents can: find, create and update links, set country rules, organize categories and read analytics
- Agents can’t: permanently delete links or change analytics settings
- Everything else: a full REST API, developer hooks and the
gtlm_agent()function
Use Novashare? Choose Custom as its link shortener, and every shared post goes out as one of your branded links.
Bring your links from the old plugin.
Pretty Links and LinkCentral have presets. Exports from ThirstyAffiliates, ClickWhale, Lasso, BetterLinks and GeniusLink import through manual column mapping. You see a preview of every mapped field before a single link is created.
Keep the same prefix and slugs, and the links already in your posts keep working the moment the import finishes.
Export
Download a CSV of your links from the plugin you’re leaving.
Choose a preset
Pick Pretty Links, LinkCentral or Generic, and upload the file.
Check the preview
Confirm the mapped columns and how duplicates are handled.
Test a few links
Open some branded links, then deactivate the old plugin.
Set your defaults once.
Pick the prefix, the redirect type and the rel attributes every new link starts with. Existing links keep their own settings, so changing a default never rewrites your library.
Lifetime click counts, country routing and data cleanup each have their own switch on the same screen.
GT Link Manager is free.
Every feature on this page is in the WordPress.org plugin: redirects, country rules, analytics, integrations, CSV tools and the REST API. No paid tier, no account and no license key.
Requires WordPress 6.4 and PHP 8.0. Works per site on multisite.
What it doesn’t do
- No bio-link pages, automatic keyword linking, split testing or link rotation.
- Reports count redirect requests, not unique people or sales. Browsers can also hide the referring page.
- Advanced Analytics supports single-site installs and needs WordPress cron or a system scheduler running.
- Country rules need a trusted CDN or server header. With nothing in front of your site, there’s no country to read.
- Plausible is in beta, and direct links, regex links and permanent deletion need an administrator.
Questions
Is GT Link Manager really free?
Yes. The WordPress.org plugin includes every feature, including Advanced Analytics, analytics integrations, country rules, CSV tools and the REST API. There’s no premium tier and no license key.
Will it slow my site down?
No. A branded link resolves with one indexed lookup at the start of the request, then exits before the theme loads. Click counting and analytics run after the visitor has already been redirected.
Can I drop the /go/ prefix?
Yes. Turn on prefix-free links to serve every link at yoursite.com/your-slug. Links you already shared with /go/ keep redirecting, and the settings screen flags any slug that matches a published page.
Does it work with my analytics?
Probably. It sends clicks to 10 analytics services from your server, records them in 7 WordPress analytics plugins, and reports through Google Tag Manager, Fathom and Clarity. Jetpack Stats and Cloudflare Web Analytics aren’t supported, because neither documents a way to record custom events.
Do I need consent for analytics integrations?
That depends on your tools and where your readers are. The plugin’s suggested privacy text names the tools you turn on, and you can hold every send until your consent tool says yes with the gtlm_integrations_should_send filter.
Does it work behind a page cache or CDN?
Yes. Redirects send no-store headers, so nothing caches an old destination. For geo-targeted links, use 302, because a cached 301 pins readers to the country of their first visit.
What happens when I uninstall?
Your links and reports stay unless you turn on Delete Data on Uninstall. Deactivating keeps everything too, but redirects stop until the plugin is active again, so export a CSV before you switch tools.
Put your links back under your control.
Install it, add one branded link, and check it lands where you expect. Then bring the rest of your library across.
Built and supported by Gaurav Tiwari. I run every affiliate link on this site through GT Link Manager, so the bugs I fix are usually ones I hit first. 18+ years building websites and plugins. More about me
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