Note: Using the JavaScript Snippet? The Amazon Link Engine WordPress plugin (henceforth known as the ALE) and JavaScript Snippet are functionally the same. In this article, we continually reference the ALE, but all of this troubleshooting information also applies if you're using the JavaScript Snippet.

One of the most common questions we get is "I just configured the WordPress plugin. How do I know if it's working?"

If that's what you're wondering, you've come to the right place!
You'll find more detail below, but here's an overview of what we're going to check:

The first thing to check is to see if the links on your website are being converted to buy.geni.us links.
If the ALE isn't converting your links, ensure that the links you're using are the right format to be converted (raw product URLs)
If the ALE isn't converting links, and you're using raw product URLs, you'll want to check that the code is actually installed on your site in the first place.
The ALE is not compatible with Amazon's OneLink. Please uninstall OneLink to properly configure and test our tool.

There's more information below about how to test the redirect behavior of your buy.geni.us links, or what to check if you're not seeing clicks in the Geniuslink or Amazon Associates dashboard.

How to test if the links on your website are being converted

The simplest technique is to click the link and watch the address bar closely. You should be able to see a buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx?.. URL in the address bar briefly before it redirects to the Amazon product page. If you see that, you're all set and can stop reading.

Depending on the speed of the redirect, you may not notice the buy.geni.us/proxy.ashx? URL. If you're looking for a more thorough way to check, try one of these:

Disable the 'Preserve Amazon URLs until click time' feature temporarily. You'll find this in the plugin's settings menu. When this is disabled, if the plugin is configured correctly, your links will no longer read 'Amazon.com' when you hover your mouse cursor over them. Instead they'll show buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx?. If you see that, you're all set and can stop reading (after you re-enable the Preserve Amazon URLs feature)
Install the Link Redirect Trace Chrome Extension - This is a free tool that our support team uses to monitor redirects on a link. It's very simple and can help you immensely with testing links!
Advanced: Alternatively, you could configure a Proxy to fake an IP address from another country, then click the link and confirm you land in the appropriate storefront.

If your links aren't successfully being converted into buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx? links, then something is wrong.

How to ensure you're using the right kind of product URLs

Perhaps you have the ALE installed correctly, but it's not converting your links.

One of the most common misunderstandings about the ALE is what kind of links it can convert. Generally speaking, if the URL doesn't start with Amazon.com (or amzn.to), we won't be able to convert it. Note: the top-level domain isn't important. It could be amazon.co.uk or amazon.fr for example.

The ALE cannot convert Amazon Native Shopping Ads (like the waffle irons pictured below), Text+HTML links, Amazon banner ads, or any ad that serves up content via an iFrame. If you mouse over the link and see something starting with: https://aax-us-east.amazon-adsystem.com.. we wont be able to convert that. Some of these ads load content dynamically from Amazon through an iFrame, and the product URL only arrives after the 'pageload', which is when our tool is hunting for links to convert.

There are also some limitations on what kind of Amazon product URLs we can convert.
Acceptable Amazon formats: links to individual products and search term URLs
Unacceptable Amazon formats: 'Bundled' links, 'Add-To-Cart' links, and node links.

How to search for traces of the code

If your links are of the correct format and aren't being converted, then it may be worth checking your page source for the ALE code, to see if it's properly configured.

We're going to get a little more technical now! If this isn't something you're comfortable with, please don't stress! It's really as simple as two or three clicks and then scanning for a specific word or two.

If you're looking for proof that the code is installed, you could check the Inspector or Page Source.

Using Google Chrome, Right click your webpage and select Inspect
For FireFox, the command is 'Inspect Element'
The Inspector window pops up on the right side of the page. From this window, select 'Sources' along the top
FireFox: Click 'Debugger' to see this same list
In the list of Sources, look for cdn.geni.us (or cdn.georiot.com)

Alternatively, you can look for cdn.geni.us in the source code directly:

1. Using Chrome or FireFox, Right click the webpage and select View Page Source
2. Don't worry about trying to read through anything! Just hit Ctrl+F to open up a search field and look for cdn.geni.us or georiot
3. Here's what you'll see, if it's present:

If you can't find cdn.geni.us, then it's likely that the code hasn't been successfully installed on your page! Try to reinstall and configure the ALE again.
[Or perhaps you're using an caching plugin and the cache hasn't been refreshed since installing the ALE?]

If the code appears to be installed on your site, but it's not converting product URLs of the right format, then we're looking at something trickier. It's possible that there are some errors on your website that are causing a conflict. Using the Inspector, open up the Console and scan for any errors like 'jQuery is not defined' or anything that includes 'cdn.geni.us'.

"The ALE is installed and converting links, but I'm seeing 0 clicks in my Geniuslink/Amazon Associates dashboard."

If your ALE is converting links as expected, but you suspect that you're not being affiliated for the clicks and sales, then it's possible that the ALE somehow lost it's connection to your account. This can happen for a number of reasons, but it's usually the result of other plugins being installed after the ALE.

It's a good practice to always test a link or two after adding additional plugins to your WordPress site, just to ensure that everything is humming along harmoniously.

The most straightforward method is to test one of the links for a country where you know you have a tracking ID, then look for that tracking ID in the address bar. If it's there, then you know you're being affiliated for those clicks.

Another way to confirm that the ALE is connected to your account is to examine the 'TSID=' part of the buy.geni.us URL. Compare this to the TSID for the 'default' group in your account. The ALE associates itself with you default group unless you specify something else. (TSID is just a group's ID number. You can find this on the Groups page). If the TSID number matches one of the groups in your account, you're good to go.

Testing how your links are redirecting for your global audience

If you'd like to see how a buy.geni.us link behaves when clicked from different countries, simply copy and paste the entire URL into the address bar and add the &targetiso2=xx parameter to the end of the URL, where xx is the ISO2 country code for the region you're testing for.

You are amazing

If you've read the entire guide, we love you dearly. If you're still having issues, please feel free to contact us so we can lend a hand! Use the text bubble icon to the right or click here to send an email.