When Cloudflare stops working, it immediately affects a massive number of websites, including affiliate networks, advertisers, and media buyers. Since Cloudflare powers a significant portion of global web traffic, any outage can disrupt entire segments of the affiliate marketing ecosystem.
This article explains how a Cloudflare outage impacts partner programs, tracking, conversions, traffic flow, and revenue, as well as what affiliate marketers should do in response.
1. Why a Cloudflare Outage Is Critical for the Affiliate Industry
Cloudflare performs several essential functions for most affiliate websites:
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CDN and caching for fast landing page delivery
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DDoS protection for stability under heavy traffic
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DNS processing and routing
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Bot filtering and traffic quality control
When any of these layers fail, thousands of affiliate projects experience performance degradation or total downtime.
2. Traffic Loss and Declining Conversions
Main issue: landing pages do not load or load too slowly
For media buyers, this results in:
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reduced conversion rates (CR)
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higher bounce rates
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wasted paid traffic budgets
Advertising platforms such as Facebook Ads, Google Ads, TikTok, and PropellerAds penalize or stop campaigns that lead to non-working pages. This can harm account quality and campaign history.
Financial impact
Media buyers lose money, and affiliate programs lose potential customers.
3. Tracking Failures and Inaccurate Analytics
When Cloudflare does not process requests correctly, tracking platforms and affiliate networks may:
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miss clicks
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lose postbacks
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miscount conversions
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display incomplete or incorrect statistics
As a result:
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advertisers receive incomplete data
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affiliates lose commissions
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networks cannot provide accurate reporting
4. Redirect and Smartlink Issues
Many affiliate campaigns rely on:
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multi-step redirects
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Smartlink systems
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cloaking solutions
A Cloudflare outage can cause:
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redirect failures
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broken cloaking filters
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Smartlinks returning errors
This is especially damaging in fast-paced verticals such as iGaming, Dating, Finance, and Nutra.
5. Brand and Reputation Risks
When a page fails to open, users:
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lose trust in the offer
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are less likely to convert
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may avoid the brand in the future
For advertisers, this leads to:
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declining brand credibility
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higher acquisition costs (CPA/CPL)
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reduced customer lifetime value (LTV)
6. Impact on Affiliate Networks
Affiliate networks face several challenges during a Cloudflare outage:
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increased support tickets from publishers
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sharp drops in incoming traffic
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gaps in reporting and analytics
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malfunctioning APIs and integrations
In some cases, networks may temporarily disable affected offers.
7. What Affiliate Marketers Should Do If Cloudflare Is Not Working
1. Check Cloudflare Status
Use the official Cloudflare status page to confirm the issue.
2. Activate backup domains
Prepare alternative domains that do not rely on Cloudflare or use a different CDN.
3. Request a direct link to the offer
Some networks can provide a backup landing page.
4. Pause ad campaigns
Stopping paid traffic prevents budget loss.
5. Switch to alternative DNS solutions
For example, Google DNS or Amazon Route 53.
6. Contact your affiliate manager
They may have temporary workarounds or unaffected offer URLs.
Conclusion: How Serious Is the Impact?
When Cloudflare is not working, the affiliate market experiences major disruptions. Everything from page speed and tracking accuracy to revenue performance is affected.
Key consequences:
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decreased conversions
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wasted advertising budgets
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missing or corrupted tracking data
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broken redirects and Smartlinks
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reduced trust from users and partners
To minimize loss during global outages, affiliate marketers and networks must maintain backup infrastructure and redundancy plans.