If you have been blogging for a while, you probably know exactly how quickly affiliate links can build up behind the scenes.
A handful of Etsy links in one article becomes hundreds across a category. Hundreds become thousands across years of roundups, tutorials, gift guides, pattern features, craft supply posts, and seasonal content. Before you know it, your blog has an archive full of older affiliate links that still matter — but are no longer working the way you need them to.
That was exactly the problem we ran into.
We had over 10,000 old Etsy affiliate links across our content.
And no, we were absolutely not going to sit there and manually open every post, check every link, replace every URL, and hope nothing broke along the way.
So we created a plugin.
Why We Created This WordPress Plugin
This plugin was created out of a very real blogging problem: old Etsy links needed to be updated from the previous affiliate setup to Rakuten.
For small bloggers, affiliate links can be a helpful income stream. For larger content archives, they can become a serious maintenance job. If you have hundreds or thousands of older posts, manually updating every individual Etsy link can take days, weeks, or longer.
The bigger issue is that many of those old links are buried inside content that still gets traffic.
Those posts may still rank in Google. They may still be pinned on Pinterest. They may still bring readers to your site every single day. But if the affiliate links are outdated, broken, redirected incorrectly, or no longer connected to your current affiliate account, you could be missing out on income from content you already created.
That is why we needed something faster, safer, and more practical.
What The Plugin Does
The plugin is designed to help WordPress site owners find older Etsy affiliate links inside their existing content and replace them with Rakuten affiliate links using their own affiliate details.
Instead of manually searching through your blog post by post, the plugin helps scan your WordPress content for Etsy-related affiliate links and update them in a more streamlined way.
The guide available through our Etsy listing walks users through how the plugin works, how to install it, where to enter Rakuten details, how to scan posts, how to update old Awin or tidd.ly Etsy links, and how rollback works if needed. The listing is a digital PDF guide for bloggers and WordPress site owners managing older Etsy affiliate content.
Who This Is For
This is especially useful for:
Bloggers with years of older Etsy content
Affiliate marketers who previously used Awin or tidd.ly Etsy links
WordPress site owners with large content archives
Craft bloggers, pattern bloggers, and niche publishers
Anyone who does not want to manually update hundreds or thousands of links by hand
If your blog has old Etsy affiliate links scattered through tutorials, product features, pattern roundups, gift guides, supply lists, or craft articles, this was made for exactly that kind of problem.
Why Manually Updating Links Is Such A Nightmare
At first, link updating sounds simple.
Just find the old link and replace it, right?
But when you are dealing with a real content archive, it gets messy quickly.
Some links are inside old tutorials. Some are inside roundups. Some are tucked into image captions, buttons, text links, supply lists, or older formatting. Some links may go through shorteners. Some may be old affiliate links. Some may not be Etsy links at all and should not be touched.
That is where manual updating becomes risky.
You do not want to replace the wrong links.
You do not want to break old posts.
You do not want to accidentally change non-Etsy links.
You do not want to spend hours opening and editing posts one by one.
The plugin was created to make the process more manageable.
The “We Needed This Ourselves” Factor
This was not one of those tools created because it sounded like a good idea in theory.
We built it because we had the problem ourselves.
With more than 10,000 old Etsy links sitting inside our blog network, the task was too big to handle manually. We needed something that could help us scan our WordPress posts, identify the Etsy links, and replace them with the correct Rakuten affiliate format.
Once we had it working for our own use, we realised other bloggers were probably facing the same problem.
Especially craft bloggers.
Etsy links are everywhere in craft content — patterns, supplies, handmade gift ideas, tools, printable downloads, vintage finds, jewellery supplies, crochet patterns, sewing templates, and so much more.
If you have been creating content for years, chances are your site has more old Etsy links than you think.
What Makes This Helpful For Bloggers
The real value here is time.
A job that could take days of clicking, copying, pasting, testing, and double-checking becomes much easier to manage with a dedicated tool and a clear setup guide.
The plugin guide is designed to help you understand the process before you start making changes. That matters, because affiliate link updates are not something you want to rush blindly.
You want to know:
How to install the plugin
Where to enter your Rakuten Encrypted ID
Where to add the Etsy Merchant ID
How to scan your WordPress posts
How to run a test first
How to update old Etsy affiliate links
How rollback works if something needs to be restored
It gives bloggers a practical way to approach a very unglamorous but important website maintenance task.
Why Updating Old Affiliate Links Matters
Old content can still be valuable content.
One of the biggest mistakes bloggers make is assuming only new posts matter. But often, older posts continue to bring in traffic for years — especially if they rank in search, circulate on Pinterest, or get shared seasonally.
If those older posts include outdated affiliate links, you may be leaving income behind.
Updating old Etsy links can help you make better use of the content you already have. It is not about creating more work. It is about making sure the work you already did is still doing its job.
For bloggers managing large archives, this kind of cleanup can be one of those quiet behind-the-scenes tasks that makes a real difference.
A Practical Tool For A Very Real Blogging Problem
If you only have five old Etsy links on your site, you probably do not need a plugin.
But if you have hundreds, thousands, or — like us — more than 10,000 links, you need a better system.
This plugin guide was created for bloggers who are ready to clean up their old Etsy affiliate links without losing their entire weekend to manual editing.
It is especially helpful for anyone who has older Awin or tidd.ly Etsy links and wants a clearer path for moving those links over to Rakuten.
Get The WordPress Plugin Guide
If you are sitting on years of older Etsy affiliate links and have been putting off the cleanup because it feels too overwhelming, this guide was created for you.
You can find the WordPress Plugin Guide: Update Old Etsy Affiliate Links From Awin To Rakuten here: view the Etsy listing.
It is a practical, blogger-made solution for a problem many long-term site owners eventually face — too many links, too little time, and a very real need to keep old content earning properly.