Picture this: You wake up one morning in early November 2025, grab your coffee, and casually check your analytics. What you see makes you do a double-take. Your traffic from X has doubled overnight. Then tripled. You haven’t changed a thing about your content or your posting strategy. You haven’t paid for a single ad. So, what on earth is happening?
Welcome to the most underreported traffic phenomenon of the year, and potentially the biggest opportunity affiliate marketers have seen since the wild west days of Facebook ads. A feature rolled out by X just weeks ago is quietly creating a new gold rush, inflating traffic numbers, and generating what can only be described as ghost revenue for those savvy enough to notice.
This isn’t just a glitch; it’s a fundamental shift in how X handles external links. And for a $31 billion industry like affiliate marketing, it’s a seismic event. But here’s the kicker: this window of opportunity is narrow. We’re talking about a matter of months, perhaps even weeks, before the networks catch on and X potentially closes the loophole. So, if you’re reading this, you’re among the first to truly grasp what’s at stake.
The Invisible Hand: How X Is Inflating Your Traffic
The secret behind this sudden traffic spike isn’t some new algorithm trick or a sudden surge in user interest. It’s far more subtle and, frankly, ingenious. X recently rolled out a feature that preloads external links in tweets the moment they appear in someone’s feed. Not when they click. Not when they hover. The instant that tweet with your link scrolls into view, X’s in-app browser starts loading your page in the background.
To the average publisher, this looks like a massive win. Just a few days ago, Chris Best, CEO of Substack, publicly celebrated what appeared to be a 4x traffic increase from X. Even after accounting for “fake views,” he confirmed traffic was “up substantially.” While he might be celebrating genuine increased engagement, a significant portion of that bump could well be these ghost visits.
Think about the implications for a moment. Every time your affiliate link appears in someone’s X feed, you’re getting a page load. Not just an impression in the traditional sense. We’re talking about an actual server request that logs an IP address, executes JavaScript on your page, fires tracking pixels, and triggers analytics events. Crucially, it can register as an “impression” or “visit” in many affiliate tracking systems.
One X user, ILIAS ISM, quickly noticed this. In a now-deleted X post, he simply shared a stream of affiliate links as a test. What happened next? A substantial, albeit phantom, traffic influx, proving the mechanism was indeed active. His follow-up tweets, which I have screenshotted in case they vanish, confirmed the immediate, dramatic impact on his analytics. With over 21,000 followers, his initial post likely had massive reach, and each scroll-through meant a new “visit.”
Beyond the Click: The Technical Loophole for Affiliates
This preloading reality is an affiliate marketer’s dream scenario. Every impression in someone’s feed is now potentially triggering a full page load, running scripts, and firing tracking pixels, all without the user explicitly clicking anything. One analysis of similar prefetching behavior found it can create traffic spikes so significant they can “inadvertently DDOS your site.”
Here’s the beautiful part for those willing to move fast: most affiliate networks aren’t optimizing their fraud detection for this specific scenario yet. Traditional click fraud detection looks for tell-tale signs: multiple clicks from the same IP in rapid succession, bot-like behavior patterns, or clicks without corresponding user engagement. But X’s preloading creates a different, more deceptive signature:
- **Legitimate user IPs:** Because real people are scrolling through their feeds.
- **Natural timing patterns:** These “visits” are spread across genuine viewing sessions.
- **Actual JavaScript execution:** Your page is really loading, albeit in the background.
While cookie-based affiliate tracking might face challenges due to X’s isolated in-app webview, URL parameter-based tracking works beautifully. When X preloads your link, it follows the full redirect chain: t.co wrapper, any URL shortener you’re using, and finally your affiliate link with all parameters intact. That means tracking IDs, campaign codes, and sub-affiliate information all get passed through and logged.
For affiliate marketers using platforms like Impact, ShareASale, or CJ Affiliate with parameter-based tracking, this translates to legitimate-looking traffic that sails through their systems. X has approximately 600 million monthly active users, with 250 million engaging daily. This scale, combined with X’s algorithm changes that have stopped aggressively suppressing external links, creates a perfect storm: higher organic reach, automatic preloading, and tracking systems not yet adjusted.
The Gray-Hat Gold Rush: Strategies & The Ticking Clock
Let’s be honest about what’s happening in certain affiliate marketing circles right now. While we’re not explicitly recommending these tactics, it’s naive to pretend they’re not being discussed – and exploited.
Opportunistic Strategies Being Employed
- **The Volume Play:** Some marketers are reposting the same social media posts all day using scheduling tools. Each view triggers a preload, and with X’s 280-character limit and easy account creation, scaling this approach is trivial.
- **The Engagement Farming:** Create controversial or viral content with your affiliate link embedded. Even people who don’t click but scroll past are generating trackable impressions and driving up those CPM numbers.
- **The Shortlink Maze:** Layer multiple URL shorteners before your affiliate link. Each preload follows the entire redirect chain, potentially triggering tracking events at multiple points and creating even more data points.
- **The Bot-Amplified Scroll:** Given that 66% of links on X are shared by bots, and preloading triggers on view (not click), automated engagement from bots can artificially multiply your preload events exponentially.
Here’s the harsh reality: this won’t last forever. We’re in a temporary arbitrage window. Major factors will eventually shut this down. Affiliate networks will adjust their fraud detection algorithms to filter X-preloaded traffic. X might modify the preloading behavior after privacy concerns escalate – privacy advocates are already raising alarms about preloading exposing user “IP addresses and browsing patterns” without consent. The EU’s GDPR could easily force changes, especially given X’s history of privacy complaints. Ad networks will also catch on that CPM rates need adjustment for traffic that isn’t actively clicked.
But right now, in November 2025, we’re in the sweet spot: the window between “new feature launch” and “systems adapted to prevent exploitation.”
Navigating the New Landscape: Playing By the Rules (or Just Smarter)
For those who prefer staying on the right side of terms of service, there are still massive, legitimate opportunities here. You don’t have to resort to gray-hat tactics to benefit from this unique moment.
Firstly, focus on engagement metrics beyond vanity traffic. While X is sending preloaded visits, track actual conversions, time on page, and scroll depth to identify which of your X traffic is truly engaged. This allows you to optimize your content strategy and landing pages for real, high-value users.
Secondly, use this for brand awareness plays where raw impressions matter. If you’re promoting a SaaS with big commissions, even legitimate click-throughs from this inflated exposure can be lucrative. The sheer volume of eyeballs, even if passively scrolling, builds brand recognition.
Thirdly, leverage the reach boost for content marketing. The preloading feature makes posts with links perform better overall, as X’s data shows posts with links now get “substantial” traffic increases. This means your high-value content, embedded with an affiliate link, has a better chance of being seen and, ultimately, acted upon by genuinely interested users.
Finally, test aggressively. With X’s new UI making it easier for users to engage with posts while browsing links, optimize your landing pages for the unique behavior patterns this creates. Are people scrolling through articles more? Are they consuming short-form video before clicking? Adapt your approach.
Every major platform shift creates a temporary arbitrage opportunity. Remember when Facebook’s News Feed algorithm was easy to game (2010–2012)? Or when Instagram’s hashtag reach was unlimited (2014–2016)? YouTube’s suggested videos could be manipulated (2015–2017), and TikTok’s For You Page was wide open (2019–2020). Early movers made fortunes. Late adopters got scraps. Those who waited for the “perfect moment” missed it entirely.
X’s link preloading is the November 2025 version of those opportunities. The affiliate marketing industry is projected to hit $31 billion by 2031, and right now, a disproportionate amount of that growth is going to marketers who understand what’s actually happening on X.
So here’s the question: Are you going to read this article, think “interesting,” and do nothing? Or are you going to test one X campaign this week and see what happens?
Because by the time everyone else figures this out, the networks will have patched their tracking, X will have adjusted the preloading behavior, and you’ll be kicking yourself for not taking advantage when you had the chance. The gold rush is happening now. Most people don’t even realize the mine exists yet.
Are you testing X campaigns this week? Share your results in the responses. I’m tracking what actually converts.
