Glossary
302 redirect
An HTTP response that sends the visitor to another URL and marks the move as temporary. Affiliate /go/ links use it, or its sibling 307, because the destination will change and nothing should remember the old one.
Also called: 302 Found, temporary redirect, HTTP 302.
The server answers with status 302 and a Location header, and the browser follows it. A 301 says the move is permanent: browsers may cache it and keep sending returning visitors to an old destination after you edit the link, and Google uses it as a signal that the target should be the canonical page. With 302 or 307, Google follows the redirect without treating the target as canonical.
A 307 is the strict form of 302: the browser must repeat the same request method, which matters for forms, not for ordinary clicks. 308 is its permanent counterpart. Check your plugin's settings instead of assuming: ThirstyAffiliates, for example, ships with 302 as the global default, offers 301 and 307, and lets a single link override the global setting. For a link whose destination you plan to swap, temporary is the right setting.
Related terms: Redirect, Link cloaking, Canonical URL, Tracker, rel="sponsored".