01/Blog
Notes onaffiliate links.
Writing on broken links, creator income, and the occasional product update from the lab.
- Compliance
Affiliate disclosure templates you can copy-paste (FTC, EU, UK).
Affiliate disclosure is required across the US, EU, and UK. The exact wording isn't. Here are the per-platform templates that satisfy each jurisdiction's rules, what to avoid, and the disclosure mistakes that get creators fined.
7 min read·Read → - Deep dive
Affiliate sub-IDs explained: how to know which placement actually converts.
Sub-IDs are the single most underused feature in affiliate marketing. They turn a flat commission report into a per-placement attribution map. Here's how they work on Amazon, Awin, ShareASale, Impact, and CJ. Plus how to design a tagging system that actually scales.
9 min read·Read → - Data
Is AI killing affiliate marketing? The 2026 data tells a more interesting story
Wirecutter lost 60% of its Google visibility. 71% of affiliate sites saw rankings drop in March 2026. Yet US affiliate spend is up 11.3% to $13.81B. The full picture from May 2026, with the numbers.
10 min read·Read → - Insight
What ChatGPT shopping queries are doing to affiliate creators.
Shopping queries on ChatGPT grew faster than any other query type in 2025. AI chatbots now perform the same job affiliate creators built businesses around: comparison, recommendation, deal hunting. The click that triggers a commission increasingly never happens. Here's what changed, what you can measure, and what still works.
8 min read·Read → - Deep dive
What the affiliate link checker checks (and why each matters)
Most free checkers only verify HTTP status. That misses 80% of how affiliate links actually fail. A walkthrough of the five checks Affiliyo runs, what each catches, and what still falls through.
8 min read·Read → - Playbook
How to check if your affiliate link works in 30 seconds
A working affiliate link is not the same as a 200-OK page. Five things have to line up at once. The 30-second method using a free tool, plus the manual fallback for when you want to verify by hand.
5 min read·Read → - Compliance
Does YouTube allow affiliate links? Policy + rules
Yes, YouTube allows affiliate links in descriptions, pinned comments, and end-screens. The rules, the disclosure requirements, and what actually gets flagged for spam.
6 min read·Read → - Platform
Pinterest affiliate links: policy + what gets flagged
Pinterest is one of the few large platforms that openly allows direct affiliate links. Pins also live for years, which means rotting links cost you longer here than anywhere else. A complete guide to affiliate links on Pinterest: rules, formats, and how to stop them dying silently.
8 min read·Read → - Insight
Amazon Associates April 2026 policy: what changed, what to fix
Three changes hit hardest: the 180-day qualification rule, reduced onsite halo commissions, stricter original-content rule. What each costs and the fix.
8 min read·Read →