If you’re an Amazon shopper, you’ve probably noticed that some links to products on Amazon are affiliate links. These special links allow the person who created them to earn a commission on any sales they generate. While there’s nothing wrong with using affiliate links, you might not want to click on them if you’re trying to support a specific seller or Amazon itself. So how can you tell if a link is an affiliate link?
Don’t worry you are in the right place. This article brings you everything you need to know about Amazon affiliate links. Let’s take a look.
What Do You Need To Know About An Affiliate Link?
An affiliate link is a link that points you to a product or service from Amazon. You must click on the link to purchase the product or service. The Amazon link will usually have a green checkmark next to it, and the product or service will be listed in the Amazon search results.
Typically, an affiliate link refers to products sold through Amazon, but it can also refer to products available through other online retailers.
When you click on an affiliate link, you’ll then proceed to a page where you can enter your information about the product you’re interested in. In addition, indicate whether you want to become an affiliate for this product or not. If you choose to become an affiliate for this product, you’ll get additional information about how the link works and what benefits you’ll receive.
How Does An Affiliate Link Look Like?
An Amazon affiliate link typically look like this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0073RVZ1O.
The /gp is the affiliate marker, and it’s what you need to look for to determine if a link is an affiliate link. If the /gp isn’t present, it’s not an affiliate link. However, even if it is present, there could still be other issues with how Amazon handles its affiliate program.
How To Tell If Amazon Link Is Affiliate
There are a few things to determine if an Amazon link is an affiliate link. One is the presence of a tag in the URL. Another is the use of a redirecting service. And finally, you can check the page’s source code to check if there are any clues. This applies to beginners looking to earn from amazon affiliates.
If you notice a tag in the URL, the link is likely an affiliate link. A tag is typically a string of characters that identify the affiliate. For example, in this URL:
The “tag” is everything after the “?” mark. In this case, it’s my “myaffiliate.” This particular tag tells Amazon that traffic coming from this link should be credited to “myaffiliate.”
If you don’t see a tag in the URL, the link may still be an affiliate link. Some affiliates use redirecting services to disguise their links. A common one is bitly.com. If you see a bitly link, it’s a good bet that it’s an affiliate link.
To be sure, you can always check the page’s source code. Just right-click on the page and select “View Page Source.” Then search (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) for “amazon”. If you see any links that include “amazon” in them, those are most likely affiliate links.
Problems Related To Affiliate Links
Just like any other passive income ways, affiliate links have their problems. These are; reliability, incentive, and disclosure.
Reliability
Sometimes, you can’t be sure if the affiliate link will stay active. The merchant may terminate the affiliate program at any time without notice. Furthermore, if I did as mentioned above, my opinion would be very biased depending on the commission I intend to receive.
Incentive
If I create a post about ten fantastic headwear and strongly endorse one hat over the others. Do I do it because I genuinely like the hat? Or am I doing it because I will receive a commission if someone buys the hat through my link? This is one problem worth considering.
Disclosure
Basically, disclosure is all about transparency. You often find a website stating that some links are affiliate links, and the website owner may receive a commission if you buy a product via their links. In that case, your trust as a reader shoots up. Typically, you will be aware that whatever product the website is promoting or recommending may have additional benefits for the owner.
How To Look For Affiliate Links On Amazon Product Pages
If you don’t want to look at the URL of every Amazon product you come across; you can also check the product page itself to check if there are any affiliate links. Here are a few things to look for:
The “Sell On Amazon” button – If there is a “Sell On Amazon” button, then it is an affiliate link.
Amazon Associates program information – If there is a disclosure about the Amazon Associates program and commission rates, it is an affiliate link.
For more information about telling if an Amazon link is an affiliate link, check out this article from Beating Broke. Beating Broke also has some great tips on what to do if you find that your site contains unapproved affiliate links.
How Do Websites Hide Their Affiliates?
The most common way to hide an affiliate is by using a URL shortener like bit.ly or goo.gl. These services allow you to take a long URL and turn it into a shorter one.
This makes it harder to tell that the link is an affiliate link. Some people also use special characters or spaces in their links to make them look less like affiliate links.
These methods make it more difficult to tell if a link is an affiliate link, but there are still ways to figure it out.
How To Check Cloaked Amazon Affiliate Links
Cloaking is a technique that spammers can use to avoid detection by search engines and webmasters. Cloaking is the practice of presenting different content to human users than what is shown to web spiders. You can do this by using JavaScript or by having two separate versions of a page, one for human visitors and another for search engine robots (or “spiders”).
The purpose of cloaking is to make it more difficult for a search engine to detect an affiliate link on a webpage. Cloaking is not allowed under the Amazon Associates Program. The only exception is using a graphics program (such as Photoshop) or other software application that automatically generates an affiliate link when uploading an image containing text (such as your website address). Amazon pays out commissions based on customers who click through your links, so they must be easy to find and read.
