Some links here are affiliate or referral links. I may earn a commission if you buy or sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
A tracked link is the whole product. A pretty link that drops the tracking pays nobody, and a cloaked link can break the program's rules. Build it in the program's own tool, then leave the tracking alone.
I'm still learning this. The field names below are the ones on each network's help page on October 27, 2026. Menu labels in a live dashboard can differ. This is not legal advice.
Want the map first? Read How to start affiliate marketing in 2026.
In this article
- Amazon's
/dp/link and SiteStripe, including what I throw away.- The deep-link fields Impact, Rakuten, Awin, and Partnerize document.
- How to test a link, and the sheet columns I keep.
- Where a link belongs in the sentence, and where it does not.
Amazon
- Sign in to Amazon with the customer account tied to Associates, or SiteStripe will not show.
- Open the exact product page. The address contains
/dp/and a 10-character ASIN. - Use SiteStripe's text link and choose the tracking ID you were assigned. On this site that ID is
lfosterphot0c-20. - Keep the long
/dp/ASIN?tag=lfosterphot0c-20form. SiteStripe also offers a short link with your ID already in it. I throw the short one away. A third-party shortener is worse: policies item (w) forbids a shortener that makes it unclear you are linking to Amazon. - For a bounty such as a free-trial landing page, Amazon's public bounty page says to build it in SiteStripe or by adding
?tag=on that program's landing page. That is still not a homepage link, and it is still a (paid link).
Do not add your own utm_ parameters to an Amazon Special Link. I did not find an Associates page that allows it. Amazon's own extra ID is a sub-tag it issues. Do not edit tag, and do not paste an amzn.to link.
The three-sale window, the Site sentence, and the Audible and Kindle Unlimited landing pages are in the Amazon post. I am not repeating the Site sentence in this body. On this page it is the disclosure under the byline.
(SiteStripe help and Program Policies, checked Oct 27, 2026)
A link I would actually paste
The sentence names the product. Then the product name, then "(paid link)", then the full
/dp/address withtag=lfosterphot0c-20. I do not paste the homepage, a search page, or a short link. I do not add a price or a star rating beside it.
That shape is the one I can check in a private window. If the address bar loses tag= after the click, I don't publish it.
Want the Associates rules? Read Amazon Associates basics and rules.
Impact, Rakuten, Awin, and Partnerize
Log in and use that network's link builder. A deep link should open the product page, not the brand's homepage. If the brand's contract forbids deep links, don't make one.
I am naming the tracking fields their own help pages describe, checked Oct 27, 2026. Use the field. Do not invent a second one, and do not rewrite the click ID the network already put on the link.
| Network | What the help page told me to keep | Sub-ID, if the page allows one |
|---|---|---|
| Impact | A deep link adds u= plus the encoded landing-page URL. Copy the ad code from the dashboard so you don't mistype it. A vanity link exists only if that brand allows it. | subId1 is visible to you. A Shared ID is also visible to the brand. |
| Rakuten Advertising | A deep link on click.linksynergy.com/deeplink with your affiliate id, the advertiser mid, and murl as the encoded destination. | u1 is optional, and only if you are enabled for Signature. |
| Awin | A deep link uses awinmid, awinaffid, and ued for the encoded destination. Create the link in Awin's tools when you can. | clickref is the sub-ID. Up to six. The first one is visible to the advertiser. |
| Partnerize | The tracking link is under Creative, then Tracking, and it already contains your camref. The deeplink field is where the specific page goes. | pubref is the publisher reference. |
Sources, all checked Oct 27, 2026:
- Impact deep links and Sub ID
- Rakuten deep links
- What an Awin link looks like and click reference
- Partnerize getting started. I am using that guide's names. The menu labels in a live dashboard can differ by campaign.
Wix, Shopify, Payhip, Buffer, Kit, and Vista Social do not get a tracking URL in this batch. I don't have a working link I'm willing to paste, so the names stay plain text. My own print shops are not affiliate links. Those are labeled "my shop" in the programs post.
Want the list of programs I'm in? Read Affiliate programs and shops I'm exploring.
After the link exists
- Test it in a private window, signed out. You should land on the product, and the address bar should still show the network or Amazon, not an error page.
- Never trim a parameter to "clean up" the URL. That is how a commission disappears.
- Put the link where it helps the sentence you just wrote. A homepage link, a search-results link, or a product the paragraph never mentions is the old mistake.
- Some programs ban shorteners and cloaking. Amazon's ban is in the policies above. For everyone else, read that brand's contract before you wrap the link. A redirect that hides the merchant is the thing to avoid.
- Put "(paid link)" or "#ad" where the reader can see it. The examples are in the disclosure post.
A private-window test has a short sequence. Open a private window. Don't sign in. Paste the full URL. Confirm the product is the one you named. Confirm the tag or the network's click ID is still in the address. If the page errors, or the tag disappeared, don't publish that link.
Want the disclosure words? Read Disclosure rules when you post.
A sheet that replaces my memory
Keep a simple sheet. Columns that have saved me from guessing later:
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date | The day I built the link. |
| Program | Amazon, Impact, Rakuten, Awin, Partnerize, or the direct program. |
| Brand | The merchant, not the network. |
| Product | The thing the sentence recommends. |
| Page on my site | The post URL. |
| Full affiliate URL | The whole link, untrimmed. |
| Where it sits | Blog, caption, bio, or first comment. |
| Disclosure words | The exact phrase I used. |
| Tested in a private window | Yes or no, and the date. |
| Notes | Contract limits, or "plain text until I have a link." |
No earnings belong in that sheet until the program's own report shows them. I don't keep a second copy of my real totals in a blog post.
Where the link should not go
Amazon's policies prohibit offline use: print, an ebook, a mailing, or an oral pitch. Email, SMS, and social direct messages are allowed on that page only when the person opted in. My own rule is simpler. I don't put Amazon links in email, texts, PDFs, ebooks, or print.
A homepage link is still the mistake I am cleaning up in an old audit. A homepage was never a product recommendation. If a stored note says a brand needs written permission before the link is used, I wait for that permission. I don't drop a verification pixel on the live site until I mean to.
Want the stalls behind those rules? Read Warnings: what I ran into.