Affiliate Marketing Glossary

Introduction

Affiliate marketing is a cornerstone of modern online monetization, enabling creators, publishers, and businesses to earn commissions by promoting products and driving sales through tracked referral links. Among the many affiliate ecosystems, Amazon Associates stands out as one of the largest and most accessible programs—allowing anyone to link to millions of products worldwide and earn from qualifying purchases. However, as audiences increasingly span multiple countries, link localization has become crucial to ensure each visitor is redirected to the correct regional Amazon store, maximizing both user experience and affiliate revenue. This glossary provides a comprehensive overview of key concepts, technologies, and practices that underpin affiliate marketing.

Core Affiliate Marketing Terms

Affiliate Marketing – A performance-based marketing model where publishers (affiliates) earn commissions by promoting products or services and generating sales or actions through tracked referral links.

Affiliate – An individual or organization that promotes a company’s products in exchange for commissions on resulting sales or actions.

Merchant / Advertiser – The company that offers products or services and runs an affiliate program (e.g., Amazon).

Affiliate Network – A platform that connects affiliates with merchants and manages tracking, reporting, and payments (e.g., Awin, CJ Affiliate, Impact).

Affiliate Program – A specific program offered by a merchant for affiliates to promote its products (e.g., Amazon Associates).

Commission – The percentage or fixed amount an affiliate earns from each sale or qualifying action.

Conversion – When a referred user completes the desired action, such as a purchase or signup.

Referral – A visitor who reaches the merchant site via an affiliate’s link.

Cookie / Tracking Cookie – A small file placed in the user’s browser to track clicks and attribute sales to the correct affiliate.

Cookie Duration / Attribution Window – The period during which a sale is credited to the affiliate after a click (e.g., Amazon’s standard is 24 hours).

Payout Threshold – The minimum amount an affiliate must earn before a payment is issued.

🛒 Amazon Affiliate–Specific Terms

Amazon Associates Program – Amazon’s official affiliate marketing program that lets participants earn commissions by linking to Amazon products.

ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) – A unique 10-character identifier for every product on Amazon. It’s essential for building and localizing affiliate links.

Amazon Storefront / Marketplace – Each regional version of Amazon (e.g., amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.de). Users must sign up for each region separately if they want to earn commissions there.

Tracking ID / Associate Tag – The unique identifier Amazon gives each affiliate (e.g., yourtag-20). It’s appended to links to track commissions.

Affiliate Link / Product Link – A URL containing your tracking ID that points to an Amazon product. Example:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XYZ1234?tag=yourtag-20

Native Shopping Ads – Amazon’s responsive ad units that display recommended products automatically.

Bounty Program – Fixed commission offers for specific signups or services (e.g., earning a set fee when a user signs up for Amazon Prime).

OneLink – Amazon’s internal solution for link localization and cross-region affiliate tracking.

SiteStripe – A tool Amazon provides on its site for Associates to easily create affiliate links directly from product pages.

Reporting Dashboard – The Amazon Associates console section showing clicks, conversions, and earnings.

🌍 Link Localization Terms

Link Localization – The process of automatically directing users to the correct Amazon store based on their location (e.g., sending UK visitors to amazon.co.uk). This is usually done through services like Linkfuse, Geniuslink and Affilimate.

Geo-Targeting / Geo-Redirection – Detecting a user’s location via IP address and routing them to the appropriate regional Amazon marketplace.

Cross-Store Linking – Connecting affiliate links from multiple Amazon programs (e.g., U.S., U.K., Germany) so international visitors generate commissions for the correct account.

Fallback URL – A default link used when localization fails or the product isn’t available in a user’s region.

Localization Mapping / ASIN Matching – Matching product identifiers (ASINs) across different regional Amazon stores to ensure users are sent to the equivalent local product.

International Commission Tracking – Tracking and attributing affiliate sales across multiple regional programs.

Link Shortener – A service that compresses and beautifies long affiliate URLs while maintaining tracking. Some localization tools provide built-in short links.

Deep Link – An affiliate link that points to a specific product or page, not just the homepage.

⚙️ Technical & Tracking Concepts

Click Tracking – The process of recording every click on affiliate links for reporting and analysis.

Subtag / Sub-ID / Campaign Tag – Custom tracking parameters appended to affiliate links for internal tracking (e.g., identifying which campaign or placement generated the sale).

Server-to-Server (S2S) Tracking – Tracking affiliate conversions without relying on browser cookies, often used for mobile or API-based flows.

API Integration – Using Amazon’s Product Advertising API (PA API) to retrieve product data, pricing, and localized URLs programmatically.

Impression – A single view of an ad or link by a visitor.

CTR (Click-Through Rate) – The ratio of link clicks to impressions, showing how effectively links attract clicks.

EPC (Earnings Per Click) – Average earnings generated per click on an affiliate link.

Attribution – The method by which a sale or action is credited to a specific affiliate link.

💡 Optimization and Compliance

Disclosure Statement – A mandatory notice informing users that you earn commissions from affiliate links (required by Amazon and law in many regions).

FTC Compliance – Refers to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s rules requiring affiliates to disclose their relationships with merchants.

A/B Testing – Testing variations of affiliate links, placements, or copy to optimize conversions.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) – Techniques to increase the percentage of visitors who convert through affiliate links.

Broken Link / Out-of-Stock Handling – Detecting unavailable products and redirecting users to alternatives or local equivalents.

Dynamic Link Replacement – Automatically replacing outdated or broken affiliate links with working or localized versions.

Localization Platform / Affiliate Link Manager – Third-party services (like Geniuslink, Affilimate, or Sovrn //Commerce) that handle link localization, tracking, and analytics.

Influencer Marketing – A form of affiliate marketing where creators earn by promoting products to their audience.

Content Monetization – Earning revenue from blog posts, videos, or social content through affiliate links.

CPA (Cost Per Action) – Commission model where affiliates earn when users take a specific action (e.g., signup, purchase).

CPS (Cost Per Sale) – The standard model where commissions are paid only on completed purchases.

CPC (Cost Per Click) – A less common model in affiliate marketing where affiliates earn for every click rather than sale.

Product Feed – A structured dataset (usually XML/CSV) containing product details for affiliates to use in listings or comparison sites.

Affiliate Disclosure Tool – A plugin or feature that helps automatically insert disclosure notices into posts or pages.

Monetized Link Checker – A tool that audits your site to ensure all affiliate links are working and properly tagged.