Affiliate disclosure is treated as a legal chore and it is actually a conversion feature, which is the part most people get backwards.
The regulatory position is straightforward. If you earn from a recommendation, the reader has to know before they act on it. That principle is consistent across the major regulators, including the FTC in the United States and the ASA and CMA in the United Kingdom.
The practical position is that clear disclosure increases trust in the rest of the content, because a reader who has been told about your incentive stops wondering about it.
Here is how to do it properly. I am not a lawyer, and for anything unusual you should take advice, but the basics are not complicated.
Quick Info
The Principle Behind All the Rules
Every regulator's guidance reduces to the same test.
Would a reasonable person, before clicking, understand that you get paid if they buy?
If yes, you have disclosed adequately. If they would only find out afterwards, or by scrolling to the footer, or by hovering over something, you have not.
Everything below is a way of satisfying that test in a specific place.
Placement: The Part Most People Get Wrong
Before the first affiliate link, visible without scrolling, in the main content.
What that rules out, all of which I see regularly:
On a review article, that means a line near the top, before the verdict. On a page with a link in the first paragraph, it means before that paragraph.
Wording That Works
Plain, specific, no legalese. The guidance in most jurisdictions is that a consumer must be able to understand it immediately.
What I use, adapted per context:
Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. If you buy through them I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not affect which products I recommend, and I only recommend things I have used.
Three things that sentence does. States the relationship, states there is no cost to the reader, states that the recommendation is not for sale. The third part is the one that converts.
What to avoid: this post may contain affiliate links, because may is evasive and regulators have criticised it. Also avoid abbreviations and jargon. Aff link, sponsored, and hashtag-only disclosures on their own are not sufficient in most guidance.
Platform-Specific Requirements
Your own website
A visible line before the first link in the content, plus a fuller disclosure page linked from it and from the footer.
Disclose in the email itself, before the link. A disclosure on the landing page does not cover the email. Note also that several programmes, including Amazon's, prohibit affiliate links in email entirely, so check the terms.
Social posts
In the post text itself, near the start, not buried after a run of hashtags or hidden behind a more button. Platform disclosure tools are useful and are generally treated as a supplement rather than a substitute.
Video
Spoken early in the video and shown on screen, as well as in the description. Description-only disclosure is repeatedly criticised because most viewers never read it.
Podcasts
Spoken, in the episode, near where the recommendation is made.
The consistent rule across all of these is that the disclosure has to be where the recommendation is, in the same medium.
What Counts as a Material Connection
Broader than most people assume, and worth knowing because it is not only paid links.
If any of these apply, say so. The free product case is the one most often overlooked and it is explicitly covered in guidance.
Why This Helps Rather Than Hurts
The fear is that disclosure reduces clicks. In my experience the opposite happens, and there is a reasonable explanation.
Readers already assume you might be paid. Disclosure does not introduce the suspicion, it resolves it. And by resolving it early, it removes the doubt that would otherwise sit under everything else you say.
There is also a search dimension. Transparency about commercial relationships is part of the trustworthiness assessment that decides whether content is treated as credible at all, which I cover in my E-E-A-T article.
So the honest framing is that disclosure is a trust asset that also happens to be mandatory.
A Ten-Minute Compliance Pass
If you have existing content, this is the whole job.
That last item is the one that keeps it done. Compliance that depends on remembering will fail eventually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Before the first affiliate link, visible without scrolling, in the main content. Footer disclosures and separate pages alone do not satisfy the guidance.
It is weak wording and has been criticised for being evasive. State the relationship plainly rather than saying it may exist.
Yes. A free product or an extended trial provided for review is a material connection and needs disclosing just like commission.
Generally not on their own. The disclosure should be in the post text, near the start, understandable without opening a more button.
Legally you can with disclosure in the email itself, but several programmes including Amazon's prohibit it in their terms. Check before you do.
In practice it tends to help. Readers already suspect an incentive; disclosing it early resolves the doubt rather than creating it.
Before You Go
One sentence, above the first link, in plain words, on every platform. Then put it in your publishing checklist so you never think about it again.
My disclosure wording, the full disclosure page template and the compliance checklist are in the resources section.
For anything unusual, take proper legal advice. This is guidance from practice, not from a solicitor.
Say it before the link, Tariq
I'm a marketing consultant, entrepreneur and content creator. I help businesses grow through practical marketing, websites, SEO, content and AI.
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