Every affiliate site needs a disclosure. Most have one somewhere. Far fewer have one that would survive scrutiny, because the requirement isn't "mention it somewhere" — it's "clear and conspicuous, close to the claim".
The rule in one sentence
If you have a financial relationship with a product you're recommending, you must disclose it clearly, in a place people will actually see it, before they act on the recommendation.
That's the FTC's Endorsement Guides in the US. The UK's CAP Code and ASA guidance say much the same, as do consumer protection rules across the EU, Canada and Australia. The specifics differ; the principle doesn't.
What "clear and conspicuous" means in practice
The FTC has been unusually explicit about what fails:
Placement. The disclosure must be near the link or recommendation, not only in a footer, an "about" page, or behind a "more" toggle. If a reader can click your link without having seen it, it's not conspicuous.
Prominence. Same font size and colour contrast as the surrounding text. Grey 10px italics at the bottom of the page is a well-recognised way of failing this.
Language. Plain, unambiguous words. "I earn a commission if you buy through my links" works. "This post may contain affiliate links" is weaker — "may" undercuts it. Terms like "affiliated", "sp", "collab", or a bare "#ad" buried in hashtags have all been called out as inadequate.
Every platform, every format. Video needs it spoken and on screen, not only in the description. Audio needs it read aloud. Social posts need it in the post, not in a reply or a linked bio.
Unavoidable. Disclosure after the affiliate link, or below the fold, is too late.
What a compliant setup looks like
A dedicated disclosure page explaining the relationship in full. This is the reference document, not the disclosure itself.
An inline notice near the recommendation on any page carrying affiliate links — above the first link, in normal body text.
A footer line on every page, linking to the full page. Useful reinforcement; not sufficient alone.
Consistency. If some pages disclose and others don't, the pattern reads as deliberate concealment.
Wording that works
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We earn a commission on purchases made through links on this page. This does not affect which products we recommend or how we rank them — see our full disclosure.
Both are short, plain, and state the money relationship without hedging. Avoid legalese; the standard is what an ordinary reader understands.
The technical side
Search engines expect monetised outbound links to be marked in the HTML:
rel="sponsored"for affiliate and paid linksrel="nofollow"as a general "don't pass ranking signal"rel="noopener"for security on any link opening a new tab
These are not a substitute for a visible disclosure — they're for crawlers, not readers. You need both. Unmarked affiliate links are a link scheme violation under Google's spam policies, and sites have lost rankings over it.
What happens if you don't
Regulators. FTC enforcement has historically focused on advertisers and large influencers rather than small publishers, but the exposure is real and penalties can be substantial.
Networks. Missing disclosures breach the terms of most affiliate networks. Termination means losing accrued commissions, not just future ones.
Search. Undisclosed affiliate links are treated as manipulative. Manual actions happen.
Readers. The most underrated cost. Disclosure signals confidence; concealment, once noticed, destroys the trust that made the recommendation valuable.
The counterintuitive part
Publishers worry that disclosure suppresses conversions. The evidence suggests the opposite, or at worst no effect. Readers broadly assume review sites are monetised; saying so plainly reads as honesty rather than confession.
What damages conversion isn't disclosing the relationship — it's content that reads as though the ranking was bought. Disclose clearly, then rank things honestly, and both problems disappear.
A note on this site
We list affiliate programs, so it's fair to ask about our own position: as of today we're not enrolled in any of the programs listed here and we don't link out to them, so we earn nothing from this site. If that changes we'll say so here and in the footer before any affiliate link goes live. Our full disclosure has the details.