Reference
Affiliate Publishing Glossary
Short definitions of terms used across the guides. Each points to the guide where it matters most.
- Affiliate link
- A link that earns the publisher money when a reader signs up or buys. The FTC treats this as a material connection to disclose. Related: disclosure placement.
- CAP Code
- The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing, applied by the ASA, including to affiliate marketing.
- Clear and conspicuous
- The FTC standard for disclosures: difficult to miss and easily understood; in interactive media, unavoidable.
- Comparison page
- A page that weighs named products on stated criteria. Related: comparison structure.
- First-hand evidence
- Proof from your own use of a product, such as tests, measurements and screenshots, which Google's review guidance asks for.
- GlüStV 2021
- Germany's State Treaty on Gambling, whose § 5 sets advertising rules, including limits on affiliate pay for some products.
- Inducement
- A bonus, credit or other incentive to gamble. Ontario prohibits public advertising of inducements.
- LCCP
- The Gambling Commission's License Conditions and Codes of Practice; social responsibility code 1.1.2 makes licensees responsible for third parties.
- Material connection
- A relationship, such as payment or commission, that could affect how readers weigh an endorsement, and must be disclosed under 16 CFR 255.5.
- Methodology page
- A page that explains criteria, tests and limits behind reviews and comparisons.
- Review hub
- A page that helps readers choose among reviewed products in one market. Related: review hub architecture.
- rel="sponsored"
- The link attribute Google asks sites to use for advertisements or paid placements.
- Scaled content abuse
- Google's term for generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings rather than help users.
- Site reputation abuse
- Google's term for third-party content published on a host site mainly to exploit the host's ranking signals.
- Synthetic demo
- Invented example data, labeled as such, used to show how a tool works.
- Thin affiliation
- Google's term for affiliate content copied from merchants without original content or added value. Related: thin content diagnosis.
- Update log
- A dated list of material changes shown on a page.
- UWG § 5a
- German unfair competition provision; paragraph 4 makes it unfair to hide the commercial purpose of a commercial act.
- Vendor registration
- A process some US state regulators use for businesses, including some affiliates, that serve licensed gambling operators.