What Is an Affiliate Disclosure and Where Should You Put It?

An affiliate disclosure tells readers when you have a financial or other material relationship connected to a recommendation.

For an affiliate marketer, that usually means telling readers when you may earn a commission if they purchase something through one of your links.

The idea is simple: readers should understand the relationship before deciding how much weight to give your recommendation.

A disclosure should not be hidden, buried in legal language, or placed somewhere readers are unlikely to notice.

Instead, it should be clear, easy to understand, and positioned where it makes sense in relation to the recommendation or affiliate link.

This article provides general educational information about affiliate disclosures and is not legal advice.

What Is an Affiliate Disclosure?

An affiliate disclosure is a statement explaining that you may receive compensation when someone purchases through a link you provide.

For example, you might write:

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through one of these links, I may earn a commission.

That sentence tells the reader what matters:

• The page contains affiliate links.
• You have a financial relationship connected to those links.
• You may earn money if the reader makes a purchase.

The wording does not have to be complicated.

In fact, plain language is generally easier for readers to understand than formal legal terminology.

Why Do Affiliate Disclosures Matter?

Affiliate marketing creates a financial connection between the publisher making a recommendation and the merchant or company paying the commission.

A reader may evaluate a recommendation differently if they know the publisher could earn money from the purchase.

The Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides guidance explains that material connections that could affect the weight or credibility consumers give an endorsement should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when the relationship is not otherwise obvious.

Affiliate commissions are specifically addressed in the FTC’s guidance.

Disclosure also supports a broader principle that matters beyond compliance: transparency.

If your business model includes recommending products that may pay you a commission, readers should not have to discover that relationship on their own.

What Is a Material Connection?

A material connection is a relationship that could matter to someone evaluating an endorsement or recommendation.

It can include more than a traditional affiliate commission.

Depending on the situation, material connections can include:

• Commission payments
• Direct sponsorship payments
• Free products or services
• Discounted products or services
• Employment relationships
• Business relationships
• Family or personal relationships
• Other benefits connected to the endorsement

The exact circumstances matter.

For a typical affiliate website, however, the most common connection is straightforward: you receive compensation when a reader purchases through your tracked affiliate link.

Where Should an Affiliate Disclosure Go?

The most important placement principle is visibility.

A disclosure should appear somewhere readers are likely to notice it when they encounter the recommendation.

The FTC’s affiliate-marketing guidance says the closer a disclosure is to the recommendation, the better.

For a blog article, a practical approach is often to place a clear disclosure near the beginning of a post that contains affiliate recommendations, before the reader encounters the first meaningful affiliate promotion.

If a long article contains affiliate recommendations much farther down the page, additional disclosure near those recommendations may also make the relationship clearer.

The exact placement can depend on the page layout and how the links are presented.

The key question is:

Will a reasonable reader notice and understand the disclosure before or when they encounter the recommendation?

Do Not Hide the Disclosure on a Separate Page

Many websites have an Affiliate Disclosure, Disclaimer, or Legal page.

Those pages can still be useful.

But a site-wide disclosure page should not be treated as a substitute for a disclosure where the actual endorsement occurs.

The FTC has specifically warned against relying on disclosures buried on an About page, general information page, obscure hyperlink, or another place readers would have to hunt for.

A reader should not need to:

• Search your website for your disclosure policy
• Open your About page
• Read your Terms of Service
• Scroll far beyond the recommendation
• Guess whether a particular link earns you money

Keep the relevant disclosure connected to the relevant content.

Is Saying “Affiliate Link” Enough?

Not necessarily.

The FTC’s guidance specifically notes that consumers may not understand that the phrase affiliate link means the person posting the link may receive money from purchases.

This is why clearer wording is useful.

Instead of writing:

Affiliate link

you could say:

I may earn a commission if you purchase through this link.

The second version explains the financial relationship directly.

Keep Your Disclosure Easy to Understand

A good disclosure should sound like something an ordinary reader can understand immediately.

You generally do not need a paragraph full of technical terminology.

Clear examples might include:

• This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission from purchases made through these links.
• I may receive a commission if you purchase through links in this article.
• Some links on this page are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase.

The appropriate language depends on your actual relationship.

Do not say something that is inaccurate just because it sounds familiar.

Should You Say “At No Extra Cost to You”?

You may see disclosures that say the publisher earns a commission “at no extra cost to you.”

That wording is common, but you should only use it if it is accurate for the arrangement you are describing.

The more important part of the disclosure is making the compensation relationship clear.

A simple statement that you may earn a commission is often easier to understand and avoids adding claims that are not necessary.

Does Every Article Need an Affiliate Disclosure?

No.

An article does not automatically need an affiliate disclosure merely because it appears on an affiliate marketing website.

If a particular article contains no affiliate links, sponsored recommendations, or other material connections that need disclosure, there may be nothing relevant to disclose on that page.

This is why we do not automatically place an affiliate disclosure on every Partner to Wealth article.

For example, a purely educational article explaining how affiliate marketing works does not become a compensated endorsement simply because other parts of the website may use affiliate links.

When an actual affiliate recommendation is added, that is when the relevant relationship needs to be considered.

What About Product Reviews?

Product reviews are one of the most obvious places where disclosures matter.

If you review a product and receive a commission when readers purchase through your links, the reader should be able to understand that relationship.

The disclosure should not be separated so far from the recommendation that the reader is unlikely to connect the two.

This becomes especially important when a review strongly recommends a product or compares multiple options.

Readers should be able to distinguish your editorial opinion from the financial relationship behind the links.

Affiliate Compensation Should Not Control the Recommendation

Disclosure does not make every practice acceptable.

For example, simply telling readers that you receive commissions would not make it appropriate to secretly rank products higher because a company paid for a better position.

Transparency is important, but the underlying recommendation still needs to be truthful and not misleading.

This connects directly with the principles discussed in our guide on writing affiliate content that helps before it sells.

A recommendation should make sense for the reader rather than existing only because the commission is attractive.

Disclosures Do Not Replace Honest Recommendations

A disclosure tells the reader about your relationship.

It does not give you permission to make claims that are false, exaggerated, or unsupported.

If you recommend a product, your content should still accurately explain:

• What the product does
• Who it may be suitable for
• What its important limitations are
• Why you believe it fits the reader’s situation

Choosing an appropriate offer is still part of the process.

Our guide on how to choose an affiliate offer explains why audience fit matters more than simply choosing the highest possible commission.

What About Social Media?

The same basic transparency principle applies when endorsements move away from a traditional blog.

The FTC’s Disclosures 101 guidance says disclosures should be placed where people will see and understand them rather than hidden where users must click or search for the information.

On short-form platforms, the specific presentation may differ from a website because users consume the content differently.

A profile-page disclosure by itself may not adequately disclose the relationship connected to a particular endorsement.

The disclosure should travel with the endorsement rather than depending on someone having seen an earlier explanation.

What About Video Content?

Video creates another placement consideration.

A disclosure only in a video description may not always communicate the relationship to viewers who never open the description.

The FTC’s guidance includes examples where an affiliate relationship should be disclosed in the video and near affiliate links in the description.

The broader lesson is the same:

Do not rely on a disclosure that your audience is unlikely to see.

Do You Need a Disclosure Near Every Single Affiliate Link?

There is no universal rule saying the exact same disclosure must appear immediately beside every link in every possible page design.

The FTC’s affiliate example explains that in some situations a single clear disclosure can be adequate when the disclosure, review, and link remain connected in a way readers can readily understand.

But if the link is separated from the disclosure, the connection can become unclear.

That is why page design matters.

For a long article containing multiple recommendation sections, repeating a concise disclosure where necessary can be clearer than relying on one statement that disappeared several screens earlier.

What Should a Disclosure Look Like?

A disclosure should not be designed to disappear.

Avoid making it:

• Extremely small
• Very low contrast
• Hidden inside unrelated text
• Buried beneath the affiliate link
• Placed behind vague anchor text
• Dependent on readers finding a separate policy page

It does not have to dominate the page.

It simply needs to be noticeable and understandable.

A Simple Affiliate Disclosure Example

For a straightforward affiliate blog article, a concise disclosure might look like this:

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a commission.

That example is intentionally simple.

It explains the financial relationship without requiring the reader to understand affiliate-marketing terminology.

Your final wording should accurately reflect your actual arrangement and any laws or platform requirements that apply to your business.

Do Disclosures Hurt Trust?

A clear disclosure does not have to weaken the relationship with your audience.

Trying to hide compensation may create a much bigger trust problem.

Readers generally understand that websites and creators need ways to support their work.

What matters is whether the relationship is transparent and whether the content remains genuinely useful.

If your article explains the reader’s problem honestly, discusses limitations, and recommends products because they actually fit, a clear disclosure can simply become part of responsible publishing.

Disclosure Is One Part of a Larger Affiliate System

Affiliate disclosures are important, but they are only one piece of an affiliate marketing business.

You still need:

• Useful content
• Relevant traffic
• Appropriate offers
• Clear calls to action
• Accurate tracking
• Responsible follow-up

If your content leads readers into a broader sequence, our guide to building a simple affiliate marketing funnel explains how those pieces can connect.

A Practical Affiliate Disclosure Checklist

Before publishing a page containing affiliate recommendations, ask:

1. Is there a financial or other material relationship readers should know about?
2. Does the disclosure explain that relationship in plain language?
3. Is the disclosure easy to notice?
4. Is it close enough to the recommendation or link that readers will connect them?
5. Would a reader understand that you may receive compensation?
6. Have you avoided relying only on a separate About, Legal, or Disclosure page?
7. Is the recommendation itself truthful and useful?

If those questions have clear answers, you are in a much stronger position than simply placing a vague disclaimer somewhere in the footer and forgetting about it.

Final Thoughts on Affiliate Disclosures

An affiliate disclosure should make your relationship with a merchant or advertiser understandable to the reader.

It does not need to be complicated.

Tell readers when you may earn a commission.

Use straightforward language.

Place the disclosure where it is easy to notice and connected to the recommendation.

Do not assume that readers understand what “affiliate link” means, and do not depend solely on a hidden legal page to explain the relationship.

The goal is simple: give readers the information they need to evaluate your recommendation with the financial relationship clearly in view.