Affiliate
A person or organisation that promotes an advertiser and may earn a commission when an agreed action occurs.
#Affiliate marketing A–Z
Learn the language behind the revenue.
Plain-English definitions for affiliate partnerships, advertising, tracking, creator commerce and publisher monetisation. The vocabulary can sound more complicated than the underlying ideas, so every definition focuses first on what the term means in ordinary day-to-day work.
Use the search when you meet an unfamiliar expression in a contract, report or platform demonstration. Then return to the surrounding decision: who is paid, which event is measured, what data is used and which person carries the risk when the expected outcome does not happen.
51 definitions
A
Affiliate link
A trackable URL that identifies the referring partner and attributes eligible clicks or conversions.
#Affiliate network
An intermediary platform connecting advertisers and publishers while supporting tracking, reporting and payments.
#Advertiser
The brand or merchant funding a campaign, affiliate programme or paid placement.
#Attribution
The rules used to assign credit for a conversion across one or more marketing touchpoints.
#B
Banner
A visual advertising asset supplied in standard or responsive sizes for placement on a website or app.
#Brand bidding
Paid-search activity in which affiliates bid on an advertiser’s brand terms, subject to programme rules.
#C
Chargeback
The reversal of a previously recorded sale or commission after a refund, cancellation or invalid transaction.
#Click ID
A unique identifier attached to a click so that later events can be matched to the original visit.
#Commission
The amount paid to a partner for an approved sale, lead, click or other agreed outcome.
#Conversion
A completed action that has business value, such as a sale, subscription, lead or app install.
#Conversion rate
The percentage of visitors or clicks that complete the target action.
#Cookie
A small browser value that may store identifiers or preferences; its use can be subject to consent rules.
#CPA
Cost per action or acquisition: spend divided by the number of approved target actions.
#CPC
Cost per click: the price paid for each recorded click.
#CPL
Cost per lead: the price paid for each lead meeting the agreed validation criteria.
#CPM
Cost per mille: the price paid for one thousand ad impressions.
#Creative
Any approved promotional asset, including banners, copy, product images, video or landing-page modules.
#D
Deep link
A link that sends a user to a specific product, category or in-app destination rather than a homepage.
#Deduplication
The process of preventing the same conversion from being credited to multiple channels or partners.
#Disclosure
A clear statement informing an audience that content contains advertising, sponsorship or affiliate links.
#Display advertising
Visual ads delivered across websites or apps in standard, responsive, native or rich-media formats.
#E
EPC
Earnings per click: commission revenue divided by the number of clicks, often shown as an average.
#F
First-party data
Information collected directly by an organisation through its own audience relationships and properties.
#Flat fee
A fixed payment for a placement, deliverable or campaign, independent of tracked performance.
#Frequency cap
A rule limiting how often the same user is shown an advertisement within a defined period.
#G
Geo-targeting
Restricting or adapting a campaign according to a user’s country, region or other location signal.
#I
Impression
A recorded instance of an advertisement or creative being served.
#Incrementality
The additional outcomes caused by a marketing activity beyond what would likely have happened anyway.
#Influencer marketing
Commercial collaboration with creators who communicate to an established audience.
#L
Landing page
The destination page designed to receive campaign traffic and encourage a specific action.
#Last-click attribution
A model assigning conversion credit to the final eligible marketing click before the action.
#Lead
A person or organisation that has expressed interest and supplied information for follow-up.
#Lifetime value
The estimated net value generated by a customer over the duration of the relationship.
#N
Native advertising
Paid content designed to fit the format and experience of the surrounding publisher environment.
#O
Offer
The commercial proposition, commission and rules made available to eligible partners.
#P
Partner
A broad term covering affiliates, creators, publishers, referrers, resellers and technology integrations.
#Payout threshold
The minimum approved balance required before a platform releases a payment.
#Performance marketing
Marketing in which spending and optimisation are linked to measurable outcomes.
#Postback
A server-to-server message that reports a conversion or status change without relying only on browser storage.
#Publisher
A website, app, media owner or creator that distributes content and can monetise audience attention.
#R
Referral programme
A system rewarding customers or advocates for introducing new users or buyers.
#Revenue share
A commission calculated as a percentage of eligible revenue.
#ROAS
Return on ad spend: attributed revenue divided by advertising spend.
#ROI
Return on investment: net return compared with the total cost of the activity.
#S
Sub-affiliate
A partner that operates its own network of traffic sources or publishers under a primary account.
#T
Tracking pixel
A small resource request used to report page views or events; deployment may require consent.
#Tracking window
The period after an eligible interaction during which a conversion may be attributed.
#U
UTM parameters
URL parameters commonly used to label campaign source, medium, campaign, term and content in analytics.
#V
Validation period
The time during which an advertiser reviews conversions before approving or rejecting commission.
#Viewability
A measurement of whether an ad had a reasonable opportunity to be seen on screen.
#No definition matches your search.
Put the terms to work
Move from vocabulary to a practical revenue plan.
Knowing the words makes it easier to compare offers, question a report and explain a decision to colleagues or partners. The next step is to connect those definitions to a real audience, budget and operating process.