Measurement
Affiliate tracking, consent and commercial disclosure
Principles for measurable partnerships with documented attribution, proportionate data use and clear disclosure to users.
Before you begin
Reliable measurement begins with a shared description of what the system is supposed to record. Advertisers, publishers and technical providers should be able to follow the same journey from an eligible interaction to an approved conversion and understand where data is stored, changed or removed.
Compliance is not a label added after implementation. It affects the design of tracking, consent choices, partner instructions, disclosures and retention from the beginning. The principles below are practical preparation, but organisations should obtain qualified advice for the technologies and countries they actually use.
1. Map the complete data flow
List the advertiser, publisher, network and technical providers involved. Document the identifiers, event data, purposes, storage periods and transfers associated with every step.
2. Define attribution explicitly
Document the eligible interaction, attribution window, channel priority, promo-code rules, deduplication and validation logic. Partners should be able to understand why commission was approved or rejected.
3. Apply consent rules to the actual technology
The applicable requirements depend on the technology, purpose and countries involved. Identify storage and access that require consent, prevent activation when required and preserve evidence of user choices. Obtain qualified legal advice for your implementation.
4. Make commercial relationships clear
Publishers and creators should disclose advertising, sponsorship and affiliate relationships in a prominent, understandable way appropriate to the content format and market.
5. Minimise and secure data
Collect only what is required, restrict access, protect transfers, define retention and incident procedures, and review processors and sub-processors.
6. Audit both acceptance and refusal paths
Test tags, postbacks, server events, consent choices, transaction corrections and deletion workflows. Repeat the audit after platform, policy or implementation changes.
This guide is designed to help you ask better questions and organise a practical plan. It is educational and does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice. Platform rules, market conditions, technical capabilities and eligibility requirements can change, sometimes with little notice. Confirm material decisions with current official sources and, where the consequences matter, with qualified professionals who understand your market and organisation.