Affiliate links are a powerful way to monetize your content, but the difference between authentic recommendations and questionable marketing tactics lies in one key factor—transparency.
With 57 percent of consumers naming transparency as the most important value they look for in an influencer, it’s clear why proper affiliate link disclosures matter. It’s not just a legal requirement—it’s a tool for building trust and loyalty.
An affiliate link disclosure tells your audience, “Hey, besties! If you click this link, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost!” It’s a small step that makes a big impact. That said, not all disclosures are created equal.
Whether you’ve landed your first affiliate partnership or your hundredth, this guide can help you craft clear and effective disclosures.
Key takeaways from this blog
- Affiliate link disclosures inform an audience about a content creator’s commissions for promoting a product or service.
- The FTC requires affiliate disclosure statements.
- Failing to disclose an affiliate link could result in fines and penalties.
- Clear, straightforward language is best when stating an affiliate disclosure.
- Over-disclosing is better than under-disclosing.
Table of contents:
- Why you need an affiliate disclosure
- How to create an affiliate disclosure in three steps
- Where to display affiliate disclosures
- Unique affiliate link disclosure examples you can steal
Why you need an affiliate link disclosure
An affiliate link disclosure informs your audience that you receive a commission for promoting a product or service. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires them to protect consumers from deceptive marketing practices.
Under the FTC Endorsement Guidelines, your audience must know your relationship with any brand you recommend.
For example, if you write a blog post about a weight loss supplement and you don’t mention that you receive a commission when readers make a purchase, that’s deceptive marketing.
Source: Prefinery
Think of affiliate link disclosures as your friend who keeps you honest, transparent, and compliant. They help ward off legal woes such as fines and penalties, which can reach thousands of dollars for non-compliance.
Without a disclosure, your audience might feel duped by deceptive endorsements, losing their trust and jeopardizing your credibility.
Source: The State of Influencer Marketing for Consumers
How to create an affiliate link disclosure in 3 steps
Jumping into the influencing world, you might not have thought about the specific regulations regarding brand suggestions. The good news is that the FTC doesn’t require complicated legal jargon for affiliate disclosures.
Here’s how to create a clear and compliant affiliate link disclosure.
1. Use clear, simple language
When disclosing affiliate links, keep it clear and straightforward. Your audience should immediately understand that you’re working with a brand.
Use direct phrases such as “This post contains affiliate links” or “I receive a commission when you purchase through these links.” Tell the reader you get paid if someone buys a product using the link or you’ve been compensated for your recommendations.
You can also use hashtags in your social media posts, such as #ad, #sponsored, or #affiliatelink. However, hashtags aren’t enough to keep you FTC-compliant. Think of them as a supplement to your disclosure.
Avoid complicated language, vague terms, or defensive or apologetic tones. Saying, “I hate to add these links, but the FTC requires it,” undermines your trust and credibility.
2. Audit all your sponsored content
Now that you have your disclosure written, it’s time to apply it to your content backlog.
Review your content regularly so you don’t accidentally mislead your audience. This means tracking where you’ve posted affiliate links and checking your copy to ensure it meets FTC guidelines.
The easiest way to stay organized is to track your affiliate content using content management systems, spreadsheets, or auditing tools.
A database makes it easy to maintain a list of:
- Active affiliate programs
- Affiliate marketers
- Sponsored partners
Periodic audits help you stay ahead of evolving requirements. By monitoring where your disclosures appear, you can easily update them when policies change.
3. Display your disclosures in the appropriate places
The FTC provides clear guidance on where you should display your disclosure messages. The closer the disclosure of the affiliate products and recommendations, the better.
Putting your disclosure near your suggestions makes it harder to miss, keeping you clear of any claims of deceptive marketing.
Depending on your content, there are several ways to disclose to your audience appropriately.
Adding #affiliatelink or #ad to your descriptions and captions on social media posts is best. Put them at the beginning of your tags for maximum visibility. Don’t bury the mention in a block of tags. You should pair this with a statement about your brand affiliation to cover your bases.
In a blog post, add “This is an affiliate link” in parentheses after the recommendation or product mention. For long-form blog posts, sprinkle reminders of your disclosures throughout the text to be safe.
Where to display affiliate disclosures on every channel
You must add a disclosure to every platform where you share affiliate links.
However, each channel may have its own disclosure rules. Review them regularly to stay compliant with terms of service agreements.
Here’s how to best display affiliate disclosures across different platforms.
Blogs and websites
If you suggest a product or service on your blog and receive a commission, add your disclosure wherever it’s mentioned.
For maximum clarity, place the disclosure as close to your affiliate links as possible, preferably within the same paragraph.
You can also add a dedicated disclosure to other visible places on your website, such as:
- Sidebar
- Footer
- Header
- Privacy policy
- Dedicated affiliate disclosure page
The more often–and naturally–you can mention your affiliate partnerships, the better.
Clara Pierce places an overt disclosure on her blog’s links and discounts page, among other places on the website.
YouTube
When you upload a video to YouTube, you must indicate if it promotes sponsored content. To stay in line with YouTube’s Terms of Services, you must check the “paid promotion” box.
Clearly disclose your affiliation with the brand if you work a recommendation into a video. Here’s how:
- Verbally mention your affiliate relationship during the video.
- Use the timestamps to call out the disclosure in the video markers
- Include it in the video description
Doing all three, plus checking the paid promotion box when you upload your video, keeps you compliant while building trust with your audience.
YouTube’s Shopping feature—currently released to a limited number of creators—keeps videos compliant by automatically adding a disclaimer to shoppable feeds, such as the one seen in Cassandra Bankson’s video.
TikTok
Like YouTube, TikTok has a disclosure setting you must turn on if you’re promoting an affiliate partnership. Failing to do so may prompt TikTok to remove your post due to violations of its Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, and Branded Content Policy.
To stay in line with the FTC:
- Turn on the TikTok disclosure setting
- Add your affiliate disclosure to each post with hashtags
- Include your disclosure link in your bio
Being upfront with your audience means they won’t have to wonder if you’re honest about your recommendations.
TikToker @brianneboston regularly incorporates TikTok Shop products into her content, automatically generating an affiliate disclosure.
Like other platforms, Facebook requires users to disclose affiliate partnerships. Failing to do so violates the Terms of Service and can jeopardize your account.
Add clear, simple language to your posts, such as “This is an affiliate link.”
Meta platforms, including Instagram, offer some creators a paid partnership label for affiliate and sponsored content.
- Tap “Earn money”
- Insert your affiliate link
- Toggle on the paid partnership label and follow the instructions to share your post.
The label makes it clear to your audience that clicking the link in the post earns you a commission.
Melody Lane Inspired always includes clear affiliate disclosures in her product posts, ensuring complete transparency.
You can also turn the “paid partnership label” on your Instagram posts.
Like Facebook, you must enable the partnership label to remain in good standing with Meta’s Terms of Service.
To stay compliant, label all affiliate recommendations in your posts and stories by:
- Adding copy like “This is a sponsored post” to the post’s description
- Using hashtags like #sponsored, #ad, #affiliatelink
- Add a short statement to your bio
Instagrammers Nikki Shore and Dr. Nicolet Hernandez clearly label their content #ad into their Stories and Reels, making it clear to their audience upfront.
X
Like every major platform, X (formerly Twitter) requires you to disclose affiliate partnerships. However, unlike Meta and YouTube, X does not offer built-in paid partnership labels.
Instead, X’s Paid Partnership Policy states you must include “#ad” to your posts recommending a product or service.
Using straightforward language, like “This is an affiliate link,” helps your audience immediately understand your relationship with the brand you’re promoting and keeps you compliant with X’s policies.
X creator Wario64 incorporates an overarching affiliate link disclosure into their bio.
Unique affiliate link disclosure examples you can steal
Clarity is the most important thing to remember when creating disclosures. Your audience should instantly understand your ties to the brand.
A simple statement, such as, “This post contains affiliate links. If you click the link, I earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you.” keeps things honest and transparent.
That said, personality is everything. If you keep it simple, you can still sprinkle your unique voice into your disclosures, strengthening your personal brand while meeting FTC requirements.
Here are a few unique examples you can use as inspiration.
1. Authentically Emmie
Emmie, a fashion blogger, adds her disclosure agreements at the beginning of her blog posts.
Her disclosure message reads:
Disclosure: I’m not being compensated for this post, but the items were gifted by Lane Bryant for a sponsored Instagram post. There are affiliate links in this post – this means that if you click through and order anything through them, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. These commissions help me continue my work here, and I greatly appreciate the support!
Emmie’s tone is confident and appreciative—not defensive or apologetic. She expresses genuine gratitude to her readers who click her affiliate links.
2. Natalie Drue
Natalie Drue shows how to clearly and causally disclose affiliate links on YouTube. In the video’s description, she shares links to each product she uses in the video with a clear disclosure message that reads:
** some links listed may be affiliate links. while they cost you nothing to use, they may provide me a small commission. i appreciate if you use them. 🙂 **
Although this notice doesn’t specify which links are affiliate links, her audience understands that clicking the links supports her in some way.
Natalie keeps it casual by using lowercase letters and a smiley face. Although disclosing her affiliation is serious business, keeping it casual and expressing her gratitude builds trust and makes it feel more authentic.
3. Outdoor Girl
Outdoor Girl is an excellent example of how to disclose affiliate links. Her blog posts feature a dropdown menu to inform readers that she may benefit when they use her links.
Her message reads:
Links with an * may help pay for this website.
If you click a link with an * and buy from a company’s website, I may receive a small payment, at no extra cost to you.
This is what helps me fund the Outdoor Girl site, and keeps it free to use with no annoying pop up adverts.
There are a couple of crucial things you need to know about this:
- It never impacts my content or recommendations. If it’s in, it’s something I genuinely think will be helpful
- I only link to other sites that I like, know, or trust (ones that I would be happy to use myself)
- There will be no extra cost to you if you buy via one of these links
For a more detailed explanation, please see my policy on affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links.
She also links to a dedicated affiliate disclosure page that explains how the commissions she earns from her partnerships support her website.
The Outdoor Girl’s disclosure may be longer, but she packs in a lot of helpful information. She explains that she earns commissions from the links and walks her audience through how she chooses each brand. She shows she only suggests products she uses herself, so her audience knows they won’t get duped.
It provides a complete picture of her standards, further building that valued sense of trust and transparency.
Outdoor Girl uses disclaimers throughout her website, including on each blog post that includes affiliate links.
Affiliate link disclosures lay the foundation of trust and transparency
Affiliate link disclosures are a must for influencers. They promote openness about your relationship with the brands you work with, build trust, and maintain compliance with FTC regulations.
Just remember: it’s better to over-mention your affiliate partnerships than under-mention. And the more transparent you can be, the better.
Keep learning with these additional resources:
- How to earn big with affiliate marketing for influencers with Maryandpalettes (blog)
- Creator’s guide: 6 best places to share affiliate links for maximum earnings (blog)
- Hybrid payments: A path to higher-paying brand sponsorships for creators (blog)
FAQS
An affiliate disclosure informs your audience that you receive a commission when they click on the product or service links you share. It helps create transparency, clarify your relationship with a brand, and remain compliant with the FTC.
Yes, you must disclose affiliate links to your audience. The FTC requires influencers to make their affiliate marketing partnerships clear.
You can write a disclosure for affiliate links by stating, “This is an affiliate link. If you click the link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost.”
Yes, you must disclose affiliate links on Instagram. You can use hashtags to disclose your partnerships by placing them at the beginning of your tags. When you use hashtags, you should also clearly state your affiliation in your description.
You can also turn on the “paid partnership” label in your account settings. However, taking the extra steps to disclose your affiliate links in your posts keeps you compliant.
The FTC rules likely apply to you, even if you’re located outside the United States. If your content or sponsorships target a U.S. audience, disclosure is still required. Be sure to review your local laws to understand any additional rules that may apply to your market.
