Direct Linking In Affiliate Marketing: Everything You Need To Know

Quick Answer: Direct linking is the act of directing visitors from the traffic source to an affiliate offer or the product page directly. The visitor clicks on your affiliate link and is immediately taken to the offer which can increase sales (but not always).

You would have definitely come across the term “direct linking” if you have started with affiliate marketing.

But what does it really mean and how does it impact affiliate marketing? 

In simple terms, direct linking is when an affiliate promotes or advertises a product of a merchant by directly posting the link to the landing page. The affiliate does so from an external source which could be a social media post, an email, or even a blog post on their website.

So, whenever a visitor clicks on the link and makes a purchase, the affiliate is awarded a commission. 

5 Advantages Of Direct Linking 

Many successful affiliates are fans of this seamless, one-step conversion that allows them to set up campaigns and earn commissions.

So, here are some of the advantages of direct linking:

• There is a low barrier to the conversion
• It is ideal for new and unseasoned affiliates who are unaware of the complex codes and are not confident about their capabilities
• It also allows you to find affiliate offers that people are more familiar with. This means that direct linking has a greater chance to be the optimal traffic flow
• It is an easy way to advertise products and services as it doesn’t require and landing page 
• It is a great approach for influencers and bloggers with many followers; you can directly publish the link on your social media pages and earn high commissions

6 Disadvantages Of Direct Linking

• It affects an affiliate’s ability to increase conversion rates because it is one less thing to optimize 
• There is intense competition in the game as soon as internal media buyers and other affiliates enter. It becomes challenging to maintain long-term profits
• Direct linking can be viewed as dull and too generic as it does not offer any context for the user 
• It cannot be indexed by Google therefore it can achieve a ranking in the results
• Affiliates have to adhere to a strict set of policies and in case of violation, they may get removed  
• The whole work also depends on the types of links that are allowed by the merchants

Don’t Confuse Direct Linking With A Landing Page 

It is important to understand the difference between direct linking and landing pages as these terms can seem to be quite similar. 

Direct linking via an affiliate link is a simple and easy way to present your product to potential customers. Though it is considered to be less effective than the landing page.

A landing page on the other hand is a specified, standalone page on the website that is designed particularly to advertise a product or offer.

It is established that landing pages are more effective than direct linking as they are more specialized and specific. This means that through landing pages you can really advertise the product and highlight all its features. You can even mention the discount offers or coupons that would catch the attention of the customers. 

Another Meaning 

If you have come across direct linking in some other context, do not get confused. This term also means that you promote the product or service with the merchant’s link.

A prime example of this is Amazon affiliates.

Amazon’s policy states that its links must be used directly when posting or publishing on affiliate traffic sources. While other programs ask you to use link cloaking so that the link’s length can be reduced. 

When To Use Direct Linking: The Bottom Line

There’s a time and a place for direct linking.

Inserting a direct affiliate link to a fruit juicer on Amazon in a top 10 list of best fruit juicers, for example, makes perfect sense and is completely fine.

There are other times though when directing linking will seem too pushy and put people off and you’ll want to warm your audience up a bit first to maximise your conversions and commissions.

I guess what I’m saying is it depends on the context, but as a general rule if it makes sense to direct link then don’t be shy and do it.