Affiliate disclosure examples: FTC §255 worked patterns by page type.
FTC §255 requires clear-and-conspicuous material-connection disclosure. The Dot Com Disclosures guide names the test: proximity, prominence, absence of distracting elements, and overall net impression. Blog posts, product roundups, video, social, and podcasts each have a worked disclosure pattern. The rel="sponsored" link attribute (introduced 2019-09-10) is the parallel link-attribute alignment that satisfies Google's link spam guidelines.
Four moves the FTC §255-compliant disclosure workflow runs against.
The standard is clear-and-conspicuous material-connection disclosure. Worked examples cover the page types affiliate placements appear on. The rel="sponsored" attribute is the parallel link-attribute alignment. Common mistakes fail the overall-net-impression test.
The FTC §255 disclosure standard is clear-and-conspicuous material-connection disclosure.
FTC §255 (the Endorsements Guides, most recently revised in 2023) requires that any material connection between an endorser and the brand they endorse be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. The Dot Com Disclosures guide (2013, with ongoing FTC commentary) names the test: disclosures are evaluated on proximity, prominence, absence of distracting elements, and the "overall net impression" of the placement. The standard applies across page types: blog posts, product reviews, product roundups, video, social-media posts, podcast episodes. The disclosure language does not need to use specific words; what matters is that the average reader would understand the material connection.
Worked examples cover the page types affiliate placements appear on.
Blog-post disclosure: above-the-fold, before the first affiliate link, language like "This post contains affiliate links. We earn a small commission when readers purchase through these links at no extra cost to readers." Product-roundup disclosure: at the top of the roundup and adjacent to each product entry where the affiliate link appears, language like "Affiliate link" inline or "Disclosure: [brand] earns commissions on purchases through the roundup links below." Video disclosure: in the video itself in the first 30 seconds (audio plus on-screen text), and in the video description before the first affiliate link. Social-post disclosure: at the top of the post text, language like "#ad" or "#sponsored" or "Paid partnership with [brand]" before any link. Podcast disclosure: audio disclosure at the start of the relevant segment and in the episode description.
rel="sponsored" is the link-attribute alignment that satisfies Google's link spam guidelines.
Google introduced the rel="sponsored" link attribute on September 10, 2019, specifically for paid placements. The attribute tells Google that the link is part of a paid relationship and should not pass equity the way an editorial link would. Affiliate links and sponsored-content links should carry rel="sponsored". Some publishers use rel="nofollow" as the legacy alternative; Google treats both as hints rather than directives since 2020. The link-attribute is separate from the user-facing FTC disclosure: the attribute is for Google's ranking system, the disclosure is for the reader. Both compliance surfaces apply on every paid placement.
Common disclosure mistakes fail the "overall net impression" test.
Disclosure mistakes that fail the FTC standard: disclosure buried at the bottom of the page or in a hover-only tooltip (proximity failure), disclosure in a font color matching the background or in a font size smaller than the body text (prominence failure), disclosure adjacent to disclaimers or terms that the reader scrolls past (distracting-elements failure), disclosure language that uses ambiguous abbreviations like "sp" or "aff" that the average reader would not parse (overall net impression failure). The FTC has issued enforcement actions on each of these patterns. The standard is that the average reader, on first read of the placement, would understand the material connection between the endorser and the brand.
Methodology questions we get during the audit conversation.
What does FTC §255 require for affiliate disclosures?
FTC §255 (the Endorsements Guides, most recently revised in 2023) requires that any material connection between an endorser and the brand they endorse be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. The Dot Com Disclosures guide names the test: disclosures are evaluated on proximity, prominence, absence of distracting elements, and the "overall net impression" of the placement. The standard applies across blog posts, product reviews, product roundups, video, social-media posts, podcast episodes. The disclosure language does not need to use specific words; what matters is that the average reader would understand the material connection on first read of the placement.
Where should I place an affiliate disclosure on a blog post?
Above the fold, before the first affiliate link. The disclosure should be in the same body-text font color and size as the surrounding content, not in a smaller font or muted color. Language like "This post contains affiliate links. We earn a small commission when readers purchase through these links at no extra cost to readers" satisfies the standard. The disclosure should not be in a hover-only tooltip, a collapsible footnote, or a page-bottom block the reader scrolls past. The FTC's Dot Com Disclosures guide is clear that proximity to the relevant content is part of the test.
What's the difference between rel="sponsored" and FTC disclosure?
The link attribute is for Google's ranking system; the FTC disclosure is for the reader. rel="sponsored" tells Google that the link is part of a paid relationship and should not pass equity the way an editorial link would. The attribute was introduced on September 10, 2019, specifically for paid placements. The FTC disclosure tells the reader that the publisher has a material connection with the brand. Both compliance surfaces apply on every paid placement: a sponsored link without the FTC disclosure fails §255 even if the rel="sponsored" attribute is correctly set; a sponsored link with the FTC disclosure but without the attribute violates Google's link spam guidelines.
How do I disclose an affiliate relationship in a video?
Two surfaces: in the video itself, in the first 30 seconds, both as audio narration and as on-screen text. And in the video description, before any affiliate link. The audio-plus-on-screen-text combination satisfies the proximity and prominence parts of the FTC test. Language can be brief: "This video contains affiliate links. I earn a commission when viewers purchase through them." For longer-form video where the affiliate placement appears later in the runtime, the disclosure at the start of the video covers the entire video duration. For very long videos with sponsored segments, a per-segment disclosure at the start of each sponsored segment is the safer pattern.
What disclosure language is approved for social-media posts?
The FTC has named several disclosure formats as compliant for social media. "#ad" or "#sponsored" placed at the top of the post text, before any link, satisfies the standard on platforms where hashtags are prominently displayed. "Paid partnership with [brand]" satisfies the standard on platforms like Instagram where the platform itself surfaces the partnership label. Ambiguous abbreviations like "#sp" or "#aff" do not satisfy the standard because the average reader would not parse them as disclosures. Disclosures buried at the bottom of long captions, or after a "...more" expand toggle, fail the proximity test. The standard is that the disclosure should be visible on first read of the post.
What happens when affiliate placements fail FTC disclosure standards?
The FTC has issued enforcement actions against publishers, brands, and individual endorsers for §255 violations. Enforcement actions typically include a consent order requiring the publisher to bring placements into compliance, monetary penalties on subsequent violations, and reporting requirements on disclosure practices. The reputational exposure on the publisher and the brand is often more consequential than the monetary penalty. The compliance work is straightforward: clear-and-conspicuous disclosure at the relevant proximity, in the relevant prominence, without distracting elements, and with language that the average reader would understand. The cost of compliant disclosure is negligible compared to the exposure of non-compliance.
FTC §255 and Google's link spam guidelines apply on every paid placement. Worked disclosure patterns close both compliance surfaces.
The audit reads the existing sponsored and affiliate placements against the FTC §255 standard and the rel="sponsored" link-attribute alignment, surfaces non-compliant placements, and scopes the disclosure remediation that applies.