Is it safe to use Geniuslink with the Amazon Associates program?

Yes!

Geniuslink is safe to use with the Amazon Associate program, and has been trusted by thousands of Amazon associates for years. Just be sure to follow the program guidelines and do not use your links to deceive your visitors. See our Ultimate Guide To Getting Your Account Banned...

"Wait, doesn't Amazon forbid short linking?"

Nope, short links are fine, as long as it is apparent to your visitors that each link goes to Amazon.

When using a short link (eg, a geni.us link) you have a few options:

  • Clearly indicate that Amazon is the destination using either text next to your link, wording that is part of the linked text, or a button image for the link. Eg, "Buy at Amazon".
  • If you are using our WordPress plugin, you can enable the "Preserve URLs until click time" option, so the link URL is not modified until the moment it is clicked. (ie, while hovering over it, your web browser will indicate that is linked to an Amazon address).
  • Use Choice Pages, which display Amazon buttons automatically (and allow you to link to other stores).

We see this mentioned a lot, and we think it stems from confusion around the definition of "cloaking" and some scary-looking language in the Amazon Associates guidelines:

"You will not cloak, hide, spoof, or otherwise obscure the URL of your Site containing Special Links (including by use of Redirecting Links) or the user agent of the application in which Content is displayed or used such that we cannot reasonably determine the site or application from which a customer clicks through such Special Link to the Amazon Site."

This line from the Amazon.com Associates Operating Agreement just states that you cannot use links that obscure the referring site, preventing Amazon from seeing where clicks originated. Geniuslink conforms to this by preserving the referrer information and passing it on to Amazon with each click.