What the FTC actually requires
The core rule from the Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides is simple to state: if you have a material connection to a product you are recommending, such as earning a commission when someone buys through your link, you must clearly and conspicuously disclose that connection. 'Clear and conspicuous' means a reasonable reader should notice and understand the disclosure without having to search for it, hover over something, or click through to another page to find it.
This applies regardless of platform. It covers blog posts, YouTube video descriptions, podcast mentions, social media captions, and even comments in forums or Reddit threads where you link to a product you earn from. There is no exemption for small creators or low-traffic sites; the requirement is based on the existence of the material connection, not the size of the audience.
What counts as clear and conspicuous
A disclosure buried in a general 'about this site' or terms page, without anything near the actual affiliate link or recommendation, does not meet the standard, because a reader encountering the specific recommendation is unlikely to have read a separate disclosure page first. The disclosure needs to be close to the content it relates to and visible before the reader acts on the recommendation, not just discoverable somewhere on the site.
Vague language like 'this post may contain sponsored content' is weaker than plain, specific language such as 'I earn a commission if you buy through the links in this article, at no extra cost to you.' The FTC's guidance favors plain, unambiguous wording over legal-sounding boilerplate that an average reader might skim past without understanding.
- •Place the disclosure near the top of the content, before affiliate links appear, not only in a footer or separate page
- •Use plain language that clearly states you earn money from the links
- •Repeat the disclosure in each piece of content and each video, not just once on the site overall
- •For video and audio, disclose verbally or in an on-screen graphic, not only in a description text few people read
Platform-specific placement
On a blog post, the disclosure should appear near the beginning of the article, before the first affiliate link, in text that is visually distinguishable from the surrounding content rather than in a tiny gray font that blends into the background. On YouTube, the FTC and platform guidance both recommend a disclosure in the first several seconds of spoken content in addition to the written description, since many viewers never open the description panel.
On social platforms with character limits, such as short-form video captions, a clear tag like 'affiliate' or 'ad' placed prominently, not buried after a string of hashtags, is the safer approach. Platform-provided disclosure tools, where available, are a helpful supplement but do not automatically satisfy the FTC's own requirements if the platform's built-in label is easy for a viewer to miss.
Common mistakes that still get sites in trouble
The most frequent mistake is a single disclosure statement on a dedicated affiliate disclosure page that is never referenced again inside the actual content, which leaves each individual page or video without a disclosure a reader is likely to see in context. Another common mistake is disclosure language that is technically present but written in a way that obscures rather than clarifies the relationship, such as calling links 'partner links' with no explanation of what that phrase means.
A subtler mistake is disclosing the affiliate relationship for the article generally but failing to disclose it again when a new affiliate link appears further down in an updated version of the piece, particularly in comparison content that gets expanded over time to include more products and thus more affiliate relationships.
Why this matters beyond avoiding a fine
Aside from regulatory risk, clear disclosure is one of the more effective trust-building tools available to an affiliate site, since readers increasingly expect and respect transparency about how a site makes money, and hiding the relationship tends to erode trust once discovered rather than protect a sale. Readers who understand you earn a commission but still trust your specific recommendation are a stronger long-term audience than readers who feel misled after the fact.
Individual affiliate programs and networks also conduct their own compliance reviews independent of FTC enforcement, and a pattern of inadequate disclosure is a common reason affiliates get removed from programs even absent any formal regulatory action.
Key takeaways
- ✔Any material connection, including commissions, must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously near the actual recommendation, not buried on a separate page.
- ✔Plain language that states you earn money from a link is stronger, in the FTC's view, than vague or legal-sounding phrasing.
- ✔Video and audio content needs spoken or on-screen disclosure, not just text buried in a description few people read.
- ✔Disclosure needs to repeat with each new affiliate link added to a piece of content, including in later updates.
- ✔Clear disclosure builds reader trust over time and is also a common compliance requirement of individual affiliate programs themselves.
