Affiliate Disclosures on Blogs and Websites
Above the fold, before the first affiliate link, on every monetized page. The settled rules for the classic affiliate format.
Blogs and websites are the classic affiliate format, and the disclosure rules for them are well settled. The controlling ideas are proximity, visibility, and per-page coverage.
The rules
- Place a disclosure above the fold and before the first affiliate link in the article.
- Repeat or reinforce near individual links where content is long.
- Do not rely on a footer link, a separate disclosure page, or a single homepage notice as your only disclosure.
- Put the disclosure on every page that contains affiliate links, because readers arrive at individual pages directly.
- Use plain wording such as “This post contains affiliate links; I may earn a commission if you buy through them.”
Why the footer disclosure fails
A disclosure in the footer sits after — and often far below — the recommendation. By the time a reader could see it, they may already have clicked. The FTC wants the disclosure where the reader encounters the recommendation, not at the bottom of the page.
Design and accessibility
Style the disclosure so it is legible: sufficient size, adequate contrast, and no gray-on-gray minimization. A common, defensible pattern is a short italic or boxed line directly beneath the title or introduction. Avoid collapsing it into an expandable element the reader must open.
Making it automatic across the site
On a site with more than a few posts, disclosure should not depend on remembering it each time. Insert the disclosure through your template, a reusable block, or a widget so it renders automatically on every affiliate page in the same position. This is both safer and more consistent than manual insertion, and it is the ideal thing to build in during a WordPress-to-static migration — see building disclosure into your site architecture.
Technical companion: link attributes
Disclosure is a legal duty to your readers; marking links for search engines is a separate technical duty. Affiliate links should carry rel="sponsored" (or nofollow). The two obligations are independent and you must satisfy both. See affiliate links and SEO.
Blog checklist
- Disclosure above the fold, before the first affiliate link.
- Present on every page that contains affiliate links.
- Legible styling — adequate size and contrast, not collapsed behind “more.”
- Affiliate links attributed with
rel="sponsored". - Content adds original value, avoiding thin affiliation.
For reusable wording, see the templates library.
Authoritative sources
Last reviewed July 2026. This page is general educational information, not legal or tax advice.