Create Links in Commerce
How do I create a link?
Navigate to the Create links tab in the Sovrn Platform here.
Click the + Create button in the top right hand corner.
Select a Site from the dropdown where you plan to share your new affiliate link.
Identify a product you would like to share, then paste the desired product's URL into the Product URL field.
Enter a unique Link name to help you find and edit this link in the future.
Tracking (optional): Track individual link performance and acquisition
Enter a Custom tracking ID (CUID). Learn more in this article: CUIDs in Commerce.
Enter the Link UTM parameters that you would like to apply at the link level. Learn more here: How to track link performance using UTM parameters.
Advanced settings (optional): Additional link optimization settings
Enter a Bid floor and Fallback URL. Learn more in this article: Fallback URLs in Commerce.
Click Create to save.
Your new affiliate link is then automatically copied to your clipboard.
Paste the link to your website, social media, etc. and start earning.
Just getting started? Check out our in-depth guide on writing product reviews.
Where can I place my links?
Links created with the Create Links feature are sometimes referred to as "Anywhere Links" and you can place them nearly anywhere. Here's the catch:
The link needs to be placed on the site that was selected from the drop-down when it was created.
This must be an approved site. It will have to have gone through the approval process in order to monetize, described in this article: Getting Started with Sovrn Commerce. You can check the approval status here.
To affiliate successfully, make sure you've setup traffic segmentation correctly: Traffic Segmentation in Commerce.
Make sure you're following section 4 of the code of conduct to prevent your approval status from being revoked for improper use of links.
Why is traffic segmentation important when using the Create Links feature?
Each unique location where you intend to add Sovrn affiliate links is required to be reviewed for approval individually. This is called traffic segmentation, and not only does it help with reporting for your account, but it keeps your account in compliance with Sovrn and our Merchant and Network partners.
To learn more about traffic segmentation and to see examples, please read this article: Traffic Segmentation in Commerce.
Note: You only need to submit unique locations for approval (such as your Website, Facebook group, Instagram page, and App Store link). You do not need to add individual pages of a site for approval (such as website.com/page1 and website.com/page2).
You can add additional sites, profiles, or softwares to your account here.
For example, someone with multiple social media accounts and a website, a Settings page with correctly segmented traffic would have separate sites submitted for:
instagram.com/page1
instagram.com/page2
website.com
To learn more on how to use the Settings page, including to check your site's approval status, please see: Settings in Commerce.
Remember: When you generate links to use for affiliation, you should only place them on these sites (once they are approved). For more information on how to use your links, see this FAQ.
How can I review and edit existing links?
From the Create links page, begin by selecting a "Site" from the dropdown to see all links created for the selected site.
Optional: In the search field, enter the desired Link name or Product URL to find a specific link.
Once you have found the link you would like to edit in the table, click on the Edit icon on the right side.
Enter a new Product URL, Link name or Custom tracking ID for the selected link.
Click Save and copy the link to your clipboard.
Note: There is no need to repost or edit the link on your site, by saving your changes the link will now automatically redirect to the new product URL you have entered. Changes may take up to fifteen minutes to take effect.
How can Create Links help me when the product goes out of stock?
Product out of stock? No problem! Update existing link destinations without logging into social media or your CMS.
Follow the directions above to edit an existing link. You can update the link to direct to a new merchant where the item is in stock. You won't need to change the link wherever it's been placed!
Note: For this to be effective, you'll want to get in the habit of writing the surrounding content to be independent of references to a specific merchant.
How do I delete links I don’t need anymore?
Unfortunately, there is no way to do this at this time. However, you can edit your links following the steps above to change a link you don’t need anymore to a different link you want to use.
How can I add my own tracking to links?
If you would like to add custom tracking to your links, Sovrn recommends using our Custom Tracking ID (CUID). A CUID can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters. This ID can be appended to your affiliate links. Commonly, this is used to check on performance for a single affiliate link, a subset of affiliate links, or for tracking individual clicks back to a specific user in your system.
You can read more about CUIDs in our building monetized URLs documentation.
Sovrn also supports UTM tracking. You can read more about how to implement this here:
How to track link performance using UTM parameters
How do I see reporting on Custom Tracking IDs?
You can see the performance of your CUIDs through the Transaction Reporting API. Here, you can see all revenue events that have originated from your account, and filter these events by your unique CUID value. You can also download a CUID/UTM tracking report via the Sovrn Commerce Analytics Dashboard by clicking on the "Report" button.
Can I wrap links manually? How?
Yes! You can either wrap links in bulk or individually.
Link wrapping manually: one (or a few) links.
Your links should be formatted like this:
http://redirect.viglink.com?key=[Your_API_KEY]&out=[URL]
Make sure to replace everything in the brackets, including the brackets themselves.
[Your_API_KEY] You can find your API key on the Settings page in your Sovrn Commerce account.
Look for the key icon in the row of the site where you are installing the link.
[URL] This is the URL you want to affiliate. You need to make sure to "HTML encode" the URL to ensure Sovrn Commerce works properly. You can easily encode URL's here. Just enter your URL and click "encode."
Warning: Make sure not to encode the entire wrapped URL - just the URL you want to affiliate.
Wrapping links In bulk.
You may want to wrap multiple links at once. To make it easy, we've built a Google spreadsheet that you can use to wrap multiple links quickly.
Go to File > Make A Copy and just enter your links into Column A to generate wrapped links.
I still need help.
Questions? We are here to support you, contact Sovrn Support.