Key takeaways
- Affiliate link tracking has two halves: the link that records the click, and the conversion event that closes the loop.
- Each partner gets a unique tracking link that mints a click ID when clicked.
- You install a conversion event — a postback or SDK call — that reports the sale back with that click ID.
- Verify by running a test click through to a test conversion before going live.
- Afflio generates per-partner links and accepts cookieless S2S conversions, so setup is link plus one conversion event.
Affiliate link tracking sounds like one task but is really two: capturing the click and capturing the conversion. Get only the first and you'll know how many people clicked but never who bought. Get only the second and you'll see sales with no idea which partner drove them. This guide walks through wiring up both halves and — the step most people skip — proving the loop actually closes.
How does an affiliate tracking link work?
An affiliate tracking link is a unique URL assigned to one partner that, when clicked, records a click event and mints a click ID before forwarding the user to your site. The link is what ties a visitor back to a specific affiliate; the click ID it generates is what later lets a conversion be matched to that affiliate.
- Every partner gets their own link — the partner identity is encoded in it.
- On click, the tracker logs the event server-side and creates a click ID.
- The user is forwarded to the destination with the click ID carried along.
- From here on, attribution rides on the click ID, not the link.
How do you install the conversion event?
You install the conversion event at the point where a sale or signup completes, and you make it report the click ID back to your tracker. There are two common ways to do it, and you pick based on where your conversion happens.