The disclosure mistake that's an FTC liability, not an SEO one
Failure: putting your affiliate disclosure in the footer, or a tiny line below the first affiliate link. FTC's .com Disclosures require it to be 'clear and conspicuous' and BEFORE the affiliate link — close to the claim, not 1,000px down. A footer disclosure does not count. This isn't theoretical; review sites have gotten warning letters.
The fix:
— One-line disclosure ABOVE the first link, above the fold, in normal-size text
— Don't bury it in a tooltip or 'click to expand' — collapsed = not conspicuous
— Plugins (WP Affiliate Disclosure, or a reusable block) can auto-prepend it to any post with cloaked links
Gotcha nobody mentions: 'As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases' is mandatory verbatim for Amazon AND must appear near the links — a generic 'this post may contain affiliate links' does not satisfy Amazon's specific requirement. Two different rules, both apply.
Bottom line: disclosure goes above the fold and above the first link — footer-only is a legal failure, not a style choice.
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The disclosure mistake that's an FTC liability, not an SEO one
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