Playbook: Make your affiliate disclosures FTC-proof in 30 minutes

Playbook: Make your affiliate disclosures FTC-proof in 30 minutes

A cloaker hides the URL but the disclosure rules don't care. Most review sites are technically non-compliant and one complaint away from trouble. Run this checklist.

— Disclosure must be ABOVE the first affiliate link, visible without scrolling or clicking "read more". Footer-only fails.
— "This post may contain affiliate links" is weak. "We earn a commission if you buy through our links" is the standard the FTC actually accepts.
— Each comparison table needs its own nearby disclosure if the page is long; one at the top of a 4,000-word page is borderline.
— Add rel="sponsored" to every monetized outbound link — separate from disclosure, this is the search-engine half.
— If you state "we tested these", you'd better have proof; unsubstantiated testing claims are a bigger FTC risk than the links.

Gotcha: "as an Amazon Associate I earn..." satisfies Amazon's TOS but NOT general FTC clarity on non-Amazon links. You need both.

Bottom line: clear-language disclosure above the fold + per-section on long pages + sponsored rel. The testing claim is the real liability.