Like many Niche Website Affiliate Publishers, who are part of the Amazon Associates Affiliate program, links are part of the bread an butter of the revenue that comes from our sites. The other parts could be ads and email marketing.
Up until recently, we had purchased all of our Niche sites and grew them. Hats off to those who have started from scratch. In other words, it’s pretty tough.
A previously owned Niche site can have a lot of problems when you buy it. We have a whole system in place for going through a newly purchased site.
One of the biggest problems we found, and look for, are malformed Amazon Affiliate links. This is why we added this feature in Linkmoney to help you with your Amazon Business.
Where Are Malformed Links Found?
1. In your product details
2. Paragraphs that mention products
3. Tables
What Does A Malformed Affiliate Link Look Like?
Malformed links can come in all shapes and sizes. Often times it is a typo in the URL or something missing and as a result, the link will give an error when clicked. We will get into the causes as well as how this is bad for your Amazon business further in the article.
Example 1a. In the first row is a healthily Amazon Affiliate Product link structure in the correct format. If any part of this link changes, the link will not work.
Example 1b. In the second row, we have examples of malformed links and broken links that Linkmoney scans for.
Above, an extra slash was added to the HTTPS.
Above are some of the parts where malformed affiliate link errors can occur, just to give you a visual idea. Linkmoney scans all of your Amazon Affiliate Links for malformed errors and fixes them.
What Causes A Malformed Link?
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, we have multiple Niche websites that work with the Amazon Associates program. Over time, we have noticed some similarities in how malformed links can happen and cause Affiliate Link issues.
1. Store Codes changing
This is a big one. Some Amazon Affiliate Niche sites can be bought and sold over time. Every time the site is sold and purchased it changes hands. One of the first things a new owner will do is change out the old Amazon Store Code with their store code. They want to get the affiliate revenue from the site going to the right place as soon as they can.
Also from time to time, there is a need to generate new Amazon Associate Store Codes for compliance.
Until Linkmoney, this was done by a person. Either the Niche site owner, or someone on their team, will go in an change out all the affiliate link’s store codes by hand.
Common examples of a malformed link from changing out store codes is either not pasting the whole code in the link, or pasting over too much of the link:
Healthy Amazon affiliate link example:
Malformed Amazon affiliate link examples from pasting in store codes:
2. Not pasting the entire affiliate link from Amazon store
Only recently has some good Amazon connecting tools have come on the market. Oftentimes, the Amazon Affiliate Links are done by hand.
If the Niche site operator doesn’t copy the entire link, the link will not work.
3. Software error
There is another mysterious factor that comes into play with malformed links forming. It comes from software doing weird software stuff. Maybe it was a site transfer, a site backup installed, a new plugin, or a new theme. This anomaly happens to everyone working in software. Linkmoney will detect these and fix them.
Can Malformed Links Hurt Your Business?
Yes. You do the work to create great content for someone to find your article in search. That person begins to read your awesome product descriptions and decides to make that click to Amazon. When they do and the link is bad, it is most likely going to be a bounce.
People searching do not give sites much time in the first place. Even if you have a 5 star rating. They begin to read and scan the article and if something is not working and or gives an error code, most will move on.
Even worse, you got them to the article and made no revenue.
Linkmoney App fixes malformed links.
No matter what your product type or content type is, Linkmoney App is the best partner for solving malformed affiliate link problems, product reviews links, store codes issues, out-of-country link code issues, and a lot more in your blog content. You can have healthy affiliate links in one click.
