Quick question... with Google you have to use the display URL and the URL of where you are sending the traffic... so either your lander or a direct link is the obvious choice I would think. What do you do if you want to use
The display url has to match the final destination URL.
You are allowed to use your tracker yes.
User clicks on banner > linked to tracker url > arrives at destination URL. -- which is also your display url
you cannot use landing pages on google, it is considered a bridge page and violates their terms of use.
To add to what Attila said... think about how you can send people to the advertiser without initially sending them there.
E.g. collect their email and then send them afterward, SMS, host-and-post if possible, and so on.
There are always ways to comply with a traffic source's terms and still promote the offer well.
Of course their are more nefarious practices as well...
So, just to confirm or clarify what IamAttila said... for google search we have to essentially direct link... ie. we cannot use a landing page? So... Google Banner -> Tracker -> Offer page using the link Affiliate Network gave us?
Because Zeno seems to imply you can have a landing page... which is where I assume you would collect their email and such?
If I have a landing page that has an email submit form... and once a person does it then they will be taken to the offer page would be a violation?
What we mean is that you have to go Ad > Tracker > Final page.
That's all.
That final page can be yours or the advertisers. If it's yours you just need to come up with a less direct way to get users to provide you with conversions/revenues, i.e. not by having a giant button that says "click here to go to another page and earn me money".
I don't work with Adwords but I presume an email submit where you then forward them in the email content is fine. Google probably won't check that. I'm not sure if an email submit followed by the page redirecting to the offer is OK, but it might be.
Wait for someone who actually runs on Adwords to chime in on that.
You can use landing pages on Google, what you can't use are "thin" landing pages, which is what most affiliates run.
Ad > Tracker > Final page is fine with adwords however it is getting closer attention from review team. so make sure to run green stuff if u will put a tracker between the ad and the lander/offer page.
I heard that Google recently (in November?) changed their rules... and it's all gotta match up. I'm gonna try it on a "clean" offer... and see what they say.
I was just going through this thread again and what some of you said doesn't make sense to me...
Using Atilla's comment as a starting point... he said, ""User clicks on banner > linked to tracker url > arrives at destination URL. -- which is also your display url"..." But that is 3 links... you only have 2 spots to put links in. The display and the Destination URL.
Say your tracker link is trackerlink.com/?subid:ad1
Say your destination link: myoffer.com/BuyNow
Your Display URL would have to be something like: myoffer.com or something with myoffer.com in it.
Google will make you put in destination link as or something with myoffer.com in it: myoffer.com/BuyNow
Given that, how does your tracker link ever even get used or hit?
I would be using my own lander which would be at myoffer.com for example. Assuming I owned myoffer.com which I dont' - just being used as an example.
Your display URL has to be consistent with where the destination link sends you.
The destination link itself does not have to resemble the display URL or final destination of that link at all.
Remember, traffic sources aren't unaware of the existence of click tracking systems... so rarely will they force something like an advert click URL having to match where that then takes you. That would be as silly as requiring your mobile phone number to contain your date of birth digits.
So, your landing page is myoffer.com/lp1.html. Your display URL has to therefore be myoffer.com. Your destination link can be www.upyoursgoogle.com/track.php?enemy=google&destination=cloakedlols
Ok, maybe don't go that far.