Understanding Clicks on Amazon Associates

As an SEO professional, understanding how clicks work within the Amazon Associates program is crucial for optimizing your affiliate marketing performance. The Link-Type report in Amazon Associates provides detailed insight into the different types of connections and situations involved in promoting products on your website. This article will delve into the nuances of the report and help you understand key metrics such as impressions, active clicking factors, and clicks.

Segment Definitions

The Amazon Associates program offers a variety of connection types, and the Link-Type report helps in analyzing these connections. Here are the key segment definitions:

Connection Type

The Connection Type refers to the type of link or situation involved on your Associate site. You can choose to build more of a specific type of link or review the performance of the current link by selecting the appropriate segment.

Impressions

Impressions represent the occasions when a link or ad was shown on your Associate site during the specified period. For ads served by Amazon, an impression is recorded whenever the ad server shows the ad on your site. Starting in mid-2005, content links and basic keyword ads were changed to include a 1-pixel gif, allowing us to gauge impressions for these formats as well. It's important to note that for some ad positions, impressions cannot be tracked, and the impression data may show 'N/A'.

Active Clicking Factor

The Active Clicking Factor is the percentage of the time that users clicked on a shown ad. The formula is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. It's important to note that if the URL for a content connection has been adjusted to remove the single-pixel gif, the system might record more clicks than impressions.

Clicks

Clicks represent the number of times users clicked through from your Associate site to the Amazon product page during the specified reporting period, categorized by the link type.

Your Conversion

Your Conversion is the percentage of clicks that led to purchases. The report often includes orders from customers who save items for future purchases, which may not show up in real-time. Over shorter time frames, it's possible to see orders without clicks or clicks without the corresponding number of orders or shipments.

Items Ordered

The Items Ordered is the total number of items, both direct and indirect, that were purchased during the specified period through the link type on your site.

Items Dispatched

Items Dispatched refers to the number of items that were referred through the specified link type that were dispatched during the determined period.

Selling Fee Earnings

The Selling Fee Earnings represents the total fees earned on shipments resulting from the link type specified in the report.

Understanding the Report TimeFrames

The report displays the impressions, clicks, orders, and dispatches for the specified timeframe. Associates are credited for items placed in the shopping cart within a 24-hour session window and subsequently purchased within 90 days. Over shorter timeframes, it's possible to see orders without clicks or clicks without a typical number of orders or shipments. For example, it's possible to see orders that were placed in a shopping cart months ago with no clicks during the reported period, or clicks that added items to the shopping cart but where the customer has not yet proceeded to checkout or where the order has been completed but the item has not yet been shipped.

By understanding these metrics and their implications, you can optimize your affiliate marketing strategies to improve your click-through rates and conversion rates, ultimately driving more sales for your audience.