Has Affiliate Links is a boolean signal that returns 1 when the page contains a URL matching any of RankGear’s twelve supported affiliate-network signatures, and 0 when it does not. It confirms only that a recognized network pattern is present — it does not check whether the relationship is disclosed, nor does it judge the quality or relevance of the recommendation.
| Factor ID | RG-AFF-002 |
|---|---|
| Family | Affiliate & ads |
| Measurement | Boolean presence (0 / 1) |
| Measured zone | Rendered, script-free page body |
What it measures
Has Affiliate Links indicates whether any of RankGear’s twelve supported affiliate-network URL signatures appears on the page. It is a simple presence check across the measured body: either a recognized network pattern is found, or it is not.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear checks the page for URL patterns from twelve affiliate networks — AdCell, Affilinet, Amazon, Belboon, ClickBank, Commission Junction, Digistore24, eBay, QuinStreet, Rakuten, Walmart, and Zanox. Any single match scores 1; if none of the twelve signatures is found, the factor scores 0.
What RankGear looks for
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/PRODUCT?tag=AFFILIATE_ID">…</a>
<a href="https://NETWORK-signature-url/…">…</a> (one of 12 supported networks)| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | At least one URL matching a supported affiliate-network signature was found in the measured body. |
| 0 | No supported network signature was found — including cases where an affiliate link exists but its network is unsupported or its signature is hidden. |
How to optimize it
Use affiliate links only when the recommendation is relevant, honest, and genuinely helpful to the reader. Disclose commercial relationships clearly, and apply the appropriate sponsored relationship markup on monetized links. Treat this factor as an observation about the page rather than a target to hit: because RankGear matches specific network signatures, a page can carry legitimate affiliate links and still read 0 if it uses an unsupported network or a redirect that hides the signature.
Important considerations
- Unsupported networks can produce a false zero — an affiliate link may exist while matching none of the twelve detected signatures.
- Presence does not assess disclosure or content quality; a 1 says nothing about whether the relationship was disclosed or the recommendation is sound.
- Redirect and link-cloaking services can hide a network signature, so the affiliate link goes undetected.
- Do not add affiliate links merely to match competitors or to change this factor.
- This is a correlation-based prioritization signal within a measured result set, not a cause of ranking — the presence of affiliate links does not make a page rank or guarantee position.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.