This factor counts how many recognized Affilinet tracking links RankGear finds in the rendered page body. It returns a whole number — a raw occurrence count that says nothing about whether those links are clicked, convert, or point to a live destination.
| Factor ID | RG-AFF-018 |
|---|---|
| Family | Affiliate & ads |
| Measurement | Occurrence count |
| Measured zone | Rendered, script-free page body |
What it measures
This factor counts recognized Affilinet tracking URLs on the page. Affilinet was a European affiliate network whose outbound click links route through the partners.webmasterplan.com domain. Where the related presence factor reports only whether such a link exists, this one tallies how many appear — a count, not a judgment of relevance, quality, or destination. (The inherited display name for this factor carries a double space, “Number of Affiliate Links”, a cosmetic artifact rather than a measurement detail.)
How RankGear measures it
RankGear scans the rendered, script-free page body and counts case-insensitive HTTP or HTTPS occurrences beginning with partners.webmasterplan.com/click. Each match contributes one to the total; the returned value is the sum of those matches.
What RankGear looks for
<a href="https://partners.webmasterplan.com/click/..."> ← +1
<a href="http://partners.webmasterplan.com/click/..."> ← +1| Count | How to read it |
|---|---|
| 0 | No Affilinet partners.webmasterplan.com/click link matched. This does not prove the page has no affiliate relationship. |
| 1 or more | That many recognized Affilinet tracking links were found in the page body. A higher number is not inherently better or worse. |
How to optimize it
Treat the count as an observation, not a target — more occurrences are not an optimization goal, and there is no ranking benefit to padding a page with Affilinet links. Retain links only where they stay relevant, functional, transparent, and genuinely helpful to the reader, and consolidate unnecessary duplicates so a single useful recommendation is not fragmented across several redundant tracking URLs.
Important considerations
- Legacy or redirected Affilinet formats may be missed, so an older link can go uncounted.
- The count reflects link occurrences only — it does not indicate clicks, conversions, or revenue.
- More occurrences are not an optimization goal; a larger count is not a better page.
- The inherited display name for this factor contains a double space — a cosmetic quirk, not part of the measurement.
- This is a correlation-based prioritization signal within a measured result set, not something that makes a page rank or guarantees a position.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.