Tracking your affiliate content beyond revenue

Affiliate marketing has long been measured in terms of clicks, conversions, and sales revenue. While these are important metrics, they only tell part of the story. In standard network reporting, brands often see which publishers drive results, but not the exact content pages where their links appear. This creates a blind spot — one that becomes critical in the age of generative AI. 

The visibility gap 

Without page-level data, brands lack insight into how affiliates are talking about them. Are your products framed positively? Are specifications accurate? Is your latest release included in seasonal “best of” lists? These questions are hard to answer when reporting stops at the publisher level. 

Why page-level tracking matters 

Generative AI platforms frequently reference review articles, listicles, and buying guides when forming answers. If your brand is included — and described accurately — you benefit from visibility in both consumer journeys and AI-driven recommendations. If not, you risk being absent from the conversation entirely. Analysing the content itself, not just the performance numbers, is the only way to understand this dynamic. 

Tools and techniques 

• Web scraping and content mapping. Track which articles contain your affiliate links, what language they use, and how often they are updated. 

• Competitor benchmarking. Apply the same process to your competitors’ affiliate coverage. This highlights which publishers feature them more prominently and reveals gaps where your brand could compete. 

• Narrative analysis. Go beyond link placement to understand what affiliates emphasise — pricing, features, customer reviews — and align your messaging accordingly. 

The strategic opportunity 

Affiliate data is often siloed in performance marketing teams. By expanding reporting to include content-level analysis, brands can connect affiliate performance with broader goals like visibility, perception management, and AI readiness. 

The bottom line 

Clicks and conversions matter, but they don’t tell you the full story. By tracking affiliate content at the page level, brands gain visibility into how they are being represented online — and ensure they are present in the material that generative AI systems are increasingly using to answer consumer questions. You can find more about tracking affiliate content beyond revenue here.

📄 This blog is adapted from our latest research on off-site content in the age of generative AI. To receive the full whitepaper, get in touch with the Planit team.