Can your Amazon Associate Account get Closed for Linking to Search Results?

Yes! – People have shared their stories and emails from Amazon stating exactly that….their Associates account was closed for neglecting to link to specific products (examples below).

BUT…Is it made abundantly clear that this can happen? Absolutely not! 

Amazon is a massive company with thousands of employees and many departments. By looking at their legal agreements, reading their help documents, and talking with their support personal, it is obvious that their intracompany communication leaves much to be desired – each will give you an incredibly confusing and contradictory view of what you can or can’t link to.

The Associates Program Participation Requirements Document Says Only Direct Product Links

Section 3b of the document contains the clearest statement that you should not use affiliated links to anything other than direct products on Amazon. It’s also the one cited in the example ban letters we have from those who have gotten the ax (emphasis mine):

You may add or delete Products (and related Special Links) from your Site at any time without our approval. However, you may not use Special Links to link to the Amazon Site from references to products on your Site that are not “Products” as defined in the Agreement. For example, you cannot link to the Amazon Site with a link for “shoes”, however you can link to the Amazon Site with a Special Link to a specific shoe Product detail page.

For those keeping score at home, that’s one point for NOT using search result links, since search results aren’t “Products.”

Amazon Associate’s Performance Tips Help Document Recommends Linking to Search Results to Maximize Conversion

And we’re all tied up at 1 to 1, as this page seems to encourage you to link to non-product pages. Next to the bullet for “Change your placement’s landing page” is this sentence (emphasis mine):

There are several destinations at Amazon.com to which you can link: product detail pages, subcategory pages, category pages, search results, or the Amazon.com home page. You might be surprised by which landing page converts best.

Confused yet? It’s gets better.

The SiteStripe Linking Tool Allows you to Create Search Links

Amazon’s own tool lets you create affiliate links to Search Results. Surely that mean’s it gotta be ok, right?

Using Search Links takes the lead!

Let’s get on chat with an Amazon Associate. I’m sure they can help straighten this out.

Isabel, help me out please!

Me: >>However, you may not use Special Links to link to the Amazon Site from references to products on your Site that are not “Products” as defined in the Agreement. For example, you cannot link to the Amazon Site with a link for “shoes”, however you can link to the Amazon Site with a Special Link to a specific shoe Product detail page.<< 9:50:16 AM

Me: Does this mean I cannot link to search results displaying books by a particular author or in a particular series? 9:50:16 AM

Me: It would seem if that were the case, the Associates Stripe should only appear on detail pages and not on search results pages. 9:50:45 AM

Isabel: Let me reach out about this. 9:52:15 AM

Isabel: Will take a moment 9:52:21 AM

Me: Thank you! 9:52:25 AM

Isabel: I did get clarification. So, apparently you would not be able to do a search result at all. 9:58:50 AM

Isabel: So, while we offer tools to do this, per the operating agreement, it wouldn’t be allowed. 9:59:31 AM

Um. Ok.

So I guess it’s not allowed after all.

Are we all tied up, or does that put the issue to bed? I better get a second opinion. Back to chat a few weeks later.

Tabby, can you set me straight?

Me: In this paragraph: “You may add or delete Products (and related Special Links) from your Site at any time without our approval. However, you may not use Special Links to link to the Amazon Site from references to products on your Site that are not “Products” as defined in the Agreement. For example, you cannot link to the Amazon Site with a link for “shoes”, however you can link to the Amazon Site with a Special Link to a specific shoe Product detail page,” it sure sounds like we can’t link to search result pages 10:01:17 AM

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Tabby: I understand completely, so it depends on the links you’re wanting to create. You can link to a specific product as long as it’s stated it’s a specific product or you can link it to search resultsas long as it’s stated to be search results 10:06:00 AM

Me: … Can bloggers link directly to the home page of Amazon with an affiliate link? Some forum posts say no way. 10:36:24 AM

Tabby: … you sure can 10:37:06 AM

As you can see by the timestamps my wife had a pretty long discussion. Tabby recommended using Native Shopping Ads or banners, but because I said those just don’t work in recipes, she said textual linking to search results would be fine. 

Me: ok, so just to clarify – we CAN link to the Amazon homepg with our affiliate links, we CAN use search result links for pretty much any link text without anything special just before or after that text/link, and we need a disclaimer at the bottom of our site or post? 10:56:59 AM

Tabby: Yes, that is correct on all accounts. 10:57:49 AM

Alright, I’m done with the game analogy. This is getting frustrating.

Not even Amazon’s CS can give us a straight, consistent answer. I tried again, almost immediately after the last chat.

Narissa, what are your thoughts? (notice the copy and paste of the questions from the previous chat….)

Me: In this paragraph: “You may add or delete Products (and related Special Links) from your Site at any time without our approval. However, you may not use Special Links to link to the Amazon Site from references to products on your Site that are not “Products” as defined in the Agreement. For example, you cannot link to the Amazon Site with a link for “shoes”, however you can link to the Amazon Site with a Special Link to a specific shoe Product detail page,” it sure sounds like we can’t link to search result page 11:29:06 AM

Me: I’m a food blogger, so I usually link ingredients like the word “cinnamon” for example to an Amazon special link for the “cinnamon” search result, rather than choosing a specific size/brand of cinnamon. Is that right or wrong? 11:31:49 AM

Narissa: Wrong. 11:32:16 AM

Narissa: You need to get an actual product detail page link 11:32:42 AM

Narissa: If you are using a Text link it needs to link to the specific product page. 11:39:54 AM

Me: another question: Can bloggers link directly to the home page of Amazon with an affiliate link? Some forum posts say no way. 11:43:16 AM

Me: well, I mean as a text link – so just when I’m talking about shopping “on Amazon” and linking to the home page with an affiliate link 11:44:16 AM

Narissa: No, you cannot 11:44:37 AM

Queue brain exploding sound. And it seems I’m not the only one getting these different answers. As a comment on this forum post describes:

Tried contacting them again. At first, they said I can link to whatever page SiteStripe is available on. Basically, these are all the replies I got:

– You can link everywhere.

– You can link everywhere, including search when keywords are more specific.

– You can only link to single products, not search pages at all.

They’re just giving me different answers each time I contact them. I give up. I’ll just link to single product pages or look for an alternative affiliate program.

I bet someone can take legal action when an official Amazon representative tells you you CAN link to whatever, then Amazon bans you for linking to search pages.

People ARE Getting Amazon Associates Accounts Closed for Linking to Search Links

Here’s the most clear-cut answer and why I would recommend you don’t ever link to Search Results:

People ARE getting closed down for it.

From the Amazon Associates Forum:

My Amazon Associates account just got closed, and one of the reasons why it got closed as reported in the email I got is:

You are linking to the Amazon Site in reference to a general product search, instead of a Specific Product detail page.

Every time I linked to a search page was relevant. Example: You can buy Lenovo laptops here (linking to a search page with the keywords “lenovo laptops”).

Why is the option of creating links to search pages even available/enabled if it’s not allowed in the first place?

And again from the forum:

just got the following email from Amazon:

The violations referenced above include, but are not limited to the following:

– You are linking to the Amazon Site in reference to a general product search, instead of a Specific Product detail page.

They included a reference to a page that was in violation. The page lists some items that are sold by multiple sellers and frequently go out of stock. Therefore, instead of linking to one seller, I just wanted to link to a product search for the product’s name. For instance, I listed 10 colognes like “Eau De Lacoste,” with each name linking to the Amazon search page. SiteStripe lets you grab these links.

Before listing the links I said, “clicking these links will take you directly to an Amazon search page for the product.”

Can someone point me to the distinction of what is allowed and what isn’t? I’ve tried searching the Amazon agreements, and can’t find a clear distinction.

Also this entire business went under after losing Amazon Associate status:

You are not in compliance with the Operating Agreement. The violation(s) are as follows;

-You may not use Special Links to link to the Amazon Site from references to products on your Site that are not “Products” as defined in the Agreement. For example, you cannot link to the Amazon Site with a link for “shoes”, however you can link to the Amazon Site with a Special Link to a specific shoe Product detail page.

And from a comment on that same story (emphasis mine)…

My account also got closed right after I made more sales. One of the reasons was:

You are linking to the Amazon Site in reference to a general product search, instead of a Specific Product detail page.

All the links I’ve posted to general product searches are like “get Nike shoes here” and the link is to a search page with the keywords “nike shoes”.

My thinking is if linking to product search pages is not allowed, then why is that option enabled/available in the first place? Seems like a bait to lure people into breaking their ToS.

Four accounts closed – how many others are out there?

I think it’s safe to say that the people at Amazon who write the agreements are not talking to the people who are in charge of enforcing the agreements who are not talking to the people who code the site’s features who are not talking to the people who write the help documents.

And nobody apparently is explaining any of this or providing consistent training to the customer service representatives available to “help” out their Associates.

Amazon has a communication problem…but it could cause an unsuspecting blogger to suddenly have an income problem. Did you know that if you get closed down, even if you appeal, your links immediately stop tracking? You would at least lose income equal to the time it takes to appeal, and possibly 3 months before that.

This blogger wasn’t even offered a chance to get into compliance in December 2017 (emphasis mine, although you would have read it like that anyway):

We are writing to tell you that effective as of today’s date, Amazon is terminating your Associates account. Under the terms of the Operating Agreement, we may terminate your account at any time, with or without cause. This decision is final and not subject to appeal.

Ouch.

How Should a Blogger Respond with Product vs. Search Links?

What’s your risk aversion?

Would you rather do what you can to play by Amazon’s most conservative rules in case that’s the playbook the compliance team is using (the ones who close accounts), or would you rather listen to Tabby, the customer service rep who was very encouraging, ending with, “You’re going to be fine. I just wanted to make sure to help in anyway I can. (sic)”

She says it’s fine to keep using search results links, as does one undated help document.

Oh, wait…UNdated? True, there’s not an actual “last updated on” date on this very generously helpful page, but perhaps these archaic terms will help you make an educated guess as to how long it’s been since anyone at Amazon made sure that page was current: