How to Create an Amazon Affiliate Link: A Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

I make Amazon affiliate links every week on braverywatch.com, which I run across the US, UK, and German marketplaces. So this is the version that survives contact with the real dashboard in 2026 — not a screenshot from 2019 with buttons Amazon has since removed. If you want the full program rulebook first, read the complete Amazon Associates rules guide. This article is just the mechanics: how to make the link, how the tracking works, and how to do it across more than one marketplace without breaking the rules.

This guide covers creating the links themselves. Getting approved by Amazon Associates and choosing where you’re allowed to post links are covered in separate guides, linked below. It does not tell you which niche to build around — that is best niches for Amazon affiliate marketing. Not approved yet? Getting into the program is a separate step, covered in Amazon Associates approval requirements.

How to create an Amazon affiliate link with SiteStripe

SiteStripe is still the official, fastest way to generate a link. Amazon rebuilt it with a new look and, as of 2026, trimmed it down — the old Image and Text+Image quick buttons were removed from the SiteStripe bar, so the bar now gives you the text link. That is fine; the text link is the one you actually want.

1. 1Sign in to your Amazon Associates account, then browse to any product page on the Amazon marketplace you operate in. The SiteStripe bar appears across the very top of the page only while you are signed in as an Associate.
2. 2In the SiteStripe bar, choose Get Link → Text. Amazon builds a link to that exact product with your tracking tag already embedded — you do not paste your tag in by hand.
3. 3Copy the short or long version of the link. Both carry your tag; the short one is tidier for social captions, the long one is more transparent about the destination.
4. 4Place the link in your own content — a review, a comparison, a buying guide — with clear context so the reader knows they are heading to Amazon. Never cloak or shorten it in a way that hides the Amazon destination; that violates the Program Policies.
5. 5Add the required disclosure on the page: “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases,” displayed clearly and near the links.

How do I create links in Associates Central without SiteStripe?

When SiteStripe does not show up — most often because you are on a non-product page or Amazon is having a bad day with the bar — the official fallback lives in the dashboard. Go to Associates Central → Product Linking → Product Links, search for the product, and Amazon builds the same tagged link there. It carries the same tracking tag as a SiteStripe link, so nothing about attribution changes; it is just a different door to the same link. I keep this in my back pocket because the SiteStripe bar disappears often enough that a dashboard-only routine is worth knowing before you need it.

What is the Amazon tracking ID (tag) and how does it actually work?

The tag= part of the URL is the attribution parameter — it is the one thing that ties a sale back to your account. Strip it off and you are left with an ordinary Amazon product URL that pays you nothing; everything else in the link is just the normal address of the product page. So the tag is not a detail. It is the whole reason the link is an affiliate link at all.

A single Associates account can hold more than one tracking ID. In Associates Central → Manage Tracking IDs you can create extra tags and hang them on different links, which lets you separate traffic by page, campaign, or channel and see which one is actually pulling. On braverywatch I use a different tracking ID for each marketplace so the reporting never blurs together — a UK sale shows up under the UK tag, not lumped in with everything else.

One thing people confuse: the link itself never expires. You can publish it today and it will still be a valid tagged link years from now. What expires is the attribution — the 24-hour cookie from the click (and the roughly 89-day add-to-cart window covered above), not the URL. An old link is not a dead link; it just needs a fresh click to start a new attribution window.

How does the tracking actually work?

When someone clicks your tagged link, Amazon sets a cookie tied to your tag. The standard attribution window is 24 hours from the click: qualifying purchases the visitor completes in that window earn you a commission — at the purchased product’s category rate, not the linked product’s. If the visitor adds an item to their cart during that 24-hour window, that item stays commissionable for up to 89 days if they check out later. Amazon’s legal text phrases the extended window as up to 89 days from the initial click within a single session; “24-hour click, 90-day add-to-cart” is the plain-English way to remember the same mechanic.

How much do these links pay?

This is the question everyone asks first, and the honest answer is: it depends on the category, not on the link. Amazon pays a percentage commission that varies by product category — roughly 1% to 10% across categories as of 2026 — and you always earn at the purchased item’s category rate, not the linked item’s. Named category rates change, and Amazon has cut them before, so treat any specific number you read (including mine) as a snapshot. Confirm the current rate for your categories in Associates Central and in Amazon affiliate commission rates by category before you build a plan around it.

How do I create Amazon affiliate links for the UK and Germany?

This is where most people quietly lose money. A US Associates tag does not earn on amazon.co.uk or amazon.de — each marketplace has its own program, its own application, and its own tracking tag. So a visitor from London clicking your US link lands on the US store and often does not buy, and even if they did, the tag would be wrong for their region.

1. 1Register separately in each marketplace’s Associates program — US, UK, and DE are three distinct sign-ups, each producing its own tracking tag.
2. 2Generate the product link in each marketplace using that marketplace’s SiteStripe, so the tag matches the store.
3. 3To serve one link that adapts to the visitor’s country, set up OneLink (Amazon’s “earn globally” tool). OneLink detects the visitor’s location, swaps in the correct per-country tag, and redirects to their local Amazon store — you keep publishing a single link. It requires being registered in at least two Associate programs and linking your store IDs in Account Settings.

This three-marketplace, three-tag reality is exactly what I deal with on braverywatch, and it is why a usebravery site is built with your own US, UK, and DE tags from day one — the multi-market plumbing is done for you. If you are choosing which marketplaces are even worth it, the rate differences are covered in Amazon affiliate commission rates by category.

Where am I allowed to put these links?

The link is only as good as where it can legally live. Amazon lets you place Special Links on your own website, on declared social accounts, in approved apps, and in Alexa skills — but bans them in offline material (printed matter, ebooks, unsolicited mailings), in cloaked or destination-hiding shorteners, and on Amazon’s own properties. The full placement map, including which social networks are officially accepted, is in where you can post Amazon affiliate links — do not skip it, because a link in the wrong place is a policy violation no matter how well you built it.

Can I shorten or cloak Amazon affiliate links?

Shortening is fine, cloaking is not — and the difference is who owns the shortener. Amazon’s own amzn.to shortener is allowed; a link run through it still resolves transparently to Amazon and keeps your tag. What is not allowed is a third-party shortener or cloaker that hides the destination so the reader cannot tell the link goes to Amazon. Cloaking a link so the reader can’t tell it goes to Amazon is one of the rules that get accounts banned. Amazon's Program Policies flatly prohibit cloaking and any third-party link shortener that disguises where the link goes — section 6(v) bans cloaking, hiding, spoofing, or obscuring your URL, and 6(w) bans link shorteners used in a way that makes it unclear you're linking to Amazon — which is exactly why Amazon's own amzn.to short links are fine but a generic third-party cloaker that hides the Amazon destination is not.

Why can’t I use the Product Advertising API yet?

The Product Advertising API (PA-API) is Amazon’s live feed for prices, images, and product data — it is the machinery behind automated, programmatic link generation. If you have read about tools that pull live prices and build links at scale, PA-API is what they run on. It is the automation layer, not the starting point.

Here is the nuance that trips people up: PA-API is closed to brand-new accounts. Amazon unlocks it only after your account records its first qualifying sales — the same threshold that keeps your account active, which I break down in the 3-sales-in-180-days requirement. So on day one you create links by hand through SiteStripe or Associates Central; the automation comes later, once you have crossed that same bar. Nobody starts on PA-API.

The honest part: the link is the easy 5%

Generating the link takes thirty seconds. The other 95% is the content that earns the click, the niche authority that ranks it, and the multi-market setup that captures buyers wherever they are — plus keeping all of it compliant while Amazon quietly changes buttons and rules. That is the work usebravery does for you: a complete Amazon affiliate review site that is fully yours, with your own domain and your own US, UK, and DE tags. 100% of the commission stays yours; we take no cut. If you would rather have the whole asset built than assemble it link by link, see done-for-you Amazon affiliate websites.

Related in this series

• Start with the cluster guide: How Much Does It Cost to Build an Amazon Affiliate Website? (2026 Breakdown)