The Guardian publishes reviews of a variety of products and services. Our selections are unbiased and are made independently by our journalists. Some of our content contains affiliate links which means the Guardian earns a small commission from the retailer (also known as “affiliate revenue”) when a reader clicks a link in our content and buys a product that we have featured. Any article that contains an affiliate link is clearly labelled.
Our journalism is never influenced by advertisers or commercial teams and is not written for the purpose of promoting a product. For information on content funding please see our guidelines.
What is affiliate revenue?
Affiliate revenue is a small percentage of commission shared between retailers, publishers and affiliate networks that connect them. When a product featured on the Guardian is linked to affiliate revenue, we will always make this clear to readers with a statement at the top of the page on our website.
How does it work?
The Guardian works with a third-party affiliate aggregator called Skimlinks, who have a relationship with thousands of retailers and publishers.
When a product is linked from a Guardian article or gallery, Skimlinks automatically places tracking code in the retailer link if the retailer has an affiliate programme. When a reader clicks on an affiliate link, the tracking code assigns the user’s click a randomly generated number which Skimlinks then uses to identify subsequent purchases. Skimlinks then attributes a commission from the sale to the Guardian.
How will reader data be used by Skimlinks?
When a product is linked from a Guardian article or gallery, if the retailer has an affiliate programme, then the link will redirect to the retailer website through the Skimlinks’ network. When a reader clicks on a link, Skimlinks will identify which page the click came from and assign it a randomly generated number. This is communicated to the retailer and associated with any subsequent purchase.
Skimlinks then reconciles the list of clicks from links on the Guardian with purchases on the retailer’s site. This is used in order to calculate the commission.
We do not drop third or first party cookies, or otherwise access local storage through our affiliate links. Instead we use a type of link that redirects users into Skimlinks’ network. This means we are tracking and identifying the click, rather than individuals.
Skimlinks will use IP addresses to direct readers to the geographically relevant affiliate link. The IP address and user agent are anonymised and truncated by Skimlinks.
Third party sites including retailers and sites in Skimlinks’ network may place cookies or collect additional information. Details about Skimlinks use of data is set out in their privacy policy.
We do not collect any reader data for the purposes of personalised advertising through our affiliate links. For more information on how we use your data, please visit our privacy policy.