Skimlinks’s Automatic Overwrite to Help Google Affiliate Network Publishers is Now Live
— Solution eases transition for publishers in advance of GAN shutdown to minimize financial impact
SAN FRANCISCO, July 31, 2013 – Skimlinks, the leader in content monetization, today announced that its automated solution to help former Google Affiliate Network (GAN) publishers easily transition their inactive GAN links to working affiliated links is now live.
When a GAN merchant link is detected in a Skimlinks publisher’s content, it will automatically convert to an active, affiliated link from the company’s network of more than 18,000 retailers. If the former GAN retailer is not in the Skimlinks network, the overwrite will prevent the link from breaking, so that the content publisher can still potentially monetize it and earn a commission.
“Google’s decision to shutter its affiliate network left many publishers who depended on GAN revenues in a lurch, so we decided to act fast,” said Mark Macdonald, Senior Director, Account Management. “This release is a testament to our nimble engineering team, who worked skillfully to develop this automatic overwrite in just a few weeks, so that GAN publishers could continue to earn commissions from monetizable merchants with minimal interruption.”
This update will not affect publishers’ existing links posted for other networks, but it will convert any un-affiliated links in addition to the inactive GAN links.
Skimlinks has long been a champion of rewarding publishers for the role they play in creating purchase intent. Last week, Skimlinks unveiled research that details how critical the work of content publishers is to driving e-commerce, and showed how publishers are being shortchanged by the Last Click attribution model in affiliate marketing.
Skimlinks first announced its intention to develop an automatic overwrite to lessen the financial impact the shutdown would have on publishers in April.
About Skimlinks
Founded in 2007, Skimlinks is the leading content monetization platform that rewards publishers for the role their content plays in creating purchase intent. Skimlinks processes 300 million clicks a month on over 140,000 sites around the web, including Conde Nast, Gawker, AOL Europe, WordPress, Hearst Digital, Haymarket Consumer Media, Telegraph Media Group, and many more. Skimlinks is a team of 55 with offices in London, San Francisco, and New York. Sign up to be a publisher here. Please see our new Japanese-language website: http://skimlinks.co.jp.
