The Link-Type report shows performance of the differing link and placement types offered by the Associates program as it relates to product orders and shipments. The report is organized much the same way as the different Build Link options offered in Associate Central.

Column definitions

• Link Type – The type of link or placement included on the Associate site.
• Impressions – The number of times that the link or placement was displayed on the Associate site during the period specified. For ads that are served by Amazon, the impression count is either measured by the number of times that we our ad server displayed the placement on your site. In early 2005, we also changed the format for the text links and basic display links built in Associate central to include a 1 pixel gif. Text links built since then also allow us to measure the number of times the gif was requested and thus count impressions for these link types as well. The impressions of some ad placements cannot be tracked. For those, the impression information is defaulted to N/A.
• Click-through Rate – This is the percent of time that users clicked on a displayed ad; number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. Please note that if the URL provided for a new text link has been altered to remove the single pixel gif, it is possible that the system will record more clicks than impressions.
• Clicks – The number of click-throughs from an Associate site that arrived during the specified period of the report through the link type described in the left hand column.
• Your Conversion – The percentage of clicks that resulted in orders. As discussed in the Order Report overview, the timing of the report can affect the results in this line. If a recent click resulted in a customer adding a product to their cart for future purchase, no order will appear until the customer completes the check-out process (assuming it occurs within 90 days).
• Items Ordered – Total number of items (direct and indirect) that were ordered during the timeframe specified through the Link Type on the left.
• Items Dispatched - The number of items referred through the link type in the left-hand column that were shipped in the period specified.
• Referral Commission Earnings – The total commissions earned on the shipments resulting from the link referenced in the left-hand column. Please note: The commission income earnings generated refer ONLY to product sales. Commissions earned from any link for indirect DVD subscriptions are not reflected in these earnings. For more information on earnings from indirect DVD subscription sign-ups, please refer to the overview of the Earnings report.

A note on timeframes for the report

The report will only show the impressions, clicks, orders and dispatches for the timeframe specified. Associates get credit for items placed in the cart within the 24-hour session window and then purchased from the cart within 90 days. Over shorter periods of time, it is possible to see orders without clicks or clicks without the expected number of orders or dispatches. For example, it is possible to see orders that were placed in a shopping cart a long time ago and thus have no clicks associated within the timeframe. It is also possible to see clicks that may have resulted in additions to the shopping cart but where the customer has not yet decided to check out or where the order has been completed but the product has not yet shipped.