Coupon websites must play fairly even towards the advertisers and the visitors alike
Coupon websites are firmly established within affiliate marketing. They can bring in a conversion added value to both the visitor and the advertiser.
SEO war that ruins the market
However, a “war” on who will have more coupons or “actions” irrespective of added value of this activity has currently broke out within competitors among the coupon websites. They´re doing their best to get “more” out of it and Google has moved them higher. And, therefore, we as a network must intervene. If we did not that, the whole segment of coupon publishers would continue to decline and advertisers would increasingly often ban it
We must be fair towards to the publishers and the advertisers alike. We build the network on quality and support of both sides. As a result, “quasi”-actions on the coupon websites must come to an end. It´s fair towards neither the advertisers nor the website visitors.
Coupon websites are permitted to display:
- Real coupons coming from the network administration
- A clickthrough to a subsite where there are large-scaled, real and important bargain sales
- Information on when shipment is free
- Communicate a discount while signing into the e-shop / newsletter
- Short-term bargain sales of a particular product / branch (with a clickthrough to a particular subsite of the e-shop)
- If permitted by an advertiser, use “external coupons” which a publisher finds on the website, in e-mail, or on social networks.
In general, things that have an added value and are not there just for one to click on them can be used.
In case that a coupon website keeps on its pages also already invalid coupons in respective campaigns, such coupons must be clearly separated from valid coupons and visibly identified as invalid coupons. The code itself must not be displayed or legible and it must impossible to click through an invalid code into an e-shop.
Coupon websites are banned to display:
- Actions of type “Discounts up to 70% in section XXX” and argue that among the 1,000 products in this section there is some having a 70% discount. This is unfair towards the visitor and it´s clickbait.
It´s prohibited to give such actions “just for them to be there“, i.e. they are not communicated by an advertiser, it has not been agreed upon by a publisher directly with an advertiser, they are not time-limited, and they are on a copon website just for actions to be as many as possible. Then it´s a fictional action which is not accepted and contravenes our rules.
- Fictitious or dysfunctional coupons
- Outdated coupons – if you can´t just keep up with checking the timeliness or the validity of a coupon is unknown (except for long-term coupons), then simply do not display it. Neither of these things is an excuse.
- Those coupons that are not intended for affiliate marketing
- Take over coupons from other websites (these are frequently intended just for a particular publisher)
- External coupons (received outside the network), unless an advertiser permits this
In case that a coupon website continues to communicate in the prohibited ways, it´ll be imposed a penalty pursuant to the GBTC and excluded from the entire network in case of a repeated violation. And you know that Dognet sticks to its word on this – we´re not interested in co-operation if one side fails to play fairly and breaks the terms.
