The newest version of Firefox, and we can assume each moving forward, will be blocking tracking platforms by default. Most notably is Google Analytics, Facebook and other large sites. So before anyone else says it, Firefox killed affiliate marketing and it is now dead.
If you believe that Firefox killed an entire industry with this one change, then you’re done, don’t continue reading and go watch videos on YouTube, which is also being blocked oddly enough. =0)
If you don’t believe that affiliate marketing is dead, then you belong on this post.
Read below and you’ll learn why and how Firefox blocking cookies as well as tracking code placed on the merchant’s own website may impact your affiliate tracking, and your revenue, from both an affiliate and merchant standpoint. I also share a step-by-step with screenshots on how to see what the impact on your own revenue will be. After, I share new tracking options that you as a merchant can implement, or if you’re an affiliate marketer, you can give to your merchants to help provide extra layers of protection for your income.
First, here is the blog post that started the discussion in the SEO industry, but I didn’t see anything from the affiliate blogs and resource sites which was odd (and why I’m writing this post). Here is another post from the Mozilla website which sources the site and solution they may or may not follow for which sites to block ads and tracking from. Now the important one, this is the potential list of sites and ad platforms (including affiliate networks and servers which will possibly no longer be tracked).
If you look at the list, almost every major affiliate network, CPA network and affiliate platform is listed. But remember, this also blocks tracking code within a website. That means your monetization scripts like viglink and skimlinks will potentially be blocked. They’re both on the list too. I hope they are able to find a work around because they do represent a huge network of sites and a lot of my friends use them on their blogs. But no, that is not a recommendation from me that you should work with them, you need to evaluate your own business model.
I didn’t check all traditional affiliate and CPA networks, but everyone that came to mind is there, including the URL redirects and server redirect links…it is very complete. So now that we know sales and traffic may no longer track, and unlike ITP compliance with apple and Safari, I haven’t seen any network give a solution. So let me help either alleviate your fears, or give you reason to invest in a solution.
It’s also important to note that this isn’t only wiping cookies, it is blocking code installed on a merchant’s own website. That is why many of the newer, advanced and cross device solutions may not be effective on this. They rely on code placed within and across a merchant’s website, and this new form of blocking will possibly block that too.
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