Creator economy · Platform rules

Where do affiliate links belong in a YouTube description?

We read the platform’s own policy expecting an answer. It does not contain one — and that absence is the most useful thing to know before you write your next description.

Some links here are affiliate links — if you buy, the retailer may pay us a commission at no extra cost to you. We have earned $0 from them so far. Here’s how it works.

Part of: For creators

YouTube’s paid product placements, sponsorships and endorsements policy does not say whether affiliate links count as paid promotion. We read it on 2 September 2026 looking specifically for that. It defines paid product placements, endorsements and sponsorships, it requires creators to tell YouTube when content has “a paid product placement, endorsement, or other commercial relationship”, and it does not address affiliate links by name.

So the binding rule for a US creator is not the platform’s; it is the consumer-protection requirement to disclose a material connection, which is stricter about placement than YouTube is. Put the disclosure where a viewer meets it before the link, not below the fold.

Disney Frozen graphic t-shirt photographed for a US apparel retailer product listing — A description that sells a product is a description that needs a disclosure above it, whatever the platform requires. Image: Hot Topic product listing

Zero-earnings disclosure: LinkToLooks holds no affiliate network approvals and has earned $0 in commission to date. We publish no income screenshots, no creator case studies and no testimonials, because we have none. Every figure here is either computed from live data during this run and dated, or quoted from a named source, or flagged as something we could not verify.

What the policy actually says

The policy covers	What it requires
Paid product placements	Content created for a third party in exchange for something of value
Endorsements	Content made for an advertiser that reflects the creator’s opinions or experiences
Sponsorships	Content financed in whole or in part by a third party
The disclosure setting	Creators must tell YouTube when content has a paid product placement, endorsement or other commercial relationship
The viewer-facing notice	YouTube then displays an “includes paid promotion” message for ten seconds at the start of the video
Prohibited categories	Paid promotion is banned for several categories including illegal products or services and adult content

YouTube paid product placements, sponsorships and endorsements policy, read 2 September 2026.

Notice what is missing from that table. There is no guidance on where links go in a description, no statement about affiliate links specifically, and no required wording.

Disney Snow White Evil Queen mini light-up collectible photographed for a licensed retailer listing — A product link in a description is a commercial relationship whether or not the policy names it as one. Image: Toynk product listing

How to read the gap honestly

Two readings are available and only one of them is defensible.

The convenient reading: the policy does not mention affiliate links, so they are not paid promotion and no disclosure setting is needed.
The defensible reading: the policy asks about “other commercial relationship”, an affiliate arrangement is a commercial relationship, and the cost of ticking the box when you did not have to is a ten-second banner.

We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. But the asymmetry is stark: the downside of over-disclosing is a label; the downside of under-disclosing is a regulator. Where a rule is genuinely ambiguous, pick the reading whose failure mode is survivable.

What we could not establish. Whether YouTube addresses affiliate links in a different document, how it treats them in practice, or whether the paid-promotion setting is expected for them. We read the policy page that governs paid promotion and are reporting exactly what it contains. If YouTube publishes a clearer statement elsewhere, that source beats this page.

Where the links actually go

The practical half. A YouTube description collapses after roughly the first two or three lines, and that fold is the only structural fact that matters for placement.

Disclosure first, above the fold. One short sentence, in plain words, before anything the viewer has to expand to see. A disclosure the viewer must click to reveal is a disclosure most viewers never meet.
Then the links, grouped and labelled. Product name, then link. Not a wall of bare URLs — a viewer scanning for the third item in the video should find it by name.
Order the links the way the video does. Someone who paused at 4:12 is looking for the fourth product, and matching the order is the cheapest usability win available.
Prices in the description go stale. Either date them explicitly or leave them out. Across the categories we measured on 2 September 2026, between 27% and 82% of listings were carrying a price below their own stated list, so a quoted price is a moving target.
Pin a comment with the same links. It survives the description being collapsed and gives you a place to post corrections when a link dies.

Keep reading

The position: write the disclosure for the viewer

An argued claim. The ten-second platform banner is not a disclosure, and treating it as one is the most common mistake in this whole area.

It appears at the start of the video, before the viewer knows which products are involved, and it disappears. By the time somebody is reading your description and deciding which link to click, the banner is long gone. A sentence at the top of the description reaches the person at the moment they are about to act on it, which is what a disclosure is for.

Do both. The platform setting is a box you tick once; the sentence is the one that does the work.

Frequently asked

Does YouTube allow affiliate links in descriptions?

The paid-promotion policy we read does not address affiliate links either way. It governs paid product placements, endorsements and sponsorships and requires creators to disclose commercial relationships to YouTube.

Do I have to tick the paid promotion box for affiliate links?

The policy does not say. It asks about a paid product placement, endorsement or other commercial relationship. We would tick it, because over-disclosing costs a ten-second label and under-disclosing does not.

Where should the affiliate disclosure go?

Above the fold in the description, before the links, in plain words. A disclosure the viewer has to expand the description to see is one most viewers never read.

Should I put prices in my description?

Only with a date. Between 27% and 82% of listings in the categories we measured on 2 September 2026 were already below their stated list price, so an undated price goes wrong quickly.

Sources

YouTube: paid product placements, sponsorships & endorsements, read 2 September 2026. Everything this page reports about the policy comes from that document, including what it does not contain.
Discount shares: CJ product API, US advertisers, in-stock filter, pulled 2 September 2026.
This page is not legal advice. Disclosure obligations depend on your jurisdiction.

Last verified 2 September 2026 against YouTube’s published paid-promotion policy and live US retailer listings, both read during this run

Keep reading

How this guide was made. We research and draft these guides with AI, then a person checks every price, link and factual claim against the source before it publishes. We work this way because it lets us re-verify prices across hundreds of guides in a day, which is what keeps the numbers here current; it does not decide what we recommend. Anything we could not verify is labelled as unverified rather than filled in.

LinkToLooks identification desk — we identify objects out of real photographs and check every listing by eye before we link it. Empty beats wrong. About the desk · published 2 September 2026.