What is a Smartlink?
Last updated on February 11, 2021 by Francisco Guerreiro 5 min readTable of Contents
ToggleWhat is a Smartlink?
Today We’re gonna tell you what a Smartlink is and how it actually works.
A Smartlink is a great tool that makes your life as an affiliate marketer easier than ever before.
Instead of using several offer links in different campaigns, you create a single Smartlink in a few seconds and implement it in all your campaigns.
This is a great timesaver and lets you get on with finding high converting traffic sources.
There are all sorts of ways to use Smartlinks as part of your strategy, as you’ll see.
How do Smartlinks Work?
Have you ever wondered what makes the Smartlink so smart?
It automatically recognizes where your traffic is coming from and shows each user the best performing offer.
It does this for all traffic segments such as GEO, device, operating system, carrier, connection type and more.
This is especially useful if you are finding it difficult to monetize all of your traffic with just a handful of offers.
For example, let’s say you have a RON campaign that converts well for one particular traffic type.
This is all well and good, but what happens to the traffic you can’t send to your offer?
You can set up filters in your tracker to redirect this traffic to another offer.
However, doing this for all traffic types can be exhausting.
Instead, you could just set up a Smartlink which will automatically find the best offers for all of your traffic types.
This gives you the assurance that you will still be able to profit from targeting that isn’t a perfect match for your offer.
So Smartlinks attempt to secure the maximum revenue for you, regardless of where your traffic is coming from.
The offer selection is performed by our built-in powerful algorithm, considering the vertical (adult or mainstream), the country, operator, operating system and device type of the users seeing your campaign.
This algorithm will only stop displaying offers that have a low conversion ratio and keeps the best performing offers on rotation.
And it’s not only the offers that they select.
They’ll also be able to select the highest converting landers and offers combo to generate the highest EPC using fully responsive designs.
How do You Use Them?
You can use Smartlinks just like you would use direct linking.
Simply generate your link and use this in your campaigns and the Smartlink will do all the rest of the work for you.
This can also be a great way to test traffic sources and monetize your remnant traffic.
This is the part of the traffic that you haven’t specifically targeted for your offer.
Or, if you prefer, you can simply use the Smartlink to optimize all of your traffic on a per-click basis.
However, if you choose to go down this route you won’t have as much control over what offers are being shown.
You’ll also find that as offers are frequently swapped out, you’re ROI could fluctuate by a fairly wide margin.
This is because different offers have different payouts.
You also need to be careful with Smartlinks as they’re choice of landers can be quite aggressive.
This can lead to your campaign getting rejected due to non-compliance as forbidden landers and offers that you have no control over could be shown to users through no fault of your own.
One of the appeals of Smartlinks is that they usually have cheaper bids and less competition.
This is because you are not bidding exclusively on one specific traffic segment.
This is great for finding the gold in different traffic sources.
Remember though that you won’t always convert this traffic source at the same rate, so you will still want to have your winning offers in play alongside your Smartlink campaigns.
Can I Choose My Own Offers?
While you don’t choose your own offers when using Smartlinks you can find traffic that is converting well.
This is useful when you don’t have an offer for all your traffic types or want to find out which segment converts the best.
You can always then ask your AM which offers they have which are converting well for that particular traffic profile.
Once you know this you can use that offer in your campaign for more consistent profits.
Another way you can use Smartlinks is to monetize the traffic in low performing segments.
Then, set up a campaign running against your Smartlink and monitor which converts the best.
Note: Some offers are only available for use with Smartlinks. You can always check with your AM to find out if this is the case in the segment you are targeting.
Can I Make Money with Smartlinks?
While Smartlinks are an amazing tool for affiliates they’re not an instant win button for making money.
They can be used to find the best performing offer for any GEO, lander and offer combination.
However, for long-term success, you should be using Smartlinks strategically.
Smartlinks work by finding the best offer for your traffic segment.
While they can boost your conversions it’s better to view them as a tool you can use and not just a simple fire-and-forget method to making profits.
Most affiliates would typically use Smartlinks in connection with a pre-determined strategy such as a safety net for capped offers, using a back button redirect script or second chance offers.
How do I Set Them Up?
Creating your first Smartlink on Mobidea is easy.
First login to your account and click the Smartlinks link from the Affiliate Network dropdown menu.
Next choose your vertical: Mainstream, Push, Adult, or Mainstream Middle East PIN/SMS flow, depending on your traffic source.
You’ll then see the option to activate your Smartlink.
Make sure you read and agree to the rules first as illegal traffic could result in non-payment.
Your Smartlink is now ready for use.
Smartlinks are compatible with Postback URL, APK offers, Auto Download Offers, and Back Offers.
You can additionally use sub ids to track your link performance from various placements and use these in your tracker.
Click the stats icon to view your Smartlink stats and use the Country, Browser, OS, Operators, and Device Type parameters to filter your results.
Summary
Smartlinks are easy to set up and offer a great deal of versatility to affiliates.
They’re a great way to monetize RON or remnant traffic and can save valuable time.
It’s important to remember that the quality of traffic is still important and you should test your own offers against the Smartlink.
On the flip side, Smartlinks can have lower payouts and make it difficult to effectively monitor traffic quality.
Finally, not all Smartlinks are created equal!
It depends on the network’s database of offers and landers and how well they are optimized for every possible traffic segment.
The Smartlinks we use at Mobidea are rigorously tested against multiple segments and traffic sources.
They include thousands of top-performing offers and are supported by powerful algorithms that work to boost your ROI across all verticals, GEOs, operators, operating system and device types, and carriers.
Ready to get started?
Francisco Guerreiro
Networks Account Manager
Francisco is a Portuguese swimmer who also happens to love the beautiful - yet challenging - art of media buying. He's super clever, analyzes data like the best of them, and is currently part of the Networks Team. He spends a lot of time creating the best articles possible for you to enjoy so pay attention and dive into one of his precious content gems right now!
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