Affiliate links decay. Programs close or change networks, products are discontinued, landing pages move, and terms that allowed a placement last spring may not allow it now. None of this announces itself. A short monthly audit catches most of it before your audience does.
Minutes 0–5: list what’s live
Open the log you keep of published pieces (if you don’t have one, this month’s audit starts it). For each piece, note the URL, the product, the program, and where the link appears. Sort by traffic so the pieces people actually see get checked first.
Minutes 5–12: click every link that matters
- Does it still land on the product you described, not a homepage or a 404?
- Is the product still available at roughly the price your content implies?
- Does the program’s dashboard still show clicks for this link? A sudden zero can mean broken tracking.
- If you use a link shortener or redirect, does the program still permit it?
Minutes 12–16: re-read the terms you rely on
Program terms change. Check the pages you depend on most for commission basis, cookie or attribution window, prohibited placements, and payout rules. Note the date you checked. If a term changed in a way that affects a recommendation, update the piece—or remove the link—rather than leaving outdated claims live.
Minutes 16–20: disclosures and next actions
Confirm each recommendation still discloses the commission relationship clearly and close to the link, and that video endorsements disclose within the video itself. The FTC’s guidance is the reference to reread. Then write down at most three fixes for the coming week. Fixing the highest-traffic broken link usually beats writing something new.
Bring the log to a coaching session and we’ll look at it together: which pieces are earning attention, which links are leaking, and what’s worth updating first.