Difference between revisions of "LinkGroups"

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Link groups allow affiliates to use the same tracking link to split traffic between several possible destinations.  Groups can be either random or self optimizing.
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A Link Group (otherwise known as a SmartLink) is a way for an affiliate to split traffic across multiple different destinations.  This split can be targeted, optimized, or random. Link groups get their own tracking link and support pass through and dynamic values just the same as regular tracking links. 
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__TOC__
 
__TOC__
  
== Creating Link Groups ==
 
Link groups are managed on the /internal.php?page=link_groups page.  To create a new link group, click the Create New Group link.  You can also use the pencil icon to edit existing groups.
 
[[File:Link_group_1.PNG|frame|800px|center||||Figure 1.1 - Create or Edit Link Group]]
 
  
==Link Group Details==
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==Performance Metrics==
When details of a link group, you can see the optimization settings and the link url, add new links to the group, or modify the group settings.
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===Random===
[[File:Link_group_2.PNG|frame|800px|center||||Figure 1.2 - Modify Link Group Details]]
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Random is the simplest link group.  You add links to the group and traffic is randomly distributed across all links in the group.  This is not affected by percentage random or any other settings
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===Optimized===
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Optimized links choose the best performing link based on your specified performance criteria. You may base your optimization on epc, rate of conversion, or rate for custom event types if any exist.
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*'''Stats Scope''' - Specifies if you want to consider all of your traffic, all of the traffic network wide, or just traffic to this specific group.
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*'''Stats Date Range''' - Specifies the time range to include in the optimization.
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*'''Hit Threshold''' - Specifies the minimum number of hits required for each of the possible landing pages before the best performing link will be used.
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*'''Percent Random''' - Specifies what percentage of traffic will continue to to be distributed randomly while the rest of the traffic is optimized.
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===Targeted===
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Targeted links allow you to direct traffic based on date and time, country, and device type. Links get added to the individual targets just like you add them to any other link group.
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*'''Hours''' - Restricts this target to only specific hours of the day
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*'''Days''' - Restricts this target to only specific days of the week
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*'''Authorized / Unauthorized Countries''' - Restricts this target to geoip location
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*'''Device Type''' - Restricts this target to specific device types
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Targeted links can be either randomly distributed or optimized by epc.
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==Adding Links==
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There are three places to add links to an existing group:<br>
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1) From the link groups page,  paste a link, choose a group, confirm that it is correct and hit 'Add Link to Group'.<br>
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2) From the edit link group page, click 'Add a New Link'. Paste in the link, confirm that it is correct and hit 'Add Link to Group'.<br>
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3) From the linkcodes page for a specific offer, click 'Group'. This will bring you to th link groups page from method 1 with the link already in place.<br>
  
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== Deep Linking ==
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Individual links can have deep links hard coded into them. For example, using the following linkcode to link to <nowiki>http://example.natsfornetworks.com/landing_page1.html</nowiki>:
  
*Link Group Name: is just for your reference purposes.
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<pre>
*Group Linkcode: determined automatically by the system. This link will always redirect to one of the linkcodes you added to the group.
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http://example.natsfornetworks.com/track/MjozOjE/landing_page1.html
*Performance Metric: Random, EPC, or Conversion Rate.
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</pre>
*Stats Scope: Should the group optimize according to the best performance across the entire network, your whole account, or just this specific group.
 
*Stats Date Range: How many days worth of stats are included for optimization.
 
*Hit Threshold: Defines the data collection period. The Group will always be treated as random until at least this many hits have been registered at each linkcode in the group.
 
*Percent Random: During the optimization period, this % of traffic will still be treated as random.
 
  
==Adding Links to Link Groups==
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Affiliates can also manipulate the query string. For example, the affiliate can pass the variable ''extra_var=1234'' to a landing page by appending a question mark and the variable assignment to their linkcode:
[[File:Link_group_3.PNG|frame|800px|center||||Figure 1.3 - Adding Links from Group Details Page]]
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<pre>
On the link group details page, there is a link to Add a New Link.  You can paste in any valid link to add it to this group.
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http://example.natsfornetworks.com/track/MjozOjE/?extra_var=1234
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</pre>
  
[[File:Link_group_4.PNG|frame|800px|center||||Figure 1.4 - Adding Links from Main Link Groups Page]]
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Similarly you can deep link the link group tracking link and have the details pushed through to the individual links
You can also add links to any group from the main link groups page.  Simply put in the linkcode you wish to add and choose from your list of available groups.
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For Example <nowiki>http://example.natsfornetworks.com/lgtrack/Mi4z?ocid=xxx</nowiki> will go to  
A preview will display to help ensure that you know exactly where the link you are adding will go.
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<pre>
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http://example.natsfornetworks/com/track/yourlink?_ocid=xxx
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</pre>
  
==Using Link Groups==
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== Model Link Group ==
Because you can use any valid tracking link into your groups, you can save subaff and other pass through fields into the links as you add them into your group.
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An admin can flag one link group as the 'model' to use for other affiliates without manually setting it up on each account.
Fiels passed into the Group Linkcode will also persist to the linkcode that is used for each click.  This means that you can pass your _ocid and subaff into the Group Linkcode dynamically just as if you were using the direct links.
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Once a model has been chosen, you can continue to edit that model, and either push those changes to all affiliates using the model, or update specific affiliate accounts to check for changes.  From the admin you can create the model link group on any affiliate that does not already have it. There is also a configuration option to create the model link group on all new affiliate accounts.  This config can be found in the configuration admin on the "Affiliates" sub page, under the "Signup" section: "Model Link Group on Signup".
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[[Category:NATS for Networks Affiliate Information]]

Revision as of 10:10, 25 June 2019

{{NATS for Networks Manual | show_for_affiliates_section = true }

A Link Group (otherwise known as a SmartLink) is a way for an affiliate to split traffic across multiple different destinations. This split can be targeted, optimized, or random. Link groups get their own tracking link and support pass through and dynamic values just the same as regular tracking links.



Performance Metrics

Random

Random is the simplest link group. You add links to the group and traffic is randomly distributed across all links in the group. This is not affected by percentage random or any other settings

Optimized

Optimized links choose the best performing link based on your specified performance criteria. You may base your optimization on epc, rate of conversion, or rate for custom event types if any exist.

  • Stats Scope - Specifies if you want to consider all of your traffic, all of the traffic network wide, or just traffic to this specific group.
  • Stats Date Range - Specifies the time range to include in the optimization.
  • Hit Threshold - Specifies the minimum number of hits required for each of the possible landing pages before the best performing link will be used.
  • Percent Random - Specifies what percentage of traffic will continue to to be distributed randomly while the rest of the traffic is optimized.

Targeted

Targeted links allow you to direct traffic based on date and time, country, and device type. Links get added to the individual targets just like you add them to any other link group.

  • Hours - Restricts this target to only specific hours of the day
  • Days - Restricts this target to only specific days of the week
  • Authorized / Unauthorized Countries - Restricts this target to geoip location
  • Device Type - Restricts this target to specific device types

Targeted links can be either randomly distributed or optimized by epc.

Adding Links

There are three places to add links to an existing group:
1) From the link groups page, paste a link, choose a group, confirm that it is correct and hit 'Add Link to Group'.
2) From the edit link group page, click 'Add a New Link'. Paste in the link, confirm that it is correct and hit 'Add Link to Group'.
3) From the linkcodes page for a specific offer, click 'Group'. This will bring you to th link groups page from method 1 with the link already in place.

Deep Linking

Individual links can have deep links hard coded into them. For example, using the following linkcode to link to http://example.natsfornetworks.com/landing_page1.html:

http://example.natsfornetworks.com/track/MjozOjE/landing_page1.html

Affiliates can also manipulate the query string. For example, the affiliate can pass the variable extra_var=1234 to a landing page by appending a question mark and the variable assignment to their linkcode:

http://example.natsfornetworks.com/track/MjozOjE/?extra_var=1234 

Similarly you can deep link the link group tracking link and have the details pushed through to the individual links For Example http://example.natsfornetworks.com/lgtrack/Mi4z?ocid=xxx will go to

http://example.natsfornetworks/com/track/yourlink?_ocid=xxx

Model Link Group

An admin can flag one link group as the 'model' to use for other affiliates without manually setting it up on each account. Once a model has been chosen, you can continue to edit that model, and either push those changes to all affiliates using the model, or update specific affiliate accounts to check for changes. From the admin you can create the model link group on any affiliate that does not already have it. There is also a configuration option to create the model link group on all new affiliate accounts. This config can be found in the configuration admin on the "Affiliates" sub page, under the "Signup" section: "Model Link Group on Signup".