Affiliate marketing glossary
Cookie window
In one sentence
The cookie window is the length of time after a click during which a resulting purchase is still credited to the affiliate, commonly ranging from 24 hours to 90 days.
If a program has a 7-day cookie and a customer clicks your link on Monday but buys the following Wednesday, you are not paid. This makes the cookie window one of the most important terms to check before building content around a program.
Short windows favor content published close to the moment of purchase intent, a live sale, a specific product recommendation, a launch. Long windows reward evergreen content that accumulates traffic over time.
Windows are shortening across the industry as browser restrictions on third-party cookies tighten. Server-side and first-party tracking are increasingly what makes longer windows enforceable at all.
Worked example
The Monday click, the Wednesday purchase
A reader clicks your link on a 24-hour program on Monday evening, adds the item to a basket and does not check out. They return on Wednesday and buy. You are paid nothing, because the window closed on Tuesday evening. The same purchase on a 30-day program pays in full. Nothing about your content changed; only the term did.
Common questions
Cookie window, answered
What happens when a cookie window expires?
The tracking that credits the sale to you stops applying, so a purchase after the window pays nothing even though your link caused it. The click is not deleted and it still shows in your reporting, which is why click counts routinely run far ahead of conversions on short-window programs.
Does clicking a different affiliate link cancel mine?
On almost every program, yes. Affiliate networks run last-click attribution, so a later tracked click overwrites the earlier one for the remainder of its own window. This is the mechanism by which a coupon site captures commission on a purchase that your content created.
Is a longer cookie window always better?
It is always better on identical terms, but it is rarely the deciding factor on its own. A 90-day window on a program paying 2% of a $40 basket is worth less than a 7-day window on a program paying 10% of a $400 one. Cookie window matters most where the purchase is considered, so it should be read against average order value rather than in isolation.
Why are cookie windows getting shorter?
Browser restrictions on third-party cookies have made long windows harder to enforce technically, so advertisers have trimmed them to match what they can actually track. Server-side and first-party tracking are what keep longer windows meaningful, and support for those varies by advertiser.
Keep reading
More from the glossary
Every term here is written to answer one question completely, then point at the next one worth asking.
Sub-affiliate network
A sub-affiliate network is a company that holds approved relationships with affiliate programs on major networks and lets smaller publishers and creators promote those programs under its account, sharing the commission it receives.
Affiliate network
An affiliate network is a platform that connects advertisers running affiliate programs with publishers who promote them, handling tracking, reporting and payment between the two.
EPC (earnings per click)
EPC is the average commission earned per click sent to an advertiser, calculated as total commission divided by total clicks over a given period.
Cross-device tracking
Cross-device tracking links a click on one device to a purchase on another, so an affiliate is credited when a customer discovers a product on mobile and buys on desktop.
Sub-ID
A sub-ID is a custom parameter appended to an affiliate link that lets a partner segment their reporting by campaign, platform, post or placement.
Commission
Commission is the amount an advertiser pays an affiliate for a qualifying action, expressed either as a percentage of order value or as a flat amount per action.
Apply what you just read
Join free and check the commission, cookie window and revenue share on every program before you commit content to it.