Smart links: one affiliate link that sends each visitor to the best offer

A smart link is a single link that groups several offers. On every click, Rastro chooses the offer that best fits that visitor. For affiliates, it means one link that keeps working when offers are paused, end or change. For the network, it means traffic always goes where it earns most.

How the offer is chosen

On each click, Rastro:

1. Filters the offers that accept the visitor, with the same rules as a normal link: active status, dates, allowed countries, devices and operating systems.
2. Picks the one with the highest EPC (what affiliates earn per click) in the last 7 days, preferably in the visitor's country.
3. Explores: around 10% of the traffic goes to another eligible offer at random. This is how new offers, or offers without enough data yet, get a chance to prove themselves.

If no offer accepts the visitor, they're sent to the smart link's fallback URL, or, without one, to the network's "offer unavailable" page.

Create a smart link

As an affiliate, go to Promote → Smart links → New smart link:

• give it a name;
• choose the offers, among those you have approved access to (up to 20);
• optionally, a fallback URL for visitors no offer accepts.

The link looks like https://track.rastroaff.com/s/Xy7Pq2. You can add sub IDs and UTM parameters exactly as with a normal tracking link.

Good practices

• Group comparable offers: same vertical and similar payout model (for example, several dating offers on CPL). Mixing very different offers makes EPC comparisons less meaningful.
• Cover the countries you send: include offers for every country in your traffic, so fewer visitors end up on the fallback.
• Keep an eye on the reports: conversions are credited to the offer each visitor was sent to, so the usual reports by offer and country show how the smart link is distributing traffic.

When to use a normal link instead

Use a normal tracking link when the advertiser requires traffic to go to a specific offer or landing page, or when you're testing a single offer and want all the traffic on it.

Smart links are available from the Starter plan.