How to identify the right publishers for your program
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A relevant publisher is one whose audience buys what you sell, and whose methods respect your terms. This guide helps you find them with Match AI, then decide fast.
Start from your goal
Pick your goal first, then target the affiliate types that serve it, described in The different affiliate types.
| YOUR GOAL | TYPES TO TARGET | WHAT THEY EXPECT FROM YOU |
|---|---|---|
| Profitable sales, fast | Deals, Cashback, Price comparison / Buying guide | Dedicated, dated promo codes, a clear commission, and an up-to-date product feed for comparison sites. |
| Build brand awareness | Blogs / Specialised sites, Media, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest | Quality visuals, accurate product information, and often a product to try. |
| Generate leads (sign-ups, quotes, trials) | Emailing, Blogs / Specialised sites | Pay per lead, a simple sign-up page, and a clear definition of a valid lead. |
| Launch a new product | YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Blogs / Specialised sites | The product before its release, a launch date, and ready creatives. |
| Enter a new country | The same types, with publishers from that country | A translated program page, visuals in the local language, and terms suited to the market. |
In Affilae, you set this goal in your program Configuration, in the Match AI Configuration block: Sales & ROI, Visibility & Influence or Traffic & Acquisition. Each goal checks a set of affiliate types, which pre-fill the Match AI Affiliate type filter, editable at any time.
Find your publishers with Match AI
Match AI suggests publishers suited to your program, and lets you contact them.
- In the sidebar, under TOOLS, click Match AI.
- If you manage several programs, select the right one at the top right: suggestions are specific to each program.
- Browse the cards: name, affiliate type and country, then followers and engagement rate for a social profile, or monthly traffic for a website.
- Click a card to open the publisher’s profile. The Why this match? section explains the suggestion in a few lines written by AI; Conversions (90d), Clicks (90d) and Collaborations show how experienced they are.
- Found a good match? Click Contact at the bottom of the profile: the Send a message window opens (400 characters max).
Match AI only suggests profiles that are active or recently registered, and it hides your current partners by default. Above the cards, Sort offers Affinity (profiles close to your brand), Revenue (those who generate sales) and Balanced, the default setting. The filter button at the top right opens the Filters panel: start with Affiliate type, Countries and Min engagement rate (%). For everything else about the tool, see Match AI: find the best partners for your brand.
Looking for a specific publisher by name? The Marketplace entry in the sidebar also gives access to a publisher directory, with a keyword search.
Respond to publishers who found you
Publishers who discover your program page apply on their own. By default, their application arrives as Pending: the decision is yours.
- In the sidebar, click Programs, then your program name, then My affiliates.
- Filter the table on the Pending status. The Origins filter can, for example, isolate applications that came from Match AI.
- Click a publisher’s name to open their profile, then score them with the scorecard below.
- In the Status column, click the pencil, then Approve and choose their Affiliate group, or Cancel to decline, with an optional reason.
A two-minute scorecard to decide
Score each publisher from 0 to 2 on five criteria, after opening their site or account: a card gives you an idea, their actual content settles it.
Our advice: a 0 on methods is enough to rule a publisher out, whatever their total. Watch out for three practices in particular, and when in doubt, ask the publisher:
- Undisclosed incentivized traffic: users are rewarded for a click or a purchase.
- Bidding on your brand name, if your Authorizations and your terms forbid it.
- Promo codes shared outside their scope: assign one code per partner (How to create and track vouchers).
Best practices for your first recruits
- Answer applications quickly. A motivated publisher who waits for weeks moves on to another program: check My affiliates every week.
- Review your partners after a few weeks. Follow up with those who generate no clicks, and replace those who no longer answer.
Three examples to get you started
Home & Garden, home decor and gardening. Goal: raise awareness before spring. In Match AI, the brand sorts by Affinity and filters on Blogs / Specialised sites, Pinterest and Instagram. Its scorecard keeps six publishers scoring 8 or more, including two gardening blogs.
A cosmetics brand. In Match AI, it hesitates between an account with 300,000 followers and a creator with 15,000. The cards show their engagement rates: the small community reacts far more. The brand writes to the creator with Contact, then assigns her a dedicated promo code once the partnership is approved.
An online subscription service that wants sign-ups for its free trial. In Match AI, it filters on Emailing and Blogs / Specialised sites, then sets a Min conversion rate (%). It writes to five profiles, with a personal message for each, and later declines an applicant who bids on its brand name, which its terms forbid.
3Next stepReach out to publishersRelated articles
- 10 tips to find affiliates
- The different affiliate types
- Match AI: find the best partners for your brand
- Understanding partnership statuses
- Quickly add an affiliate to your program
Frequently asked questions
The Match AI menu only appears once at least one of your programs has been analyzed by Affilae. If it is missing, write to your Affilae contact or to support. In the meantime, publishers’ applications keep arriving in My affiliates.
Fill in your program’s Match AI Configuration block: the Configure matching profile gear at the top of the Match AI page takes you straight there. Also polish your program page description: Match AI relies on your description to bring you closer to publishers whose content resembles yours.
No. A big account whose audience does not match yours, or that rarely reacts, seldom sells. In Match AI, a social profile’s card shows its engagement rate, and the Min engagement rate (%) filter rules out accounts with little interaction.
It depends on your goal and your margin: these sites mostly help close a sale, at the end of the buying journey. If you accept them, assign a dedicated code to each one and write your rules in your Affiliate terms.
On their card in Match AI, and in the Type column of My affiliates, with the Types filter. Do not confuse it with the Publisher type column, which shows their legal status: Private, Self-employed or Company.
The Affiliate validation setting is in your program Configuration, Global Settings block, Manage button. With Manual, the default, each application arrives as Pending; with Automatic, it is approved right away. We recommend staying on manual at first, so you can apply your scorecard.