Please Answer - Redirecting vs Direct Linking

[friendclk]

For some reason this is not clear to me anymore.

When a company says no direct linking in paid search, does that mean that I can't have my own site set up as the display url for the Ad, and the page on my site simply redirects to the companies site?

This seems to be redirecting, not direct linking, am I wrong?

And I don't use Google, I use 2nd Tier.

And I never direct link unless its allowed.

[dburk]

Hi friendclk,

Yes, that is direct linking. Even though you are passing through a redirect you are still direct linking the ad to the merchant's page if their page is the final landing page after all redirects.

Usually a merchant doesn't want you direct linking because they are already advertising in paid search and they don't want your ads limiting their impressions.

If you cannot direct link then you need to make sure that you are not building a bridge page, which is a violation of AdWords' policy. You must be able to bypass their sales page and send buyers directly to their order form, otherwise they are unsuitable for AdWords affiliate marketing.