Amazon tracking IDs for YouTube: telling channels and videos apart

A tracking ID is an extra tag on your Associates account. Put a different one in the tag= parameter of different groups of links, and the Associates reports split clicks, orders and earnings by group. Amazon allows up to 100 per account. That is how you find out whether your second channel, your Shorts or one flagship video is pulling its weight. The other half of the subject is less pleasant: a link whose tag is not on your account earns you nothing, and Amazon shows no error when that happens.

What a tracking ID is

When you joined Associates you were given an ID such as yourname-20. That is your first tracking ID. Each additional one is another tag that belongs to the same account and the same payout. The value after tag= in a link decides which ID gets the credit:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0EXAMPLE?tag=yourname-reviews-20

Tracking IDs split your reporting. Nothing on Amazon's help page suggests they change what you are paid. All of them roll up into the same account.

How to create a tracking ID

Amazon's help page says to go to your account in Associates Central and choose "Manage Your Tracking IDs", then add a new one. Once it exists, its numbers appear in the Tracking ID Summary report, and you can filter the other reports to a single ID.

The help page gives a limit of 100 tracking IDs per account and says to contact Associates customer service if you need more. It describes creating IDs and says nothing about renaming or deleting them, so choose names you can live with.

Tracking ID schemes that work for YouTube

With 100 IDs you can't give every video its own. These splits answer the questions creators usually have:

• One per channel. If you run two or more channels on one Associates account, this is the first split to make.
• One per format. Long-form reviews, Shorts and live streams convert very differently. Three IDs show you how differently.
• One per placement. Description links, pinned comments and your website or gear page. Useful if you suspect one placement is doing all the work.
• One per series or product category. Camera gear against desk setup, for example.
• One each for your top earners. Give your five or ten best videos their own IDs and leave the long tail on the channel ID. This is the closest you can get to per-video reporting.

Write the scheme down. An ID called yourname-test2-20 means nothing a year later.

How to put a tracking ID on a link

For a full Amazon URL, replace the value of tag= with the tracking ID you want. For a short link, the tag is baked in when the link is made, so you need to generate a new short link with the right tracking ID selected. Whichever way you do it, open the finished link and read the final URL in the address bar: the tag you intended should be there. The free link checker follows the redirects and shows you where the link lands and whether a tag is present.

Changing the tag on an old link doesn't move its history. Past clicks and orders stay with the old ID in your reports and new ones go to the new ID.

Reading the results

Open the Tracking ID Summary and compare IDs over the same period. Two things are worth looking for. First, the obvious comparison: which group earns per click. Second, an ID that has gone quiet while the videos behind it still get views. That pattern points at the links and not the audience. The earnings report guide explains the columns, and the diagnostic tree covers what to check when a number falls.

What happens with a tag that is not on your account

Amazon's Program Policies say your links must use the Associates ID Amazon assigned to you. A link carrying any other tag is not your link as far as Amazon is concerned. If the tag belongs to another Associate, any credit presumably goes to them. If it belongs to nobody, presumably nobody is credited. Amazon doesn't spell out either case. The product page loads normally either way, so clicking the link tells you nothing.

How a tag that isn't yours ends up in your descriptions

• A typo. yourname-20 typed as yourmame-20, or missing the suffix, then copied into a description template and reused for years.
• An old account. You closed or lost an Associates account and opened a new one with a different ID. Every older video still carries the old tag.
• Someone else's link. A sponsor, a brand's PR contact, an editor or a co-host sent a link with their own tag in it and it went in as-is.
• A copied link. A link lifted from another creator's description or a deals site still carries their tag.
• The wrong country. Each country's Associates programme is separate. A tag from your US account on an amazon.co.uk link is not on your UK account unless you have joined the UK programme and that ID exists there.

How to check your tags

Open "Manage Your Tracking IDs" and keep the list beside you. Then look at the tag= value on the final URL of each link and compare it, character by character, with the list. For short links you have to follow the redirect first. This is practical for your top ten videos and tedious for three hundred.

A Channel Workbench scan reads every description on the channel with read-only YouTube access. Links with no tag at all are flagged without any Amazon credentials, because that is visible in the URL. If you connect your own Amazon Creators API credentials, the scan can also flag links whose tag Amazon reports is not on your account, as a possible issue for you to review. It can't tell you who owns a tag, only that it doesn't appear to be yours. Amazon limits API access to eligible Associates accounts.

Common questions

How many tracking IDs can I have?

Amazon's help page says 100 per account, with more available on request through Associates customer service.

Should every video have its own tracking ID?

On a small channel you could, until you run out. On most channels it is better to group by channel, format or series and reserve individual IDs for the handful of videos that earn the most.

Do tracking IDs affect my commission?

We found nothing in Amazon's help pages saying they do. They are a reporting split within one account.

My old videos use a tag from an account I no longer have. Do they still earn?

Not for your current account. Replace the tag on those links with a current one, starting with the videos that still get the most views.

Is a link with someone else's tag "broken"?

Not for the viewer. It works and they can buy. It is only broken for you, which is why it goes unnoticed.

Tracking ID details follow Amazon's US Associates help pages, last checked October 2026. Related: The missing tag= problem · Reading the earnings report · Earnings dropped? A diagnostic tree · Do Amazon affiliate links expire? · Channel Workbench vs Geniuslink