Most affiliate applications are reviewed by a real person, not just an algorithm. That person has hundreds of applications to get through. They will spend 60 to 90 seconds on your site, and in that time they are looking for specific signals that tell them whether you are a legitimate publisher.
The Homepage First Impression
The first thing a reviewer does is look at your homepage. They want to see that the site has a clear topic, looks professional, and is actively maintained. A homepage with recent posts, a clear navigation menu, and no broken elements passes this check.
The About Page
After the homepage, the About page is the most visited page during a site review. Reviewers want to know who runs the site and why. Your About page does not need to be elaborate — a few honest paragraphs about who you are and what your site covers is enough. What fails is a blank About page or one that has placeholder text.
Privacy Policy
A privacy policy is non-negotiable. Every major affiliate network requires one. It needs to cover what data you collect, how you use it, and whether you share it with third parties. It also needs to mention that you use cookies if you do. A complete privacy policy in your footer is a clear approval signal.
Affiliate Disclosure
Your affiliate disclosure should be easy to find. Best practice is to include a brief disclosure statement at the top of any content page and a full disclosure page linked from your footer. Reviewers look for this specifically because networks are required to verify that their publishers comply with FTC guidelines.
Content Quality and Recency
Reviewers will click on one or two of your articles. They are checking whether the content is original, whether it is readable, and whether it is relevant to the program they manage. Articles that are clearly written for a human reader — not stuffed with keywords — score well here.
Recency matters too. A blog whose most recent post was two years ago looks abandoned. Reviewers want to see that you are actively publishing.
Contact Information
A working contact page or email address is another trust signal. It tells the reviewer that there is a real person behind the site who can be reached if there are compliance issues. A contact form or a clearly listed email address is sufficient.
What Causes Automatic Rejection
Sites are automatically rejected when they have prohibited content (gambling, adult, get-rich-quick schemes without disclaimers), no original content at all, pages that return 404 errors, or sites that are clearly built only to host affiliate links with no editorial value around them. Avoid all of these and your approval rate will rise significantly.