This post may contain affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase, we will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. By making qualifying purchases, I earn money as an Amazon Associate.

To increase your income, learn how to create and use an Amazon Associates Tracking ID.

Creating a new Amazon Associates Tracking ID for your account can help you keep an eye on and test your affiliate marketing results.

Have you ever wondered how you make money on Amazon? Where did the customer who bought an industrial ceiling fan come from? Was it a blog post? Or did you get it from a link you shared on Facebook or Twitter?

It’s usually a good idea to know this, just like any other data about your blog, but there’s no way to determine this if you only have one Amazon Associates tracking I.D.

What is an Amazon Associates Store ID?

Every Amazon Associate has a Store ID. It’s essentially your Amazon “account number.” “Associates can only have one store I.D. at a time.

If you establish a new blog, you should not create a new Amazon account. Instead, add the new blog to your current account and assign it a tracking I.D.

What exactly is a tracking I.D. for Amazon Associates?

It is a way to see how much money you make on Amazon from different websites, sources, or marketing methods.

You can have up to 100 tracking IDs on Amazon.

I’ve heard that if you ask nicely, they’ll let you have more than 100. To be honest, I can’t think of a situation in which a blogger would require more than 100.

Keep in mind that tracking I.D.s cannot be deleted, so think about how you’ll utilize the I.D. to assess whether you truly need one.

What Is the Difference Between a Tracking ID and an Amazon Associates Store ID?

Each account is assigned a unique store I.D. It makes no difference what your shop I.D. is because it just identifies your account.

A tracking I.D. indicates the source of a portion of your sales. When you’re naming the tracking I.D., make it something meaningful, so you remember what it’s for.

You will receive a single payment for all sales made using all of your tracking I.D.s.

What Should I Do With a Tracking ID?

Although it would be ideal to have a unique tracking I.D. for each blog post, this is not realistic because most of us have more than 100 blog entries.

So, consider what you’d like to track. Here are some of the items for which I have created tracking I.D.s.

Facebook Twitter YouTube

blog posts with affiliate links, such as my tent guide and Halloween costume post over at Cub Scout Ideas, Blog posts with something unique, such as my bristle bot robot post,

You might also wish to experiment with other tracking I.D.s for things like:

  • Placement of links
  • color or font size.
  • Image links vs. text links

When I first started employing these, I did so haphazardly and without a plan. When I use an I.D. now, I’m trying to be more careful about when and how I use it.

You’ll need to create a new tracking I.D when you’ve determined what you want to track.

Sign in to your Amazon Associates Central account. I do this by going to Amazon.com and selecting Earnings from the SiteStripe menu.

This directs me to the reports page.

You can also access the Amazon Associates Central home page.

Look at the upper right corner of the page. You should be able to see your email address. Click it, then click “Manage Your Tracking I.D.s.”

You’ll notice a button to add a tracking I.D. as well as a list of your existing I.D.s.

Click the Add Tracking ID option.

Following that, you’ll see a box where you can enter the code you want to use. You can use whatever you want, but it might already be in use if it’s a common term.

Amazon will notify you and provide you with various options if it is.

If I publish a post about my favorite office supplies, I might want to use the code “office.” Still, it’s too popular and has already been taken.

I normally begin my identifiers with the initials of my sites, such as CSI for Cub Scout Ideas and PBA for Painless Blog Analytics. So I could probably use “PBA office.”

How Do I Make Use of a Tracking ID?

Let’s alter an affiliate link to use the new I.D. Now that you’ve created your Amazon Associates Tracking ID.

I assume I wish to link to this message board. First, I decide if I want a text link, an image link, or a text+image link.

Then, in the Tracking ID field, click the down arrow. This will display a list of all of your tracking I.D.s.

Click to receive the link, then click on the one you wish to utilize.

To obtain your connection, click “Get Link.”

Any clicks or sales generated by that link will be linked to that tracking I.D.

How Can I View Amazon Sales Made Using My New Tracking ID?

In Associates Central, navigate to the Reports tab. A tracking I.D. appears next to the date. It’s set to “all” by default.

When you click the down arrow, you’ll see a list of all of your I.D’s. If you only want to see one of them, deselect all of them by clicking the box next to “All” Then select the I.D. you want to examine.

When you select the tracking I.D. you want to examine, all of the data in the report will be exclusive to that I.D.

Another alternative is to keep the primary tracking I.D. option set to all and organize your ordered items and earnings by tracking I.D.

Click on the Group By box and select Tracking ID to view them organized by I.D. You can then click on an I.D. to view the list of ordered items.

You can use the same logic for your earnings.

I hope this article has helped you learn how to make and use tracking I.D.s for your Amazon affiliate program, and I look forward to your feedback.

I’d like to know what kinds of things you’ll be tracking, so please leave a comment to let me know.

P.S. Sign up for more information about increasing your affiliate income through improved tracking by filling out the form below.

Last Updated on January 21, 2021

Author

Elizabeth is a Senior Content Manager at Scaleo. Currently enjoying the life in Prague and sharing professional affiliate marketing tips. She's been in the online marketing business since 2006 and gladly shares all her insights and ideas on this blog.