when I go to other sites I see lots of Amazon ads related to products I was browsing previously which I assume is tracked via cookie.

What you are most likely seeing are "Interest Based Ads" - IBA's. If I search for "Blue Widgets", I inevitably see ads for days, even weeks thereafter for "Blue Widgets" no matter where I go on the net.

As for using Amazon as backup ads - be very careful - if Amazon's system doesn't believe the visitor originated specifically from your site registered with them, you will receive no credit. The correct move is to refer the visitor back to a specific page on your site to the product you are recommending.

Now some people can argue against that piece of advice - I rely upon nearly twenty years of listening to tales of woe from disappointed Amazon Associates.

Also be aware with cookies, Amazon's cookie is limited to 24 hour duration and can be subsequently overwritten by a visit from another Associates web site.

Being new to Amazon it may well pay you to log into the Amazon.com Associates Forum and familiarise yourself.

[engagedforums.com ]

I only look in once every few weeks. Seeing the same questions asked over, and over gets quite boring after 15 years.

I would like ads displayed based on cookie. Is this possible?

I forgot - whose cookie are you referring to?

Ah right, I was referring to Interest Based Ads. Thanks for the tip about the cookie duration limit.

It would make sense to refer back to a product page with the recommendation but my site is for local news so there is nothing to recommend specifically. That's why I thought it might be possible to just display IBAs based on their previous behavior. For example, if they viewed a golf page on some other site, I'd like to see an ad for a golf item on my site even if there is no mention to golfing on my page. I'll check that other forum to see if it's possible, otherwise not sure what to use for backup ads.

You can't access the history of visitors from your site (hopefully) , but for example, you can join "re-targetting" ad networks , like Crieteo, AdRoll, etc... which are specialized in what you are describing, however, these ad networks are already part of Google Adsense, so they might not perform different as back up ads.

The correct move is to refer the visitor back to a specific page on your site to the product you are recommending.

AdSense loads the URL you specify into an iframe, so if that's a page on your domain, the effect should be the same.

AdSense loads the URL you specify into an iframe, so if that's a page on your domain, the effect should be the same.

"Should be the same" ? - When it comes to Mr. Amazon never, ever assume anything. As I said earlier, and I stand by it.

"Now some people can argue against that piece of advice - I rely upon nearly twenty years of listening to tales of woe from disappointed Amazon Associates".

The smart money, with so many things, is always to be safer than sorry - even if it takes an extra mile.

If people think AdSense compliance can be hard, try Amazon. No explanations given, no appeals entertained. I've only known one Amazon Associate to be restored. That person was both high profile, highly ethical, a very big earner, and had to move heaven and earth all the way up to the top entirely through personal contacts.

Yep and, in that case it was Amazon's own code which was later proven to be at fault. Proving and convincing Amazon of the facts was a Herculean task.

My points was mostly that whether you're sending visitors to Amazon from a web page (on your domain) or a web page (on your domain) loaded in an iframe, the referrer will still include your domain, i.e. the traffic originates from your registered site. I will take your caution to heart, though, as I've never used the Amazon Associates program myself.

Does the program also offer ad codes for Amazon in other countries like the UK, Canada and Germany? It seems it would only make sense to target Amazon.com ads to U.S. based visitors.

If you want to deal with different countries where Amazon has a site, you have to apply to each local affiliate program individually, and to be paid, you need to reach the minimum payment for each program. That's why I never bothered with it. Instead I went with eBay , which handles all its countries with the same affiliate account.