• Frequent: Your disclosure must appear on any page that has a review, recommendation, comment or article that promotes a product or service for which you receive compensation.

• Clear: It must be immediately clear that you may receive compensation for your review or rating. If commission or conversion rates, or factors other than those listed in the body of the rankings, comparisons, or reviews are determining or significantly impacting the placement of brands or information on your webpages, then you must clearly state this. Do not promise or imply neutrality or independence where in fact commission/conversion is driving the editorial presentation of information. If you are receiving commissions from all of the listed brands, you may state this. Consumers may assume that factors which are important to their decisionmaking such as features or price are determining the ratings. If this is not the case, then you cannot be silent about the fact that your business incentives are driving placement or ratings.

  Example of a clear disclosure (and where each of the claims is verifiably true):

  Disclosure: We are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review. We test each product thoroughly and give high marks to only the very best. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own.

  Example of an unclear disclosure:

  Disclosure: We are a website that needs compensation to operate like any other website on the internet. We may receive consideration for our reviews but we are totally unbiased and do not accept paid reviews or fake reviews claiming to be something they are not.

  This "disclosure" is omitting the most important information: that a commission is paid for purchases made through links in the post, or that commission or conversion rates are influencing the placement or content of the rankings or reviews.

• Conspicuous: The disclosure must be clear and easy to see. It should begin with the word “disclosure.” No scrolling should be necessary in order to find the disclosure. Prominently display disclosures so they are noticeable to consumers, and evaluate the size, color, and graphic treatment of the disclosure in relation to other parts of the webpage.

  For the disclosure to be considered clear, the font should be:

  • At least as large as the main text on the page
  • In a color other than black or gray
  • In contrast with both with its background and the main text
  • Darker than its background or the main text

  Example of a conspicuous disclosure:

  Welcome to Our Review Site!?

  Disclosure: We are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review. We tested and reviewed the web hosting sites ranked here. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own.

• Require No Action: Your disclosure must be immediately evident to a typical visitor to your site who views a review, ranking or endorsement on a PC, Mac, or mobile device. A visitor should not need to scroll, click or hover to learn that you receive compensation.

  If you do include a clickable link or additional information when a visitor hovers over text, the language of the link itself should reveal the fact that you receive compensation.

  Example of a link that requires no action:

  Disclosure: We are compensated for our reviews. Click here for details.

  Keep this in mind: Simply telling the visitor that they can “Click/hover here to read our FTC disclosure” is not adequate. You need to signal through plain words, such as "Advertising Disclosure" that the “disclosure” is relevant to the potential for editorial bias due to commissions.

Consumer Reviews:

If you include consumer reviews or feedback about listed brands, then you must also adhere to FTC Guidelines prohibiting the biased manipulation of consumer reviews.

• Affiliates should not offer inducements to a customer in return for a positive review; pretend to be a customer; or write fake reviews about their own or other businesses' goods or services.

• You should ensure that advertising and paid promotions are clearly identifiable to readers as paid-for content.

• Affiliates displaying consumer reviews should clearly state how reviews are obtained and checked; publish all reviews (including the negative ones) provided they are genuine and lawful; and explain the circumstances in which reviews might be edited or not published at all (for instance if they include abusive language or defamatory remarks).

• You should also ensure that there is no unreasonable delay before publishing reviews, and have appropriate procedures in place to detect and remove fake reviews.

More information about the FTC Disclosure requirements is available at:

• Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

• The FTC's Revised Endorsement Guides: What People are Asking

• Dot Com Disclosures: Information About Online Advertising