Glossary
Direct linking
Sending paid traffic straight to the affiliate link or the offer page, without a landing page of your own in between. It is fast and cheap to test, but many programs and ad platforms restrict it.
Also called: direct link, direct-to-offer, direct linking to offer.
On push, pop and native traffic it is a common way to test an offer: in Binom you press Direct instead of choosing a lander, and the click goes from the source through the tracker to the offer. You skip building a page and learn quickly whether the offer converts on that source. What you give up is warming: the advertiser's page does all the selling, and you cannot test angles before it.
Search is where it gets restricted. Google requires the final URL to share the display URL's domain and bans cross-domain redirects from it, and programs write their own rules: Etsy forbids direct link PPC to its site. Running it against program terms also counts under Google's Unfair advantage policy. The workable alternative in search is a content page of your own as the final URL, with the affiliate link behind its buttons.
Related terms: Landing page, Pre-lander, Brand bidding, Final URL, Bridge page.