Skimlinks Alternative¶

Skimlinks earns from the merchant links your writers already added: it tags each one with an affiliate code when the page loads. That only works for the products someone stopped to link by hand, and most product mentions never get a link at all. Mentionlink earns from those: it detects the products your articles mention and show, and turns them into affiliate links automatically, with no extra work for your editorial team.

Category	Skimlinks	Mentionlink
Core Function	Monetizes existing outbound links via affiliate tagging	Monetizes unlinked product mentions and converts them into affiliate links via detecting and rewriting
What gets monetized	Only the links your writers add by hand	Every product your article names, and the products in your photos
Linking	Manual	Automated
Rewriting	No	Yes
Choosing the product	Your writer picks one link for every reader	Picked per reader, in their own country's store
Integration	JavaScript modifies existing affiliate links	JavaScript detects and rewrites content dynamically
Revenue Model	Revenue-sharing	Revenue-sharing
Editorial Control	Moderate (merchant exclusion and preferred merchants)	High (links per page, sections by URL pattern, link-level refinements, removals, or additions)
Works alongside the other	Yes	Yes

Where Higher RPM Comes From¶

Revenue per 1,000 pageviews (RPM) from affiliate links breaks down into five numbers:

RPM = 1,000 × clickthrough rate × conversion rate × average order value × commission rate

A link converter like Skimlinks can only work on the links that are already on the page, so its RPM is capped by how many products your writers took the time to link. Mentionlink raises that cap. Plug your own numbers into the Affiliate Revenue Calculator to see what that's worth on your traffic.

Clickthrough: Link the Products Nobody Linked¶

Writers link the product an article is about and skip the rest: the blender in the background of a recipe, the jacket in a travel story, the headphones in a review roundup. Every unlinked mention is a reader who wanted it and had nowhere to click. Mentionlink finds those mentions in your text, and the products in your photos, and makes them clickable. It uses AI to link only high-intent mentions, so readers see a handful of links that are worth clicking rather than a wall of them.

Conversion: The Right Store for Every Reader¶

A link picked by hand is picked once and has to suit every reader, wherever they are. Mentionlink picks the link for each reader instead: it sends them to the store in their own country and takes into account that prices vary, with more than 40,000 ZIP codes in the US alone. A reader who lands on the item they wanted, in a store that ships to them, at the price they'll see at checkout, is a reader who buys.

Order Value and Commission: Earn on the Whole Basket¶

Mentionlink matches each mention to the affiliate program with the best fit, such as Amazon Associates, Fanatics or Lids. Programs like Amazon Associates pay on the qualifying purchases the reader makes after the click, not only on the product that was linked, so one recommendation can earn on a whole shopping basket.

Stacking: Add Revenue Without Taking Any Away¶

You don't have to choose. Mentionlink only links text that is not already linked, so every link Skimlinks monetizes today stays with Skimlinks. In the other direction, every link Mentionlink adds carries the noskim class, which Skimlinks honors and skips, so no click is ever claimed twice. See Does Mentionlink interfere with Skimlinks? for details. Every dollar Mentionlink earns is added on top of what Skimlinks already makes.

A Better Reading Experience¶

More links only help if readers welcome them. Mentionlink keeps them useful and unobtrusive:

• No link clutter. Mentionlink links only high-intent mentions, and you can cap the number of links per page.
• Looks like your site. Links match your fonts and colors, so they read like part of the article.
• Fast. The script is about 35 KB compressed, loads with defer, and waits for the page to finish loading. See Performance.
• Accessible. Links, hotspots and product cards conform to WCAG 2.2 Level AA.
• No cookies. Mentionlink sends no cookies, so it doesn't need to be in your cookie consent banner.
• Disclosed for you. A footer on every page discloses that it may contain affiliate links.

High-Quality, Relevant Content¶

Every link Mentionlink adds points to a product your article already talks about, from well-rated listings, so a link is a recommendation your writers would stand behind. It's the coverage of linking every product by hand, without asking your editorial team to do it.

You stay in control:

• Links per page: cap how many affiliate links Mentionlink adds to a page.
• Sections: enable Mentionlink only on the sections where it fits, by URL pattern. See Configuration and Customization.
• Individual links: refine, remove, or add links one by one.
• Search engines: every link carries rel="sponsored nofollow", so it has no impact on SEO.

Run Both, Then Measure¶

Keep Skimlinks and add Mentionlink next to it, then measure the difference on your own traffic:

1. Start a pilot on a few sections of your site, rolled out by URL pattern.
2. Compare affiliate RPM on the pilot sections against similar sections without Mentionlink.
3. Widen the rollout section by section once you're happy with the results.

Mentionlink is a revenue share with no upfront cost and no locked-in contract, and our team handles the installation for free. Email us at hello@mentionlink.com to set up a pilot.

See also: Mentionlink vs. Outbrain.

Get Started

Schedule a free demo or email us at hello@mentionlink.com