# Affiliate Marketing for Agencies and Consultants: Earn From Tools Your Clients Need Canonical: [Affiliate Marketing for Agencies and Consultants: Earn From Tools Your Clients Need](https://smtak.com/en/blog/affiliate-marketing-for-agencies-and-consultants) Locale: en Purpose: For agencies serving restaurants, clinics and shops: recommending a reputation tool honestly, Google's review rules, and how recurring commission works. Content updated: 2026-10-19 Source revision: sha256-54de34599819e624 Maintenance owner: SMTAK team, support@smtak.com [Topic map](https://smtak.com/llm/topics/affiliate.md) ยท [Complete scoped map](https://smtak.com/sitemap.md) Published: 2026-10-19. If you are a marketing agency, a consultant or a freelancer serving restaurants, clinics and shops, your clients already ask you about tools: how do we reply to reviews? How do we complete our Google profile? When you recommend a tool you use and trust, [affiliate marketing](https://smtak.com/en/affiliate.md) lets you share in what the client pays. This article explains how to do that without conflicting with your client's interest and without breaking Google's policies. ## Why does this kind of programme suit agencies and consultants? Because recommending is already your work. Your client asks and you answer. The difference is that the programme gives you a link or a code of your own so the referral is credited to you, and you earn a commission instead of the recommendation passing without a trace. It does not mean changing what you advise for the commission: the programme worth your name is the one you recommend because it helps your client first. ## How do you recommend a tool without conflicting with your client's interest? - Tell the client your link is an affiliate link you may earn a commission from. The client deserves to know, and one who finds out alone loses trust. - Try the tool yourself on a real account before you recommend it, and know what it does not do as well as what it does. - Explain other options that are available if they would suit the client better. A client who notices you hid a better fit will not trust your next recommendation. - Show the price as it is published on the page, with no promise of a discount or a feature the programme has not confirmed. - Do not tie your recommendation to a guaranteed result. Nobody guarantees a Google Maps ranking or a number of reviews, and the programme's terms forbid that promise. - Have the client register their business themselves, with their own email. In SMTAK's programme a workspace you own, or that uses your email, does not count, so do not open the account in your name. ## What does Google say about reviews, and what does it mean for an agency? An agency can get into trouble here without meaning to, so read Google's policy in its own words. It is the [Maps user-contributed content policy](https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114?hl=en), and this is what matters from it as we read it on 19 October 2026: > Fake engagement is not allowed and will be removed. - Incentives: the policy forbids merchants to offer incentives, such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services, in exchange for posting any review. So do not advise a client to give a discount for a review. - Cherry-picking: the policy forbids discouraging or prohibiting negative reviews, or selectively soliciting positive reviews from customers. So do not design a message for your client that asks for a review only from those who liked the experience. Ask everyone. - Conflict of interest: the policy forbids content that is based on a conflict of interest, and says it may include current or former employment, a contractual or consultory relationship. For an agency or consultant that means: do not write a review for your client on their profile, and do not ask your team to, because your contract with them is exactly what the policy means. And do not promise your client a number of reviews. It is more useful to help them ask every customer in a permitted way, as the [guide to getting more Google reviews properly](https://smtak.com/en/blog/raising-google-reviews-guide.md) explains. And if anyone offers you bought reviews, read [what really happens to bought reviews](https://smtak.com/en/blog/buying-google-maps-reviews-what-really-happens.md) before you mention them to your client. ## How does recurring commission work for an agency? In [SMTAK's programme](https://smtak.com/en/affiliate.md) the commission is a share of every payment your customer makes in their first year, the first 12 months from their first paid subscription, whether they pay monthly or yearly. The difference from a one-time commission is that you earn on each payment during that period, not once at sign-up, and it stops afterwards. What you should know: - A customer who registers through your link or pays with your code is credited to you, and if they first came from another affiliate they are credited to that affiliate. - Each commission is approved after SMTAK's review and then paid by bank transfer, and you see its status in your dashboard without customers' names. - A refunded payment cancels its commission, and a customer who cancels stops the payments that would follow. - The current rate and the earnings table for each plan appear live on the programme page, and a change to the rate applies only to payments made after it. The full text is in the [terms](https://smtak.com/en/affiliate/terms.md). We give no earnings figures here and promise no income. What you earn depends on how many customers actually subscribe and keep paying. ## What can an agency offer on top of the link? The commission is a small part of the story. The bigger value is making the tool part of your service: you help your client connect their profile to Google, set the tone of replies with them, and go through the reports with them. If your client has several branches, read the [multi-branch guide to Google Maps](https://smtak.com/en/blog/multi-branch-google-maps-seo-saudi-arabia.md). That way the client sees your recommendation as part of your work, not a passing advertisement. It also helps to write a short internal rule for yourself and your team: we do not recommend a tool we have not tried, we do not hide that we may earn a commission, and we do not promise a result. When the rule is written down, everyone who talks to clients follows it, not only the one who remembers. ## How do you disclose to your client? A suggested wording Disclosure needs no complication. One clear sentence before the link is enough: > A sample wording, adapt it to your relationship: "I use this tool and recommend it because it serves what we work on together. The next link is an affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you subscribe through it, and it does not change the price you pay. If I see that another tool suits you better I will tell you." Write "does not change the price" only if you have checked it on the pricing page at the time of writing. If the programme includes a discount code in your name, state it as agreed and add nothing to it. ## A checklist before you recommend 1. Have you tried the tool yourself on a real account? 2. Does it suit this client in particular, in branch count, language and way of working? 3. Have you read the programme's terms and do you know what is forbidden? 4. Did you disclose before the link? 5. Did you avoid any promise of a ranking or a number of reviews? 6. Will the client register their business themselves, with their own email? 7. Do you know what you will do if the client asks for a payment to be refunded or cancels the subscription? The commission follows the payment, so do not rely on it and do not try to persuade the client to stay for its sake. ## When does this not suit you? - If your client does not need the tool, do not recommend it. A recommendation that fits nobody wears down your credibility. - If your contract with the client forbids accepting commissions from third parties, read the contract or ask your client before you accept. - If you cannot disclose, do not join any affiliate programme. If the idea is new to you, start with [what affiliate marketing is and how to start](https://smtak.com/en/blog/affiliate-marketing-what-it-is-and-how-to-start.md). And if you are evaluating reply tools for your client, the criteria are in [choosing Google review reply software](https://smtak.com/en/blog/google-review-reply-software-saudi.md). ## Frequently asked questions ### May an agency accept a commission for a tool it recommends to its client? That depends on your contract with the client and on how open you are with them. We recommend telling them the link is an affiliate link, and reading the contract before accepting. We do not give legal advice. ### Should I write a review for my client on their profile to help? No. Among the examples of a conflict of interest, Google's policy names a contractual or consultory relationship with the business, which is your relationship with your client. Help them ask their real customers only. ### Can I give my client a discount for a review to collect more reviews? No. The policy forbids offering payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for posting any review. Ask everyone, with nothing in return. ### Who registers the client's account on SMTAK so that I earn the commission? The client, with their own email. A workspace you own, or that uses your email, does not count in the programme, so do not open the account in your name. ## Related articles - [What Is Affiliate Marketing? How to Start, Step by Step](https://smtak.com/en/blog/affiliate-marketing-what-it-is-and-how-to-start.md): What affiliate marketing is, how a sale is credited to your link, how to pick a programme with clear terms, and common mistakes, with a software example. - [Affiliate Marketing Without a Website: Promote Through Your Accounts and Network](https://smtak.com/en/blog/affiliate-marketing-without-a-website-saudi.md): Need a website for affiliate marketing? Channels that work without one, their limits, how to disclose and stay compliant, and where you see your figures. - [Replying to Google Maps Reviews: Steps and Ready Replies in Saudi Arabic and English](https://smtak.com/en/blog/replying-to-google-maps-comments-saudi-dialect.md): How to reply to Google Maps reviews from your phone or computer, with ready replies to positive and negative reviews in Saudi Arabic and English. - [Auto-Replies to Google Maps Reviews: How to Set Them Up Step by Step, and When Not To](https://smtak.com/en/blog/auto-reply-google-reviews-guide.md): How to switch on auto-replies to Google Maps reviews safely: the steps, what publishes on its own and what waits for you, when to pause, and how to audit it.