Even if Smartlink performance looks positive at the campaign level, GEO, device, source, or placement performance could be moving in the wrong direction. Total revenue and conversion performance show the result, but not what’s driving it.
EPM helps identify which traffic segments are performing better or worse. It can point to a GEO, device, source, or placement that needs a closer look, but it doesn’t explain what caused the change. Understand EPM in relation to conversion rate, clicks, conversions, revenue, and traffic mix.
This fits how Adverten Smartlink processes traffic. Adverten uses GEO, device, OS, traffic type, offer availability, and performance when routing traffic.
TL;DR
- EPM is just one performance indicator; it doesn’t explain the whole picture behind campaigns.
- An aggregate EPM may conceal significant variations among GEOs, devices, sources, and placements.
- Apples-to-apples: similar time periods, traffic sources, devices, and conversion conditions.
- EPM and CR may not align, which is why you need to analyze both.
- Low EPM doesn’t necessarily indicate low traffic quality, invalid traffic, or fraud.
- It could simply point to short-term fluctuations due to low volume, delayed conversions, changed offers, or a different traffic mix.
- Affiliate traffic optimization should start with segmentation and analysis, not by changing an entire traffic source based on one metric.
Table of Contents
- How the Best Dating Ad Creative Formats Compare
- Static Image and Banner Creatives
- Native Dating Ads
- UGC and Short-Form Video Dating Creatives
- Best Dating Creative Formats by Traffic Source, GEO, and Device
- Best Dating Creative Formats by Campaign Goal and Funnel
- What Performance Data Says About Dating Creative Formats
- Expert Criteria and Common Mistakes When Comparing Dating Ad Formats
- Conclusion
- FAQ About Dating Ad Creative Formats
Introduction
Smartlink can receive traffic from various locations, devices, operating systems, sources, and placements. Focusing on a single campaign metric would fail to reveal discrepancies across these segments.
That is why EPM should not be considered in isolation. A thorough evaluation considers the origin of the result, similarities between the compared traffic, and the correlation between EPM and other metrics such as conversion rate, clicks, conversions, and revenue.
As you can see, Adverten’s existing Smartlink already includes information on performance analysis by dimensions such as GEO, devices, placements, and campaigns. This article explains how to segment traffic, analyze performance, understand the drivers of change, and make optimizations.
The objective of using EPM is to perform a thorough performance analysis.
What EPM Tells You About Affiliate Performance
EPM is valuable insofar as it answers a narrow question about which comparable segment monetized traffic better during the period under study. It is not the same as identifying which segments contributed more revenue and conversions overall.
Thus, EPM calculations should account for both normalized performance and scale factors.
What EPM Means in Performance Marketing
EPM – Earnings per Mille or Earnings Per Thousand Impressions, according to the Performance Marketing Association Glossary, is the earnings/average payout per thousand impressions.
The crucial concept is normalization. EPM lets us compare earnings performance on a uniform basis rather than using revenue alone. If one segment gets much more traffic than the other, total earnings don’t help you understand which one is more effective.
Apply the same EPM calculation field and reporting approach when comparing Smartlink segments. The reporting environment might calculate EPM on a different basis. Therefore, apply the definition presented by the platform or report under analysis.
EPM helps us identify performance differences. However, EPM does not determine the causes of the performance difference.
EPM vs CR, Revenue, Clicks, and Conversions
EPM becomes even more insightful when it is combined with metrics that address other questions:
- EPM: What is the strength of earnings performance after normalization?
- Conversion rate (CR): What percentage of the measured traffic performs the necessary conversion?
- Revenue: How much income was earned by the segment?
- Clicks: How much traffic is going through the measured path?
- Conversions: How many conversions were made?
The metrics may contradict each other. One segment may have high CR but low EPM because the amount of earnings is lower for each converted unit. Another segment may have low CR but high EPM because earnings per conversion are higher.
| Metric | What It Shows | What It Does Not Show | Best Use in Performance Analysis |
| EPM | Normalized earnings performance | The specific cause of a change | Comparing similar traffic segments |
| CR | Conversion efficiency | Total monetary value | Checking how effectively traffic converts |
| Revenue | Total earnings | Efficiency relative to traffic volume | Understanding business contribution |
| Clicks | Traffic volume entering the flow | Traffic value or quality | Providing scale and sample context |
| Conversions | Number of recorded actions | Earnings efficiency on its own | Confirming conversion output |
When EPM Becomes Useful for Smartlink Analysis
The Smartlink is built to handle heterogeneous traffic rather than forcing all users through the same route. In Adverten’s description of How Affiliate Networks Connect Advertisers and Publishers, smartlink routing may be based on GEO, device, OS, traffic characteristics, existing campaigns, and performance.
EPM can be helpful in several different tasks such as:
- comparing performance of one GEO to another during the same time period;
- determining whether mobile and desktop traffic are different from each other;
- identifying the placement/source within the campaign that performs poorly;
- looking at how a steady segment has changed over time;
- breaking down a campaign’s results into decision units;
- assessing whether traffic optimization helped or hindered monetization.
When learning how to evaluate Smartlink performance, don’t chase the highest EPM number possible. Instead, EPM should be used as a locator – finding where the difference is and investigating it using additional metrics.
How to Build a Reliable EPM Analysis Framework
The best EPM analysis can be replicated – the segments, time period, and metrics must be clearly defined.
Use:
Segment, Measure, Compare, Diagnose, Decide, and Monitor
This avoids two common mistakes: making comparisons that don’t match equivalent segments and changing traffic right after an EPM change in the headlines.
Identifiable campaigns are also important. Source dimensions in Google Analytics documentation distinguish between source, medium, campaign, campaign ID, and source platform, since they all address different attribution issues. Affiliate marketing requires this too.
Start With Comparable Traffic Segments
Use traffic segments that are granular enough to find differences but still contain enough samples for meaningful analysis.
There are several criteria according to which affiliates can be segmented:
- GEO;
- device type;
- operating system;
- traffic source;
- placement;
- campaign;
- period of time.
Comparisons should remain consistent because it would be wrong to conclude a performance difference due to geographic location if the first GEO has more social mobile traffic than the second, and vice versa. In addition, other criteria, such as device composition, source intent, placement, funnels, and offers, can affect the results.
Thus, it’s often better to move from a general point of view to a more focused one after identifying performance differences. For instance, one can start with total traffic and then compare different GEOs. Then, if a GEO performs worse than others, you can analyze its device composition, traffic sources, and placements.
Use Tracking Parameters and Postbacks Consistently
Segmentation only works when you consistently identify it. Adverten offers real-time performance tracking and postback services and includes publisher-centric content on implementing tracking IDs, campaigns, and sub-IDs.
Here is a possible workflow:
- Identify the traffic source. Ensure the source is named consistently so it isn’t split across multiple sources.
- Keep the campaign and segment names consistent. Utilize campaign ID and sub-ID when possible to preserve the source and the placement information.
- Clicks and conversions should be tracked consistently. Changing tracking settings may make it seem like performance changed when, in fact, it was a measurement change.
- Conversion data should be connected via postback or other relevant method of tracking.
- Segment traffic by similarities.
- Review EPM alongside CR, revenue, and conversion numbers.
Google Analytics guidelines for campaign URL parameters emphasize consistent naming for source, medium, campaign, and content fields.
Consistent tracking does not increase EPM. It makes your decisions based on EPM more reliable.
Separate Signal From Short-Term Noise
Not all EPM trends signify an ongoing change. Recent statistics may be incomplete and unstable, particularly if the number of conversions is small.
Be wary of:
- small traffic flow;
- small number of conversions;
- uneven traffic flow distribution on each day;
- conversion delay;
- changes in offers availability;
- temporary changes in sources/placements.
Conversion delay is a common measurement problem. As Google Ads states in its advice on reporting conversion lag, conversions can occur after the first click, making recent statistics look worse until you account for conversion delay.
Depending on the campaign/conversion, the time period varies, so there is no magic number of clicks/conversions/days that makes comparing EPMs “legitimate.”
| Analysis Factor | Why It Matters | What Distortion It Can Create |
| Low traffic volume | A few events can move the metric sharply | Large swings that disappear with more data |
| Small conversion count | Each conversion has outsized influence | False confidence in a short-term winner |
| Uneven traffic | One burst can dominate the period | Averages that do not reflect normal delivery |
| Conversion delay | Recent conversions may not yet be recorded | Understated recent CR or earnings |
| Offer availability | Routing opportunities can change | Performance shifts unrelated to GEO alone |
| Source variation | Audience intent can change with the source | Apparent GEO or device effects caused by mix |
A short-term movement is a reason to investigate. It is not automatically a reason to redirect traffic.
How to Compare GEO Performance With EPM
Geographic segmentation, or GEO, is critical when analyzing Smartlink performance, since traffic may behave very differently across markets. Offer availability, language, user behavior, traffic sources, and campaign conditions can all differ by country. Adverten allows GEO segmentation from Tier 1 to Tier 4; therefore, geographic segmentation is appropriate for specific campaigns as well as for international traffic in general.
However, you can’t assume a particular country is the cause of performance differences. One GEO may include different devices, sources, placements, and even user profiles that can influence traffic performance.
This is why GEO is a good place to start. Once you find a country that behaves differently, use geo performance metrics to investigate device, source, placement, and other traffic parameters.
Compare GEOs on the Same Basis
To compare GEOs using geo performance metrics, start by looking at the context behind each result.
When comparing two GEOs for your ad campaigns, make sure they have:
- the same time period of reporting;
- the same traffic-source category;
- a comparable device mix;
- enough traffic/conversions to make sense of the outcome;
- the same conversion conditions;
- similar offer availability if you need such data.
If all of the above factors differ between two GEOs, you still can compare them – but your finding will be more specific. You may compare two actual business environments and not two GEOs isolated from other factors.
This way, you avoid making an excessively simplistic “GEO A is better than GEO B” finding. The more precise one would be: “During this period of time, GEO A provided more EPM than GEO B under the current traffic mix.”
Break GEO Performance Down by Device
The next layer is device.
Even if a country seems to have performed poorly at an aggregated level, one device layer might be strong. For instance, you might have steady desktop traffic with falling mobile traffic. Once combined, the campaign report will show a falling GEO average.
Follow this order:
- look at the total GEO EPM;
- divide the GEO into mobile and desktop;
- include tablet or other device segments if necessary;
- analyze the CR, conversions, and revenue for each device layer;
- analyze the operating system only if it brings something additional to the story.
Google Analytics also provides attribution reporting, which allows performance analysis by device and region. Different tools are used, but the logic stays the same: you need to separate geography and device if both impact performance.
If the drop happened at the device level, then altering traffic across all devices in this GEO is too broad.
Add Traffic Source and Placement Context
Source and placement may turn out to be much more meaningful dimensions than country.
Two traffic sources into the same GEO can have different purposes, timing, creative exposure, and funnel interaction. Traffic through the content publisher, paid social media, banner placement, and emails all differ just because they target people from the same country.
Source and placement should follow GEO and device:
- GEO, then device, then source, then placement
- This will give affiliate performance analysis enough detail to ask the right questions:
- Is this GEO weak overall, or is it just some particular source that does not work well?
- Is mobile working well or poorly at all placements or just at one?
- Is one source getting less efficient although everything looks good at the country level?
- Is a strong placement hiding poor performance somewhere else?
Consistency of source names becomes very critical here. Google Analytics recommends using campaign tagging because inconsistent values ruin the ability to report and compare data. Affiliate performance measurement faces the same problem but uses other parameters.
Read EPM and CR as a Combined Signal
These two tests address different issues; together, they provide a better diagnostic result.
| EPM Direction | CR Direction | What the Pattern Suggests | What to Examine Next |
| Up | Up | Monetization and conversion efficiency are improving together | Revenue, volume, persistence, source/device mix |
| Up | Down | Fewer conversions may still be producing stronger earnings performance | Conversion value, offer mix, revenue per segment |
| Down | Up | More conversions are not translating into stronger normalized earnings | Conversion value, offer mix, segment composition |
| Down | Down | Both monetization and conversion efficiency weakened | Source, device, placement, offer availability, tracking, trend length |
These are not diagnoses automatically. These are the roads for further investigation.
For instance, EPM down and CR up do not mean at all that your offer was changed. This means the conversion rate improved, while EPM worsened. The reason? Check revenue, number of conversions, traffic volume, the context of the offer, and the changes in the segment itself.
This matrix is one of the most effective ways to apply EPM optimization without making any decision based on a single indicator.
Turning EPM Analysis Into Traffic Optimization Decisions
This chapter focuses on affiliate traffic optimization through diagnosis, not scaling. The goal is to make the smallest possible improvement and see whether it helped.
Large-scale changes are more difficult to decipher. When GEO, device, creative, source, and funnel all change simultaneously, any subsequent movement makes it impossible to know what caused it. Affiliate traffic optimization becomes easier when performance changes correlate with a specific segment.
Identify the Segment Driving the Change
Follow the top-down diagnostic approach:
- Validate the aggregate movement. Ensure that the overall EPM movement is meaningful enough to analyze further.
- Break by GEO. Understand which GEOs are driving the bulk of the movement.
- Break the relevant GEOs by device. Understand whether the movement is widespread or not.
- Analyze the source and placements. Determine whether there’s one traffic source that drives the bulk of the movement.
- Compare CR, conversions, and revenues. Understand whether the metrics went up or down along with EPM or in the opposite direction.
- Stop at the smallest segment which still makes sense. After the particular segment explains the movement, do not broaden the analysis scope needlessly.
This will turn the ambiguous phrase “Smartlink EPM is down” into “The movement is driven by one particular GEO/device/source combo while the rest of the flow remains stable.”
This is a much stronger basis for decision-making.
Decide Whether to Keep, Isolate, or Adjust Traffic
Each kind of performance trend demands its own solution.
- Keep: This piece of traffic is steady, backed by sufficient data, and meets expectations.
- Monitor: This outcome has been altered, but the sample size is small, or the trend is recent.
- Isolate: This piece of traffic is distinct from other traffic and distorts the aggregate analysis.
- Adjust: A consistent poor performer backed up by EPM, CR, revenue, and segment-level data.
- Test a new funnel or creative: The traffic piece itself is still valuable, but perhaps not the path being used.
- Do not affect other traffic pieces: A problem here does not necessarily mean changing the global campaign.
| Performance Pattern | Supporting Evidence | Practical Action |
| Stable EPM and CR | Consistent trend, adequate volume | Keep and monitor |
| Sudden EPM drop, low volume | Few conversions, short period | Wait for more evidence |
| Weak EPM isolated to one placement | Other placements remain stable | Isolate and review that placement |
| EPM and CR decline together in one segment | Persistent pattern across comparable periods | Adjust the affected segment |
| CR rises while EPM falls | Revenue efficiency weakens despite more conversions | Review value and offer mix before changing traffic |
Measure What Happens After the Change
Optimization is never complete until you test the outcome.
After a targeted change:
- Compare before and after for an equivalent time frame;
- Review the EPM/CR;
- See if the conversion and revenue have increased;
- Be sure the traffic composition has stayed consistent;
- Look for a difference in the availability of offers or sources.
The most basic process cycle is:
Measure, Change, and Measure Again
If performance has improved, keep monitoring to see whether the improvement holds. If it does not, then go back to the segmentation phase rather than assuming your original analysis was right.
That’s also why effective tracking is always more valuable than making changes on a regular basis.
Examples of EPM Analysis Across Smartlink Traffic
The following examples don’t include made-up campaign data; instead, they use relative movement. They all follow the same process: begin with the signal, narrow down the segment, and compare the supporting indicators.
Example: CR Improves While EPM Declines
Let’s assume a GEO shows an increased conversion rate compared to the previous equivalent time frame, but EPM decreases.
It would be tempting to assume traffic quality improved because conversions increased. It would also be tempting to assume that monetization performance decreased because EPM fell. Such assumptions are flawed.
See:
- total revenue;
- number of conversions;
- the amount of money made from such conversions;
- the mix of offers used;
- the source and device mix; and
- whether the traffic volume changed significantly.
There could be many explanations, including that more users convert; however, this traffic brings in less income per user on average. Traffic sources may also differ, so the two periods may not be comparable.
The main idea is to analyze the correlation between CR and EPM, not the metrics themselves.
Example: One Device Pulls Down a Strong GEO
Consider a case where the GEO’s historical performance was steady overall. The current period indicates low EPM and low CR.
Before cutting traffic from this market, sub-segment the GEO based on devices.
As a result of the segmentation, we can get:
- Desktop EPM – steady;
- Desktop CR – steady;
- Mobile EPM – down;
- Mobile CR – down;
The decrease is concentrated in mobile traffic, so the next step is to break that segment down by source and placement.
Now the decision will be different. We don’t have any reason to consider the whole GEO poor. We have a reason to look more closely at the mobile sources and placements within that GEO.
Proceed with:
GEO, device, source, placement
It is a much more efficient use of the GEO performance metrics than a ranking of countries.
Example: One Weak Placement Is Hidden by Aggregate EPM
The opposite scenario is possible when aggregate EPM looks fine because good placements offset bad ones.
Let’s assume that several placements contribute to the same Smartlink. The total EPM stays the same, but segment-wise we will see that while EPM and CR in one placement decrease, they rise in all the others.
Without segmentation, it would go unnoticed until the poor placement becomes significant enough to impact the campaign’s overall performance.
In this case, it is necessary to:
- make a comparison between the bad placement and the previous periods of this placement;
- investigate the possibility that the device/GEO mix in this placement has changed;
- determine if the change is a temporary one;
- keep strong placements steady;
- change only the identified segment.
One reason the aggregate report should be considered an entry point is that it shows the state of the campaign as a whole.
Common Mistakes in EPM and GEO Analysis
Most problems arise from trying to use EPM to answer an unanswerable question. EPM will provide monetization metrics but will be unable to reveal if the cause for the discrepancy is GEO, device, sources, offers, tracking, latency, or traffic.
Ranking GEOs Without Accounting for Traffic Mix
GEO rankings can be helpful as an indicator of how things stand at a certain moment in time; however, they can become deceptive once you treat rankings as an immutable hierarchy of qualities.
Typical mistakes that people make in comparative analysis include:
- comparing mobile GEO and desktop GEO;
- comparing two different types of traffic;
- using inconsistent time periods;
- comparing a high-traffic GEO with an extremely small sample size;
- neglecting the change in offer availability;
- assuming similar intent on all placements.
In one GEO, you may have a good ranking due to the perfect traffic mix for your offers. In another GEO, the ranking is poor because one major traffic type is underperforming. However, neither result means anything about the country itself.
Utilize rankings to determine where you should dig deeper. Then analyze the underlying composition before reallocating traffic.
Treating a Short-Term Change as a Stable Trend
Short-term periods are appealing as they remain fresh; however, they tend to be more susceptible to noise.
One needs to be careful in case the trend identified depends on:
- day-to-day fluctuations in traffic;
- a small number of conversions;
- unpredictable deliveries;
- recent traffic with the effect of conversion lag yet to fully disappear;
- changes in the offers or campaigns.
Conversion Cycles on Google Ads suggests that the elapsed time between a click and a conversion may make recent statistics appear different. While the specifics of the measurement process may vary across affiliate networks and campaign models, the takeaway is the same: recent numbers may be less accurate than those further in the past.
An EPM change observed over a short period requires investigation first, followed by traffic allocation.
Using EPM as a Proxy for Traffic Quality or Fraud
Traffic quality and monetization performance are two different yet related operational issues, but they are different measurements.
A low EPM does not necessarily mean:
- bot traffic;
- fraud;
- invalid leads;
- non-compliance;
- referrer manipulation;
- low-quality traffic.
You don’t need to confuse these problems because they require different evidence. Adverten’s Terms of Service include restrictions on:
- automated actions by visitors;
- motivated and self-generated leads;
- referrer manipulation;
- spam;
- spyware.
According to the company’s Privacy Policy, information may be used for fraud prevention, and FraudScore is one of the third-party services that Adverten uses. Industry measurement guidance suggests treating invalid traffic as a separate measurement issue.
Media Rating Council’s standards and guidelines include Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Guidelines without linking poor campaign performance to invalid traffic.
Use EPM to measure monetization performance. Use traffic-quality and fraud prevention tools to measure traffic validity and compliance.
Expert Tips for More Reliable EPM Optimization
Expert analysis is more about asking specific questions than generating additional metrics. Rather than asking “Which is the best GEO?”, you should consider which of the comparable GEOs/devices/sources is performing well financially. Rather than asking “Why has there been a drop in EPM?”, determine which metrics moved with it.
Diagnose the Narrowest Segment Before Changing Traffic
In case there are changes in EPM at the aggregate level, do not try to optimize the whole campaign at once.
Proceed through the hierarchy levels:
- overall traffic;
- GEO;
- device;
- source;
- placement.
At each step, check whether the drop remains. If it is no longer noticeable after excluding one of the segments, you’ve found your decision-making unit.
For instance, if the overall EPM drops but only one GEO drops, don’t change all GEOs at once. If the drop in one GEO is only on mobile devices, don’t change desktop. If the problem with mobile devices is present only for one placement, do not change all mobile sources.
The main rule here is:
Change the impacted segment, but not necessarily all the traffic flow.
Separate Persistent Trends From Temporary Performance Swings
Persistence in a trend adds more value to the analysis than a single observation.
Look for:
- consistent observations within comparable time periods;
- consistent segment definitions;
- evidence of corresponding changes in CR, conversions, or revenues;
- sufficient traffic so that any single observation doesn’t have too much impact on the overall results;
- absence of clear anomalies in traffic.
This approach aligns with digital measurement best practices. IAB Europe Commerce Media Measurement Standards stress the importance of standardized measurements and a defined measurement funnel. Even though commerce media and affiliate Smartlinks are not the same thing, the fundamental rule of measurement applies: you need standard definitions and comparable data before you can analyze results.
Persistence is not an absolute requirement for trends. Just more consistency than noise around.
Keep Monetization and Traffic Quality Analysis Separate
Good monetization is not equivalent to good traffic quality and vice versa.
EPM, conversion rate, revenue, conversions, and traffic volume are important indicators for assessing the financial performance of a certain traffic segment. Traffic quality, however, is another matter altogether and has other criteria, such as traffic origin, compliance with campaign regulations, and conversion legitimacy.
It is important to differentiate between these two spheres, as Adverten does in its optimization advice, which focuses on performance factors, while terms and traffic quality controls address issues such as forbidden traffic, suspicious activity, and conversion validity.
With this distinction in mind, it is easier not to fall into the mistake of considering traffic poor because of low monetization or vice versa. It is quite possible for a GEO or traffic source to have bad performance without being low quality at all.
Historical EPM Data: A GEO Performance Case Study
Historical data becomes even more valuable once its boundaries become clear. Historical data shows changes in rankings and the period specificity of performance; however, without access to historical data sources, devices, offers, and conversions, you cannot see the reasons behind those changes.
Overall, the performance marketing industry continues to grow. According to the Performance Marketing Association’s 2025 U.S. Affiliate Marketing Industry Study, U.S. affiliate marketing spending increased from $9.1 billion in 2021 to $13.62 billion in 2024, a 49.8% increase. This growth makes the discipline of measurement more practical; however, it still cannot be used as a benchmark for what one particular Smartlink EPM “should be.”
The most pertinent statistics for this case study include the dated GEO snapshots from Adverten.
Published Adverten GEO EPM Snapshots From March 2023
Adverten published several short weekly GEO rankings in March 2023. Three snapshots show different leaders:
- On March 1, 2023, Austria led with EPM $101, followed by Australia at $95 and the USA at $94.
- On March 23, 2023, Finland led with EPM $101, followed by Switzerland at $99 and Austria at $97.
- On March 30, 2023, Germany led with EPM $99, followed by New Zealand at $97 and Canada at $95.
| Publication Date | Leading GEO | EPM | Second GEO | EPM | Third GEO | EPM |
| March 1, 2023 | Austria | $101 | Australia | $95 | USA | $94 |
| March 23, 2023 | Finland | $101 | Switzerland | $99 | Austria | $97 |
| March 30, 2023 | Germany | $99 | New Zealand | $97 | Canada | $95 |
What Changing GEO Rankings Reveal About EPM
The most obvious conclusion about the rankings in the snapshots is also the most helpful: they have been changing.
These three points are supported by the data:
- The leading GEO by EPM was different in each of the three snapshots;
- Austria made it into more than one top-three ranking, but not into the same spot in all of them;
- Some markets were in the top-three rankings in one snapshot but were missing in the other.
- This is already enough evidence to reject the notion of the permanent “best GEO” according to one EPM ranking.
The posts lack information needed to draw conclusions about the cause of change; they provide no details on traffic sources, devices, offer availability, number of conversions, or campaign diversity for each EPM ranking. Therefore, it is wrong to attribute the change in any market to a particular reason.
The lesson from the case study is clear: EPM rankings are time-period specific facts, not permanent rankings of GEOs.
What Historical EPM Statistics Can and Cannot Show
Historical EPM statistics can reveal that:
- the GEO performance varies with time;
- the ranking fluctuates across different markets;
- historical rankings provide context, but they should not be used as current performance benchmarks;
- a picture of any time does not mean the universal rule.
Historical EPM statistics cannot tell:
- what causes the change in position of a GEO;
- if the distribution of sources has changed;
- if the distribution of devices has changed;
- if the availability of offers has changed;
- if the number of conversions was comparable;
- if the trend will persist.
This is not a flaw in the data but advice to draw conclusions based on the facts at hand.
When doing EPM analysis in 2026, you can use historical rankings as background information. Current decisions about Smartlinks must be based on current traffic and performance.
Conclusion: Use EPM as a Decision Metric, Not a Verdict
In most cases, EPM becomes really helpful when it shows how each traffic segment performs, not when it is used as an absolute metric to judge the performance of a GEO, source, or even a whole campaign.
To conduct a proper analysis, first assess overall performance, then narrow it down by GEO, device, source, placement, or another traffic characteristic. Then assess EPM alongside conversion rate, clicks, conversions, and income to determine whether it is a general trend or specific to a particular traffic segment.
This way, affiliate traffic optimization becomes more targeted: you will not need to optimize the whole campaign if one metric changes; instead, you can identify which traffic segment caused the change and whether it needs additional monitoring or minor optimization.
Adverten Smartlink uses GEO, device, OS, traffic parameters, offer availability, and performance signals to process and route traffic, which gives affiliates more context on how to evaluate Smartlink performance alongside real-time tracking and postback data. If you are an affiliate working with mixed or international traffic, this data can be very helpful for traffic optimization.
Find out more about Adverten Smartlink and traffic routing across multiple GEOs.
FAQ About EPM and Smartlink Performance
How frequently do affiliates need to review EPM?
Review EPM only when enough traffic has been generated to compare similar periods. For EPM analysis, remember that the decision should not be based on one day’s results or an insufficient sample of conversions.
Is it possible to compare EPM on different affiliate platforms?
Only when the platforms use the same methodology to calculate EPM. Otherwise, you can’t compare them.
What to do if EPM is rising while revenues are dropping?
First, check traffic volume. Higher EPM with lower revenue may mean that traffic is monetizing better on a normalized basis, while total traffic volume or conversion value has decreased.
Does offer availability impact Smartlink EPM?
Yes, it does. Depending on the currently available offers, traffic can be processed differently, resulting in a different EPM. Adverten considers offer availability among the inputs used for Smartlink traffic processing.
Is EPM useful when the number of conversions is small?
Only as an indicator. A few conversions can significantly change EPM, so wait until traffic is sufficient before treating the result as a trend.
How should affiliates react to traffic mix change?
Compare the current GEO, device, source, and placement mix with the previous one. For affiliate traffic optimization, don’t relate changes in EPM to performance without confirming that the traffic mix didn’t change.
Is it possible that GEO performance has changed without changing the campaigns?
Yes, because the device mix, traffic sources, offers, and conversion patterns can change even without changing campaign settings. This is the reason why geo performance metrics should always be considered with the current traffic mix.
Are affiliates always supposed to maximize their EPMs?
No. For EPM optimization, you also need to consider traffic volume, CR, number of conversions, and revenue.
When is an EPM change significant enough to act on?
Act when the change persists across similar time frames and can be attributed to a specific GEO, device, source, or placement. If the change occurred only in the total EPM, investigate further before making changes.
What is the simplest way to evaluate Smartlink performance?
When learning how to evaluate Smartlink performance, start with the EPM overview, then break it down by GEO, device, source, and placement, and also track conversion rates and revenue. Adverten supports real-time performance tracking and postback data.