White Label

White label means a product, service or piece of technology made by one company and presented under another company's brand. In affiliate marketing the term has two practical uses. One is a white-label platform that a brand runs under its own name, and the other is a white-label offer or tool that a publisher hosts as its own.

How white label works in affiliate marketing

On the advertiser side, a white-label platform lets a brand present its programme with its own logo, sign-up page and sometimes its own tracking domain. A provider supplies the technology behind it. Awin's branded private network is one example, and many tracking platforms offer branded partner portals. Publishers see the brand, not the platform behind it.

On the publisher side, a white-label offer is a ready-made product that a publisher embeds under its own branding, often as a page or widget. Common UK examples include energy, broadband and travel comparison or booking engines. The provider handles prices, fulfilment and tracking, then pays the publisher per sale, per lead or as a revenue share.

Example of a white-label comparison tool

Imagine a money-saving blog that embeds a white-label broadband comparison tool styled in its own colours. In a month, 2,000 readers run a search and 5% switch provider, giving 100 sales. At a flat £20 per switch, the blog earns £2,000 without building or maintaining a pricing engine.

The catch is that the same tool may sit on dozens of other sites. Google's spam policies describe affiliate pages built from content distributed across many sites as thin, so the publisher's own guidance and testing still has to carry the page.

Why white label matters

For advertisers, a white-label platform keeps the partner relationship visibly with the brand. That helps when recruiting creators or strategic partners who never think in network terms. The cost is losing a network's marketplace exposure, so recruitment rests with you, much as it does in a custom affiliate program.

For publishers, white-label offers are a quick way to add revenue in verticals where building the product is impractical. Before signing, check who owns the customer data, how sales are tracked and paid, and how clearly the page shows which company provides the service. The page is still affiliate marketing, so it needs the same clear disclosure as any affiliate link.

White label vs co-branded

A white-label tool carries only the host's branding, while a co-branded tool shows both names, often with a "powered by" line for the provider. Co-branding is more open about who supplies the service and can borrow trust from a known name. White label looks more integrated, but it puts more weight on the host's own reputation if something goes wrong.

If you are deciding whether a branded platform or a network suits your programme, our guide on choosing the right affiliate network sets out the options.