As the rush to claim dominance in the AI era heats up, Commission Factory’s Sophie Metcalfe explores why genuine transparency, not theatrics, will determine who truly leads in LLM-driven marketing.
Navigating the AI Hype
AI has quickly become one of the industry’s favourite talking points – or rather everyone’s.
The momentum has been great for the channel. AI has brought affiliate to the forefront within the context of fast emerging, culture defining technology, and shone a spotlight on all the great things (we already knew) partnerships has to offer.
Whilst this is overwhelmingly positive, amongst the excitement it’s also important to continue to focus planning and strategy around what we know to be true, not around assumptions or predictions people might have on Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or Gemini right now.
Unpacking “LLM Visibility” Tools
The reality is that LLM technologies function very differently from the open-web environments affiliate marketing was built on. They are dynamic, closed systems that are still maturing commercially.
Here’s the core challenge:
LLMs don’t operate using traditional referral or impression models. There’s no unique URL, consistent identifier, or standardised way to attribute a “view” or “referral”, yet. As a result, any measurement should have the appropriate caveats applied.
What to ask?
- What data is actually being measured? Is it based on deterministic signals, or inferred from simulated outputs?
- What defines an LLM “rank”? How does the methodology account for variation in chatbot responses, hallucinations, or vendor-specific assumptions?
- How frequently is the model being refreshed? With training cycles and search behaviour shifting rapidly, static datasets can lose relevance quickly.
- What business outcome are we truly measuring? Discoverability, traffic influence, and brand perception each require different KPIs and different optimisation strategies.
Why Caution Is the Smartest Strategy Right Now
There is no doubt that AI and LLMs are reshaping not only digital marketing and how partnerships function, but consumer habits overall. We are having a rare watershed moment that usually only happens a handful of times in one’s lifetime, and I pinch myself that this is one of mine.
However, in a fast-moving landscape, advertisers are better served by focusing on genuine transparency and open dialogue with partners, and by investing in adaptable, practical optimisation strategies that evolve with the market. This helps ensure decision-making remains grounded in practical effectiveness rather than influenced by attention-grabbing claims.
What can I do?
Stick to facts. Now’s the time to really lean into your partners, some of whom are really well placed to provide intelligence in this area. Consider sharing data with them to build integrated and informed LLM visibility campaigns.
Follow the IAB’s AI working group content in its hub. If someone can track performance truly, you’ll hear about it here first.
Use our LLM Optimisation Toolkit for practical, logical tactics you can apply to your program today.
Straightforward guidance for marketers. No hype, no jargon.
At a time when there’s plenty of noise but very few clear answers, move beyond the theory and focus on practical steps that strengthen your program and improve performance across AI driven discovery and recommendation channels.
By Sophie Metcalfe, revenue operations director, Commission Factory.
