Answers to common questions about Drive, how it works, what changes on your site, and what to expect after setup

Can I use Drive if I don’t have a website?

No. Drive can only be used on websites and blogs that support external code. Other platforms and resources are not supported.

Does Drive slow down my site or affect SEO?

No. Drive code is lightweight, doesn’t alter visible content, URLs, or SEO metadata. We’ve consulted SEO specialists and conducted long-term tests — there’s no negative impact on search performance or bounce rates.

Does Drive affect CWVs?

No, Drive will not have any effect on your Core Web Vitals metrics.

Can I use Drive if I have other scripts installed on my website? 

Yes, you can use Drive even if you have other scripts installed, such as Stay22, Mediavine, or Ezoic. Drive will not affect any tools that are already in place within your articles. Read more here.

I am not working with the brand’s direct affiliate program, but I still have some links that I manually placed in my articles. Will Drive help switch them into Travelpayouts affiliate links?

Yes, Drive will switch such links to Travelpayouts affiliate links.

Will Drive place tools on my landing pages or any other pages that don’t contain travel content?

No, Drive will only work with travel-related posts and pages with sufficient content.

I was using LinkSwitcher, Emerald and Booking Booster. Do I need to do anything?

No, all mentioned tools are now a part of Drive system. All your settings are saved and remain to work on your website.

I already joined the brand’s direct affiliate program on their site. How can I add this brand’s program on Travelpayouts?

To work with any brand via Travelpayouts, your Project needs to be approved for it. So you can’t skip this step even if you previously joined the brand’s program directly on its website.

Learn more here: How to start working with affiliate programs.

Does Drive add attributes to links when switching them?

Yes, Drive adds the following attributes: noopener, nofollow, sponsored. 

The links on my website contain manually created SubIDs. Will these SubIDs be retained if I start using Drive link switching?

Yes, all your existing SubIDs will remain intact. You can easily track them using the Travelpayouts Performance report.

What is a cloaked link?

Cloaked links are links used to hide the real content or redirect users to different websites, typically to bypass moderation, filtering systems, or detection. 

An example of how a cloaked link works: on a website, the link leading to a specific website is shown, but when the user clicks the link, they are redirected to a completely different resource that doesn't match the original appearance of the link.

Can Drive change the Project ID in my Travelpayouts links?

Yes! If you have previously placed Travelpayouts affiliate links on your website, but now you need to update the Project ID in these links - simply install the code with the correct ID on your website, turn on Drive link switching and the Project ID will automatically be changed in all these links.

The website of which brand is shown in Drive Targeted Offers?

Drive automatically selects the most suitable brand based on a number of factors, such as brand performance on bookings and user behavior. This helps to increase revenue without any additional action on your part.

Does Drive Targeted Offers open the brand’s homepage or a page for a specific destination?

Drive is an AI-powered tool that reads and analyzes the content of your site’s pages and, instead of sending users to the brand’s homepage, routes them to the page that best matches the context (destination, route, type of service). If there isn’t enough context, it falls back to the homepage.

Can I exclude certain pages from Drive?

Yes. If you don’t want Drive to work on specific pages you can exclude them in the settings.

Please note that smart previews and targeted offers don’t support page exclusion. If you don’t need them on specific pages, please send a request to our support team, and we will make the necessary adjustments for you.

What are the reward rates in Drive?

In all tools except Targeted offers, the usual reward rates are applied. You can find them on the Programs page in your Travelapayouts account.

Rewards rates for Targeted offers can be found in the Targeted offers reward rates article.

Can I turn off the second desktop activation for Targeted offers?

Yes — we can disable it for you. Just send us a request.

Can I apply for the brand’s program in Travelpayouts if I was canceled in their direct affiliate program? 

Sure! To do this, you need to create a Project in your Travelpayouts account and make sure to specify all the details about your website in it. We will review your Project to make sure it matches with brands' terms and conditions and get back to your within 24 hours.

Please note that some brands (e.g. Booking.com) provide rather strict requirements for our partners’ projects when it comes to approval. It’s important that your website is a travel-related content project updated on a regular basis.

Please note that if your request to connect to the direct affiliate program was declined, and you received a detailed explanation, you still need to bring your website in compliance with the requirements provided by the brand. After doing so, feel free to apply for the program within the Travelpayouts platform.

Can I manually select which brands or travel niches Drive can use?

You can only choose brand for link switching.

When it comes to other functionalities, you can’t select specific brands. Drive is a smart AI-tool and selects best-fit offers based on deep analysis of your content and visitors, so you can be sure that the brand will appeal to your audience.

Can I limit the number of links and blocks added to the page?

No. The number of tools integrated by Drive is chosen strategically and can vary depending on several factors:

• Page content: we consider whether it can be possibly monetized and smartly distribute links through the page.
• Location of the monetization tools already added before Drive: we avoid placing new tools near existing ones.
• The overall number of affiliate tools already used in the article. We set a reasonable maximum limit of tools Drive can add, so the content doesn’t look too promotional.

To sum it up, we care about the site visitors' experience and do not try to harm it with aggressive monetization.

Can I change Drive settings?

Yes, you can change settings if needed. See Drive settings article for more information.

Can I turn off Drive?

Yes. To turn off Drive you need to disable it's functionalities in the Advanced settings.