What you need to know: How UK Tax Drag makes money
Quick answer: UK Tax Drag's funding model is intentionally narrow: Google AdSense display advertising. That is the entire revenue model. We have no affiliate relationships, no sponsored content, no paid editorial placements, no referral fees. Two consequences: (1) we have no commercial incentive to push readers toward any particular financial product, broker, or service,…
Key points:
- Served by Google's network, not chosen by us editorially.
- Programmatic — auctioned based on user data, page context, and bidding by advertisers.
- Placed in pre-defined positions on the page (top banner, in-content, end-of-article).
UK Tax Drag's funding model is intentionally narrow: Google AdSense display advertising. That is the entire revenue model. We have no affiliate relationships, no sponsored content, no paid editorial placements, no referral fees. Two consequences: (1) we have no commercial incentive to push readers toward any particular financial product, broker, or service, and (2) we can write what we genuinely think is right rather than what a commercial partner would prefer. We think the latter is worth a smaller revenue base.
The one revenue source: display advertising
UK Tax Drag is monetised via standard Google AdSense display ads. The ads are:
- Served by Google's network, not chosen by us editorially.
- Programmatic — auctioned based on user data, page context, and bidding by advertisers.
- Placed in pre-defined positions on the page (top banner, in-content, end-of-article).
- Limited in number and kept clear of the main content so pages stay readable.
We have no contractual relationship with any specific advertiser. Google handles the auction and payment.
What this means for readers:
- The ads you see reflect Google's ad selection, not our editorial choice.
- We don't endorse the products in the ads. We have no information about them beyond what Google's targeting shows.
- Ad blocking is fine. We don't paywall or block content based on ad blocker detection.
What we explicitly don't do
No affiliate revenue
The standard UK personal finance website monetises by inserting affiliate links to brokers, banks, ISAs, mortgages, and platforms. Each click that converts to a sign-up earns the publisher a commission. This creates a powerful incentive to recommend whichever product pays the highest commission, and to hide products that don't pay at all.
UK Tax Drag has zero affiliate relationships. When we mention a broker, platform, or product, it's because it's relevant to the topic — not because clicking it earns us a fee. We don't claim "best" lists ranked by commission rate.
No sponsored content
We don't accept payment in exchange for editorial coverage. There are no "sponsored by" articles, no paid product reviews, no advertorials disguised as guides. If we cover a product or service, the coverage is editorial.
No paid placements
We don't sell positions in our mega-nav, our hub pages, our footer, our calculator suggestions, or anywhere else. Listing order is editorial.
No referral fees
This is most explicit on the find-a-UK-tax-adviser page, which names Maze Tax Services as an editorial choice. The Editor has worked with Maze's founder for over 10 years. UK Tax Drag receives no payment, referral fee or other benefit from Maze.
No newsletter sponsorship (yet)
When we launch a newsletter, it will not initially carry sponsored content. If that changes, the change is disclosed in editorial standards before the first sponsored issue ships.
Why this funding model
The decision to avoid affiliate revenue costs us money. Most UK personal finance sites generate the majority of their revenue from affiliate links. Choosing not to do this means smaller revenue per visitor. We've decided this is worth it for three reasons:
- Editorial integrity. Without affiliate revenue, there's no pressure to direct readers toward higher-commission products. The recommendations are editorial.
- Reader trust. If a site has affiliate revenue, every "best X" list is suspect. Without it, we don't have to convince you we're trustworthy on every individual product mention.
- Long-term moat. Sites built on affiliate revenue have a structural conflict between editorial honesty and revenue. We don't.
Display advertising has its own issues (irrelevant ads, occasional poor-quality advertisers in Google's auction) but doesn't create the same editorial conflict.
What about cookies, tracking, and data sharing?
UK Tax Drag uses:
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — measures page views and how calculators and links are used, so we can see what readers find useful. In the UK, the EEA and Switzerland it loads only after you allow analytics.
- Google AdSense — ad serving. Google uses advertising cookies for personalised ads only with your consent; without it, Google may show non-personalised or limited ads.
- TradingView market ticker — a free widget shown on some pages. When it loads, TradingView receives your IP address and the page address so it can show prices; TradingView states that its widgets do not set cookies.
- No other third-party trackers. No Facebook Pixel, no Hotjar, no Mixpanel, no marketing pixels.
Visitors in the UK, the EEA and Switzerland see Google's consent message on pages with ads, or a basic fallback message where Google's message cannot load or a page has no ads. The Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page reopens it, so you can change or withdraw your choice at any time.
See the privacy policy for full details and the Google privacy policy for what Google does with the analytics + AdSense data.
What happens if the funding model changes
If we add a revenue stream beyond display advertising — e.g. we accept a paid sponsorship, develop an affiliate relationship, launch a paid product — the change is disclosed on this page before the new model takes effect, and the editorial position is reviewed in line with editorial standards. Specifically:
- Affected pages get a new disclosure note.
- The change is logged in the changelog.
- The new model is added to this page with effective date.
You'll never find out about a new revenue stream by accident or by reading the small print.
Current commercial relationships (full list)
| Party | Relationship | Financial flow |
|---|---|---|
| Google AdSense | Display advertising network | A share of the revenue from ads shown on the site, paid by Google |
| Google Analytics | Website analytics (with consent) | None |
| Netlify | Web hosting, DNS and contact-form message storage | Payment to Netlify |
| TradingView | Free market ticker widget on some pages | None |
| cdnjs (Cloudflare) and jsDelivr | Free hosting of the code libraries used for PDF downloads and charts | None |
| Maze Tax Services | Editorial recommendation | None — no fee, no commission |
That's the full list. There is no email-delivery provider at present, because the newsletter and the email sign-in for scenario sync are paused. If a new party appears on this table in future, the change is dated and disclosed.
Why we tell you all this
You're trying to make money decisions worth thousands or tens of thousands of pounds. You need to know which voices to trust. Knowing how UK Tax Drag is funded — and especially what we don't accept — is part of how you should decide whether to trust this site's editorial position.
If anything on this page changes, this page changes first.