Did Google Finally Kill Affiliate Marketing For Good?

This is the question on every SEO’s mind these days after the latest update. The short answer is no, affiliate marketing is not dead. The longer answer is that the way you may have been doing affiliate marketing in the past will no longer work. Although marketing and SEO are always changing, these changes look permanent so you will need to try a different strategy.

These days, affiliate marketing is not just about trying to game the algorithm and get to the top of the SERPs easily. It takes a multipronged approach to rank and generate enough traffic to make a living. In this article, we will go over what it takes to make money from affiliate marketing right now.

Use Different Traffic Sources

While SEO still works, it isn’t the only channel for traffic you should be using. Not only is it a good idea to diversify your traffic sources, it is also a good signal to Google which will help your organic rankings.

Social media platforms offer a lot of opportunities to reach a wide audience. You’ll get traffic from these sources to your affiliate offers, and at the same time be able to interact with your audience.

Adding Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads into your traffic strategy can also be a great traffic source. It’s not intuitive to start an ad campaign so hiring a professional such as this SEO agency Manchester is the best plan. If you have high ticket affiliate offers then PPC ads will give you a good ROI when done correctly.

Build a Brand

Creating a brand centered around your affiliate marketing site is now non-negotiable. It was often thought to be a waste of time by affiliate marketers. These days, a brand is essential in the eyes of Google.

Google has stated recently that they want websites to have authority. In the past, this meant building up a strong portfolio of blacklinks. While backlinks are still important, having a presence across multiple platforms adds authority and can help rankings.

Try to establish your brand across many different media types. For example, you can start a podcast that talks about your niche in depth. Then, a YouTube channel with videos about your niche will add another layer of authority to your brand. Finally, try to be a guest on other podcasts and YouTube channels to get your name out there.

Diversify Your Monetization Strategies

 In affiliate marketing, you don’t have to stick to just one way of making money. Once you have some authority and traffic is building, you should branch out into other ways to make money from your website.

Selling your own products or services is a great way to cut out the middleman and make even more money. With targeted traffic, you have a lot of different products to choose from that can be sold. Create digital products such as ebooks, courses, or other downloadable products. It is much more lucrative to sell your own products instead of settling for a commission on somebody else’s.