That said, using SEO – search engine optimisation – can help you to become a better affiliate marketer. There are several key steps that you can take in order to maximise your SEO – we detail these below.
Best practice SEO for affiliate marketing
A good website
It’s not essential to have an affiliate marketing website in order to be a good affiliate marketer, but it certainly helps. It doesn’t need to be complex – a one-page landing page will do – and will improve your ranking by search engines.
1 Best practice SEO for affiliate marketing1.1 A good website1.2 Keyword research1.3 Maximise your SERP performance1.4 Link building 1.5 Ensure your content is comprehensive
After building it, you must then optimise your website for conversions. You can do this through good design, appealing copy, and obvious calls-to-action (CTAs). Ensure that your content is engaging for your audience niche. Bear in mind that site speed optimisation is essential – you need it to load swiftly. Otherwise, audiences will ‘bounce’ away from the landing page, and you will have lost a potential conversion.
Keyword research
This is essential SEO practice for affiliate marketers: research the keywords that do best in your particular content’s niche. You can use a tool like Google Keyword Planner to do so, which will provide you with data on search volumes for specific keywords. Researching your keywords will help you to ensure your content is targeted to what audiences are searching for. If a keyword has over one thousand average monthly searches, that should provide you with decent traffic.
Maximise your SERP performance
A SERP is a search engine results page. After you enter a query into your search engine, it’s the first page that comes up. You want to be on the first page of search engines and, ideally, to achieve the snippet that will make you the first site ranked on the first SERP. You’re more likely to be ranked higher if you have a strong click-through rate. The algorithm that determines the SERP is constantly changing, but having strong organic SEO will improve your SERP ranking. You can use paid ads, too, but organic traffic is far more lucrative for generating conversions.
Link building
Obviously, the content of your website matters – what might be called ‘on page’ work. But so does your ‘off page’ work, and this is done via social media and link building. Having stronger links to external sites makes your own more noticeable to search engines, which will rank you higher. Once you produce a piece of content, post the page on social media and in email promotions to maximise engagement. Reach out to high authority sites and offer to link build with them, or write a guest post for them.
Ensure your content is comprehensive
Contrary to popular belief, stuffing keywords into your content won’t help you rank. Search engines are smart, and will quickly work out what you’re doing – you’ll rank lower for it. Ensure that your content is coherent and clear. It should incorporate keywords but still be relevant for your audience. You can always research competitors and see what they’re doing successfully, and do it better. Don’t be afraid to update your old content with better SEO, too. In the affiliate marketing game, it’s all about adapting and improving.
