Affiliate Marketing.

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model where affiliates (publishers, bloggers, influencers, comparison sites) promote a merchant's products or services and earn a commission for each completed action—typically a sale, lead, or sign-up—generated through their unique affiliate link. The merchant pays only for results, making it a low-risk acquisition channel with costs directly tied to outcomes.

How Affiliate Marketing Works

The affiliate receives a unique tracking link from the merchant (or affiliate network like ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Impact, or Awin). When a user clicks the link and completes a defined action within the attribution window (typically 30–90 days), the affiliate earns their commission. Cookie or server-side tracking attributes the conversion to the correct affiliate. Merchants manage their programme directly or through affiliate networks that recruit, track, and pay affiliates.

Affiliate Marketing and SEO

Affiliate publishers—particularly review sites, comparison sites, and content affiliates—rely heavily on SEO to generate the traffic they monetise. Google has specific guidelines for affiliate content: thin affiliate pages with little original value beyond the merchant's own information are penalised; affiliates that add genuine editorial value, original reviews, and independent analysis are rewarded. For merchants, affiliate links should use the `rel='sponsored'` attribute to comply with Google's link spam guidelines.