Affiliate SEO.
Learn what Affiliate SEO means in modern search and SEO.
The practice of creating content that ranks organically for product and review queries, monetised through affiliate commission links to advertisers.
Affiliate SEO involves creating content—product reviews, best-of lists, comparison guides, buying guides—that ranks in organic search and earns commission revenue when readers click affiliate links and make purchases on third-party merchant sites. Amazon Associates, ShareASale, Rakuten, and direct brand affiliate programmes are common affiliate networks.
Google's Affiliate Policy
Google's spam policies flag 'thin affiliate' content—pages that add little value beyond aggregating merchant product information available on the seller's site. Google expects affiliate content to demonstrate genuine expertise, independent testing, and original opinion. Sites that rank primarily on affiliate keyword content with low E-E-A-T signals are vulnerable to Helpful Content updates.
Affiliate Link Disclosure and Nofollow
FTC guidelines (US) require clear disclosure of affiliate relationships ('This post contains affiliate links'). From an SEO perspective, affiliate links must be tagged with `rel='nofollow'` or `rel='sponsored'` to comply with Google's link scheme guidelines—passing PageRank through commercial affiliate links is a link scheme violation that can result in penalties.
Ready to close the loop?
See every term in action
Aergos tracks your AI and organic visibility across every channel, in one platform.
Not ready to talk? Audit your site free →