Now that you understand the significant link between SEO and affiliate marketing, let’s look at how you can combine the two strategies for maximum digital marketing success.

1. Choose the right keywords for your affiliate content

First of all, to give your affiliate marketing content a fighting chance of ranking for the right searches on the likes of Google, choosing the right keywords is vital.

Conducting keyword research will not only help you shape ideas for your affiliate marketing campaigns —it will also significantly expand the reach of your content.

To maximize your chances of ranking for the right search terms, it’s important that you curate a mix of:

Short tail keywords: singular words relevant to your topic or subject matter (e.g. “affiliates”).

Long tail keywords: Multiple words relevant to your topic or subject matter (e.g. “affiliate marketing SEO”).

Key phrases: entire sentences or questions someone might search for related to your topic or subject matter (e.g. “how do I combine my affiliate marketing and SEO strategy?”).

2. Create value-driven content on your niche

To get your affiliate marketing SEO efforts right, your content must offer direct value to your audience.

We live in an age where consumers are immune to the allure of the plastic sales messaging. To drive growth from your affiliate marketing efforts, creating content that matches the searcher’s intent while offering direct answers to specific pain points is vital.

If your affiliate marketing content fails to deliver on its promises, search engines will penalize you and you will not rank well. When this happens, it’s unlikely that anyone will discover your content and if they do, it’s likely that they will bounce before clicking on any affiliate links.

There are several types of content you can utilize for affiliate marketing SEO content. These include:

• Email marketing campaigns or content with well-placed affiliate products and links
• How-tos and tutorial-style content
• Detailed product reviews and comparisons
• Listicles based on hacks, tips, ideas, best products or useful resources relevant to your content’s subject matter
• Videos
• Dedicated affiliate landing pages with useful information and links to relevant resources or products.

3. Optimize your affiliate content

Another key area where affiliate marketing and SEO strategy intersect is content optimization. Take the time to optimize your content and your search engine rankings will improve as will the performance of your affiliate marketing content.

This example from Decor Outdoor is an excellent example of SEO optimized content. This informative product guide includes:

• A well-researched mix of short tail, long tail keywords and questions that reflect the target readers’ search intent
• Well formatted subheadings arranged into a <H1>, <H2>, and <H3> hierarchy
• Eye-grabbing imagery (with keyword-rich alt text) and formatting that is easy to navigate on-page
• Product links that weave naturally into the content using solid anchor text
• Information and insights that are far from sales-y and offer an objective view
• A tone of voice and language that is fluent and easy to understand (no jargon, no overcomplicated wording)

4. Work on your link-building profile

By building high-quality backlinks to your affiliate marketing content, you will boost your search authority and drive more traffic to your website.

Link-building remains one of the most vital SEO ranking factors, so earning those all-important backlinks should be one of your main affiliate marketing priorities. Here are some savvy ways you can boost your link-building profile:

• Write guest posts for relevant and respected industry blogs and publications
• Work on affiliate content collaborations with relevant brands or publications to cross-promote each other’s content and exchange links
• Ask any of your trusted affiliate partners to add backlinks to your content or website from theirs

5. Track, measure and evolve

Once your affiliate marketing and SEO strategies, you should keep fine-tuning your efforts to adapt to an ever-changing digital landscape.

To ensure your affiliate marketing and SEO strategies are optimized for continual success, you must use data to track as well as measure your content or campaign success. Doing so will help you pinpoint potential strengths and weaknesses while gaining the insight you need to refine your strategic efforts while meeting the needs of your audience head on.

Affiliate marketing SEO: final thoughts

Executed well, affiliate marketing SEO will empower you to create content that sparks real engagement and generates revenue.

Understanding where SEO and affiliate marketing strategy meet will empower you to develop content that speaks to specific segments of your audience while expanding your commercial reach.

Use these top tips to your advantage and with a little persistence, you will see your affiliate marketing ROI soar.