The short answer to this question is yes, affiliate marketing is indeed getting tougher in 2024. If you have been keenly following the trends in this industry, you may have noticed some significant developments. From the rise of AI content to the turbulent search algorithm updates, everything seems to be getting more challenging.
But what can you do to succeed in such a tough environment? Here, we’ll delve deeper into solutions that can help you navigate through the challenges of affiliate marketing in 2024.
Quality Content Is More Important Than Ever
I have always emphasized quality content to any affiliate marketer and those wishing to join the industry. Quality content has always been the backbone of the success of any affiliate business. However, to some degree, you could have gotten away with subpar content in the past, especially if you knew your way around search engine optimization (SEO).
The recent rise of AI-generated content seemed like a blessing in disguise for some marketers. You could mass-produce content with minimal effort. But, it has awakened search engines, notably Google, to the need for quality content. In 2024, it won’t be business as usual.
According to Google’s August ‘helpful content update,’ content should cater to the reader and not only the search engine ranking. That means no more shortcuts around quality content, even if you have all the SEO tricks up your sleeve. While this might spell doom to some affiliate marketers, it shouldn’t intimidate you. Going forward, you should take this as an opportunity to stand out in the market. (1)
Too Many Affiliate Links Is A Red Flag
Of course, the goal of being an affiliate market is to earn through commissions. That means you need to have affiliate links in your website content. That sounds great, right? Well, not if your content is overloaded with them.
Placing affiliate links to every content you post on your site will no longer be a thing. Search engine algorithms can tell when you are trying to manipulate rankings through excessive affiliate links. Google, in particular, considers this as spam affiliate practices.
You don’t want Google penalizing your website. What do you do? You need to be strategic in incorporating affiliate links into your content. A good rule of thumb is no more than 20% of your content should contain affiliate links.
Limit the number of affiliate links to avoid getting flagged as spammy or overly promotional. In 2024, affiliate marketing will be tough for anyone trying to game the system.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing will get tough in 2024. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to succeed. However, you will need more than basic SEO knowledge and mass-produced content. Quality content and genuine recommendations will set you apart from the competition.
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