Today I will discuss programmatic SEO for affiliates and what I’ve learned as a beginner in the field.
I’m not some guru or expert, just a normal dude. I tried this out, and it seems to work, so I’ll keep at it and see how things go. If you’re wondering about programmatic SEO and whether it could work for you, too, here’s your chance to find out.
Programmatic SEO for Affiliate Marketing
Programmatic SEO is a method of automatically creating many pages by inputting data into a system, and creating numerous versions or outcomes of that data. In this case, I use it for affiliate marketing content. This method allows me to quickly generate large amounts of content without writing each piece individually.
One of the great things about programmatic SEO is that it’s not very demanding in terms of creating new content. So, you don’t have to worry as much about search volume; focus on being the go-to resource when someone does a search – no matter how infrequent that may be.
It could be something that they only get a few clicks on per month, but those clicks are usually from people who are ready to buy. They know what they want, and your page has what they need.
In other words, it comes down to presenting the data to the visitor, so they can choose based on what they know. It’s less about you selling the product and more about them understanding the product and its value compared to others like it that might be out there.
Lastly, it’s more about data entry than writing articles because the content is created for you instead of needing to write or hire someone to jam out 1,500 words 100 times.
There are many ways to go about this. You can use Webflow, you could use WordPress, you can code your own website, or you can use some pre-made template. I did a gross amalgamation of vlookup, concatenate in google sheets, and reusable block shortcodes.
Examples of Sites Doing This Now and How They’re Monetized
There are a few examples of websites that use this method, and we’ll explore how they’re monetized.
Zapier
Zapier is a software that integrates different business SaaS products together. They are ranked for pages such as: “What software does Semrush integrate with?”, “What software does Hubspot integrate with?” and “What software does Google Sheets integrate with?”. And, of course, they’re also selling their Zapier SaaS product.
This is how Zapier is doing it. If you read this text right here, the whole page is built like this: Zapier lets you connect Semrush with thousands of the most popular apps. On the Slack page, it’s the same. Zapier let’s connect Slack with thousands of the most popular apps. Same exact kind of page layout – all they’re doing is replacing the proper noun or name of the software.
Capterra, G2, and GetApp
Some other well-known companies that use a similar method are Capterra, G2, and GetApp. I believed that Capterra and GetApp are owned by Gardner, making them essentially untouchable. They do comparisons of SaaS products and provide alternatives to pages like “Top alternative to Semrush.” Furthermore, they get paid through PPC or sponsorship deals.
If you’ve ever searched online for software reviews, you know hundreds of sites offer this type of content.
Technical.City
A site you should investigate is Technical.City. They have GPU comparisons and product information. If you’re looking for affiliate sites, this is great, with tons of traffic: about two million searches per month. It presents the information side-by-side for two GPUs and lets the user decide which to purchase.
They are comparing multiple GPUs, and here is the data. This first column is the architecture type, followed by the release date, launch price, current price, and lastly, pricing trend.
This post is a huge data dump of information about GPUs, formatted in an easy-to-read way. At the top, you can check the price or buy now from Amazon.
Failory
Failory created pitch decks such as “How much was Airbnb’s 2008 seed round pitch deck?” so that they can flow those readers to their newsletter.
The process of creating these pitch decks is more like filling in Mad Libs, which means that there’s a large data set for each deck. All you have to do is plug in the proper nouns- the name, year, amount earned, what round it was, etc.
My site
One of my sites didn’t automatically post content, so I had to do it manually. It was my first attempt! These are the A product vs. B product pages. As you can see from the article volume over the last 12 months, my results aren’t spectacular. However, I get more click-throughs to affiliates than most other types of posts.
So, it works by using content from other parts of the site to create unique pieces of content. I’m comparing two different things here.
Insights
Low-traffic pages and posts can still be successful if the click-through rate is high. I think this is because of the search intent.
If you’re writing posts about the 10 best microphones for YouTube videos, you need to educate your readers on what makes each option the best. What features do they offer that other models don’t? Why is this microphone the best choice for specific needs? You have to convince your reader that your recommendations are worth considering.
Whereas if somebody’s looking for alternatives to this microphone or trying to decide between this microphone and another one they already know about, all they need is easy-to-digest info to make a decision.
If you have two options and one of them has the feature that the customer is looking for, they’re more likely to purchase from you. All you need to do is present the information in a way that’s easy for them to understand and decide.
Some post ideas you could create are:
An “alternatives to” type of post
For example, the best alternatives to Semrush. I know what Semrush is because I’m looking for an SEO tool, but I don’t like it for whatever reason. What other tools are out there that are like Semrush? Oh Ahrefs, Serpstat, Serpwu
An “a-vs-b” type of post
I can’t decide if I should use Semrush or Ahrefs for my website. They both have their pros and cons, so it’s hard to choose. Let me see all the features of each side-by-side. Okay, this one has link tracking while this other one doesn’t. But wait, this second one does have rank tracking. And historical data is a must-have for me, so I need to go with the first choice.
Best “x-with-y” type of posts
What’s the best laptop for video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro? Let me compare the specs of these different laptops and see which one is better. Okay, this one has more RAM and a faster processor, so it looks like it would be better suited for video editing.
Best product under dollar amount type of posts
What are the best laptops that I can get for under $500? I want to know what my options are so that I can make a good decision. Okay, these two seem to fit the bill- they have decent processor speeds and enough RAM to run basic editing programs. Now let’s compare the features and see which one is better value.
Overall review-type posts
There are also review-type posts where you plug in the proper nouns and all the relevant information about that product. You don’t have to talk about your personal encounter with Semrush or anything else; you’re just saying, here’s what you need to know about this product.
This all depends on what you’re looking for. This is just a guide to getting started; you could do many other things. These are my ideas based on what I’ve used and found successful.
Some quick math
Or how this could be a good idea for your affiliate empire.
For example, if you only consider one product category, and within that category, there are 11 different products with 15 possible features each. Let’s use SEO tools as an example. You want to create 11 review posts about Semrush, Ahrefs, etc.
Then, for every one of those products, you create 10 alternative-to posts. So if you’re looking at alternatives to Semrush, you’d have a top 10 list (that doesn’t include the original product). Depending on your needs, you could do more or fewer, but 10 is usually a good place to start.
Next, you can create the a-vs-b posts. To calculate the number of posts that can be created, the formula is ((N^2-N)/2).
If you have 11 posts, your math would look like this: take the number of posts (11), square it (11^2=121), subtract the number of posts again from that total (121-11=110), and then divide by 2 ((110)/2=55). So there you have it – 55 is the number of vs posts you can create.
Then, based on the features offered by each tool, you could have posts dedicated to those features. For example, some SEO tools offer rank tracking as a feature. You could have posts like “7 best SEO tools with rank tracking.”
The potential costs associated
There are eleven different types of product overviews and reviews. This provides me with all the data I need for every other post that is generated. For example, 11 reviews at 2,000 words each and paying 3 cents per word would be about sixty dollars per review or $660 in total.
I’m paying $660 for 92 pages on the website. If I outsourced those same 92 posts at 1,000 words each and 3 cents per word, it would cost me about $2,700. That’s a difference of $2100 in my pocket that I don’t need to spend on outsourcing because the content is already there.
More ramblings
I’m telling you, go with whatever SEO tool you choose and look at your niche or vertical. For example, pick a product like the Sennheiser e835 microphone. Punch in the keyword “e835 vs.”
When you do this search, you’ll see that many alternative products to this microphone show up in the results with low competition scores because not many people are targeting these keywords yet. Still, there is some monthly search volume for them.
This is a volume play, through and through. If you write a post per day, you’ll be writing one post every day for three months. I don’t want to be rude, but frankly speaking, if you wrote every single word yourself because it’s “original,” good for you … but you’re the bottleneck. And I don’t want to BE the bottleneck.
We are creating something that is actually genuinely useful for the end user. We’re just not doing it manually.
Is it your goal to write the same thing multiple times?