The Correct Way To Conduct Affiliate Keyword Research

Affiliate keywords research is a crucial step in the success of any affiliate marketing program.

Nowadays, the objective most online businesses aim to accomplish is to be the most sought-out page on the Internet in a certain category.

But… are businesses conducting the correct affiliate keyword research?

Constantly all over the world, a vast number of people are using search engines (such as Google and Bing) to hunt for all kinds of services, products, and opportunities.

In order to find what they’re searching for online, these users type in countless varieties of different words, concepts, and phrases, creating a certain pattern that, albeit chaotic, may be tracked and analyzed.

When designing a digital marketing strategy, the most important step for a business to take is to ensure their website is as discoverable as it can be, attempting to rank as high on Google as possible.

In order to accomplish this objective, specific strategies are set in motion, among which, is the usage of a particular series of words.

These words are defined as keywords and will be fundamental when optimizing a website, a social post, or any type of marketing campaign including affiliate marketing.

So let’s find out the correct way of conducting affiliate keyword research!

What are Keywords?

For example, if a user were to be searching for somewhere to buy a certain pair of shoes to wear for outdoor activities, such as hiking,  they would type in “best shoes for hiking” to a search engine.

On the basis of the searched keywords, this would lead to a number of search results.

Included in these search results would be the most suitable and optimized options for the particular user, provided by the search engine.

One of the main reasons these precise results would be obtained would be thanks to each website’s keywords.

Keywords are the base of digital marketing, not only are they crucial in terms of  Search Engine Optimisation, but they are also an extremely relevant On-Page SEO factor.

On-Page SEO is the development of optimization within a website with the objective of ranking higher in search engine results pages.

So, now that the importance of keywords in digital marketing has become clear, how exactly can we find them to use them to our advantage? Let’s take a look at how to conduct keyword research!

How to Conduct Keyword Research

Understanding how to conduct keyword research is an indispensable task for any business with a desire to be successful online.

When marketers go ahead with this type of research, certain patterns in user tendencies become clearer, allowing for a guide in terms of optimization efforts with regards to their websites.

In addition to this, it is important to remember that keyword research is not just about finding out the number of searches a word or phrase has racked up.

This term also refers to the process of delving into the diverse manner of ways people utilize language to explore a topic or idea.

When researching keywords, an excellent strategy to follow is to take into consideration not only the literal words people use when searching online but the meaning and intent behind them.

The basic steps to take when conducting keyword research are:

• Begin with a precise topic or head keyword
• Make a list of a number of related terms to the head keyword
• Determine how popular each of these words is using keyword planning tools 
• Find out how hard it would be to rank as high as possible with the particular keyword if the search volume is high, a target that keyword

After discovering how useful each of the keywords will be for the optimization of a website or business, they may then be put to good use.

In addition to setting up basic websites with the correct keywords, it is essential to make use of other marketing strategies. The next one we will look into will be affiliate marketing.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Delving deeper into the definition, affiliate marketing can be described as a marketing plan of action that:

• Pays the publisher or source of traffic an exact amount for each action generated (known as a Cost Per Action)
• Does not present a risk for the advertiser (if there is no traffic, the affiliate will not receive compensation)
• The affiliate is in charge of organizing (and paying for related costs)
• The advertiser may not receive full transparency of the actions and strategies utilized by the affiliate

With regards to affiliate marketing, it is crucial to remember that there are always at least three parties involved:

• The customer
• The affiliate site
• The advertiser

Now, let’s dig into the main aspects of affiliate marketing!

1. What are Affiliate Links?

One of the fundamental elements to take into consideration when discussing affiliate marketing is affiliate links.

In affiliate marketing, the advertisers are able to use these links to track the traffic that is received by the advertiser’s website.

More often than not, the affiliate agreement clearly states that the affiliate should be in charge of organizing its own affiliate link and ensuring it is linked to the advertiser’s site.

2. What are Affiliate Sites?

Another group of key elements of affiliate marketing is, of course, the affiliate sites themselves.

How to Conduct Keyword Research for Affiliate Sites

Affiliate sites, like other websites, require traffic in order to be successful.

With the objective of optimizing their SEO, affiliate sites must use long-tail keywords.

The manner in which most businesses go about conducting the research of keywords for their affiliate sites is incorrect. Many focus on high volume and short-tail instead of long-tail keywords, not understanding the potential these have.

By targeting long-tail keywords, your affiliate site is much more like to rank in SERPs and users are more inclined to convert.

The concept to focus on when attempting to research the best type of long-tail keywords for affiliate sites is search intent.

Search intent is vital to SEO, as, by definition, it is precisely the reason the consumer is searching for something, therefore must be taken into account when researching keywords.

In the case of affiliate sites, there are four kinds of affiliate keyword formats to explore:

• General comparisons: “best [product name]”
• Branded comparisons: “[brand name] vs. [brand name]”
• Product reviews: “[brand name] review”
• Trust and Authority keywords: no particular format, as they are not commercial

The most effective way to choose the appropriate long-tail keywords for your affiliate site is to complete a series of steps, that will be explained as follows:

1.  Come up with a topic, for which you may explore your competitors’ content and keywords for ideas
2. Use keyword research tools such as  Answer the Public, Ubersuggest, and LongTail Pro and come up with a list of keywords
3. Check the profit potential of each keyword
4. Check the keyword competition
5. Select the keyword you deem most appropriate for your affiliate site
6. Develop the content of your page around the long-tail keywords, use them as a guide

Conclusion

After having looked into the matter, it is safe to say that whatever type of website you’re attempting to optimize, keywords are a top priority.

These allow us to understand what products or topics people are searching for, the context in which they are searching for them, and what services they genuinely require.

Furthermore, learning to use keyword tools, analyzing the search volume and competition of the keywords, and selecting the best ones for your website is crucial.

All in all, keyword research provides marketers with insight regarding the content they should be producing.

Ultimately, when specifically referencing affiliate keyword research, placing the focus on long-tail keywords is the best strategy to follow.

The manner in which these long-tail keywords are found is also through keyword tools, ensuring the correct analysis and measurement of the keywords themselves.

All things considered, identifying the correct keywords and conducting accurate keyword research for affiliate marketing will stand you in good stead with regards to website traffic and success.