principle4
Why I Wouldn't Start Affiliate Marketing in 2025 (And What I'd Do Instead)
Back in the day, I ran a couple of semi-successful affiliate websites. I even once ranked #1 for “best protein powder.” This was a pretty lucrative keyword given its commercial intent and high search volume.Ever since then, the idea of starting another affiliate site and getting serious about it has always been in the back of my mind. I’ve just never had the time due to my day to day work at Ahrefs.But today? I don’t think I’d start one even if I had the time. It just isn’t worth it.Plenty of other online marketers seem to be echoing this sentiment lately, too.Below are four reasons why I feel like this and wouldn’t start a pure affiliate site in 2025.Google would rather rank Reddit than youReddit seems to rank in the top five for pretty much every affiliate keyword these days.This is even the case with YMYL keywords:And the problem is only getting worse…When Google recently penalized the affiliate directories of many big publications like CNN Underscored, it overwhelmingly gave that traffic to Reddit—not independent publishers. I know this because we studied it.How? We looked at 6,179 keywords that declined or had been completely lost for the directories below between November 18th and November 25th:- www.wsj.com/buyside/
- www.independent.co.uk/advisor
- www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/
- The influx of AI spam.
www.leadbuildermarketing.com/why-i-wouldnt-start-affiliat...
Why I Wouldn't Start Affiliate Marketing in 2025 (And What I'd Do Instead)
Back in the day, I ran a couple of semi-successful affiliate websites. I even once ranked #1 for “best protein powder.” This was a pretty lucrative keyword given its commercial intent and high search volume.Ever since then, the idea of starting another affiliate site and getting serious about it has always been in the back of my mind. I’ve just never had the time due to my day to day work at Ahrefs.But today? I don’t think I’d start one even if I had the time. It just isn’t worth it.Plenty of other online marketers seem to be echoing this sentiment lately, too.Below are four reasons why I feel like this and wouldn’t start a pure affiliate site in 2025.Google would rather rank Reddit than youReddit seems to rank in the top five for pretty much every affiliate keyword these days.This is even the case with YMYL keywords:And the problem is only getting worse…When Google recently penalized the affiliate directories of many big publications like CNN Underscored, it overwhelmingly gave that traffic to Reddit—not independent publishers. I know this because we studied it.How? We looked at 6,179 keywords that declined or had been completely lost for the directories below between November 18th and November 25th:- www.wsj.com/buyside/
- www.independent.co.uk/advisor
- www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/
- The influx of AI spam.
www.leadbuildermarketing.com/why-i-wouldnt-start-affiliat...