Google Wants to Eliminate Affiliate Sites
The impact of the helpful content update (HCU) on affiliate sites.
“How do you get advice about your product?” I asked one of the affiliate marketers. At this, he laughed and said: “Um, I don’t know. I’ll ask a friend or something.
That answer alone is at the heart of the affiliate industry’s problem. It also explains Google’s frantic efforts to eliminate affiliate sites and niche sites in general.
2023 was a difficult year for affiliate site owners. September 14th marked the start of Google’s most rigorous algorithm update in over 10 years: the Helpful Content Update (HCU). This update aims to increase the visibility of useful, original, and people-focused content in search results.
HCU — and a subsequent series of major updates, spam, and Google Analytics — has cost countless affiliate marketers thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in monthly sales.
Affiliate sites established in niches such as telecommunications and internet, energy, and insurance have seen virtually no drop in traffic.
I know some online entrepreneurs who want to move away from the affiliate marketing revenue model altogether.
I’ve been in the affiliate marketing industry for almost 4 years. I’ve never seen such an impact from a Google algorithm update. Neither have friends of mine who have been at it for 12 years.
What exactly does Google have in mind with HCU
In a nutshell.
Google’s ‘Helpful Content System’ is designed to better reward content that visitors find satisfying.
Content that doesn’t meet visitors’ expectations will perform worse in search results.
This system generates a site-wide signal that is considered alongside many other signals for use in Google Search. It automatically identifies content that has little value or doesn’t seem useful to people.
When sites have a relatively large amount of useless content, they are punished outright — even the good content.
Google has been saying for years (or decades) that it wants to see content made for people — not for search engines. They have often failed to reward this type of content. HCU is trying to change that (with mixed results so far).
In addition to HCU, Google has also implemented many review updates in recent years. These updates reward review content that is authentic. In other words, content written by experts who test the products and say things about them that can’t be found on every website.
The way forward for affiliate site owners
That Google seems to be going after niche sites so aggressively shouldn’t surprise you. At least not if you view the Internet through the lens of a consumer looking for genuine product advice.
The problems lie mainly there:
Most websites don’t test products. As a result, the ‘top 5’ lists remain stuck on generalities taken from the manufacturer’s website. For the consumer, reading such a list is almost always pointless. The content does not fill an “information gap” on the Internet.
The articles are created for search engines, not for people. It’s mostly drivel. Written based on an assignment, with ‘write a 3,000-word piece’ as the starting point. Not a premise that respects or helps the reader.
Websites need better design and layout. It could be that the ads almost completely ruin the visitor experience, the site isn’t well-read on mobile or the content is a wall of text that isn’t interrupted by visual elements.
A logical first step for many affiliate marketers affected by HCU is to solve these problems first.
Other factors and strategies
Other factors that can help are diversification in terms of traffic and content. Starting a YouTube channel is a logical step in this direction. Not only can this make a blog’s content more valuable (visitors can choose whether they want to consume the content in article or video form), but it can also help with searches for a site’s name (which has an increasingly strong ranking effect) .seems to be a factor).
Other strategies include starting an email list, encouraging direct interaction with visitors (for example, through comments), or selling your own products. All of this can reduce dependency on Google and make a website a more “real” company with a right to exist.
What to do if Google’s HCU has tanked your affiliate site?
According to Google, there is nothing wrong with a site/blog that gets lower rankings after an update to Google’s algorithm. However, there are a few small tasks that you as a blogger or website owner can do to potentially restore rankings.
Update blog posts and static pages: if the content is a few months or even years old, it may be worth updating the page and content to reflect the latest developments as much as possible.
Make sure the page or blog post is comprehensive and informative. Usually, the newer and more exclusive the content, the better the site will rank. Provide value-added content and relevant information to potential customers. Be careful with AI-generated content. Focus on originality.
Pay attention to mobile viewing — this is just as important, if not more important, than desktop viewing.
Build a strong and reliable brand.
Know Google’s current rules and policies.
Use professional structuring and pre-sales landing pages.
Avoid unethical practices and follow affiliate marketing best practices.
Final thoughts
Google’s HCU update and other recent updates have shaken up the world of affiliate sites.
To be fair, many Google search results are a mess at the moment. What has replaced affiliate sites is not always better. That said, many HCU victims were of truly terrible quality. It’s not surprising or unreasonable that Google is trying to keep these types of sites out of the search results.
I also published lazy and mediocre review content on my afflicted blog in my early years. One of our goals for 2024 is to rectify this and sweep away our old content.
The sustainable way forward for affiliate sites is to focus on quality through a focus on authenticity (through product testing), excellent user experience, and high-quality writing. Other things that can help are a multi-channel approach (email and YouTube) and turning a site into a real business by selling products.
That's great news. Affiliate marketing is awful and needs to die. How am I supposed to trust anyone's review when they're just getting paid to hawk rebranded alibaba junk on Amazon?