Google’s Helpful Content update or known by most as HCU dramatically impacted the affiliate industry. The amount of posts you’d see claiming that affiliate marketing is dead. This simply isn’t true.
Yes the game has certainly gotten harder and the rules have changed a little, there’s also more opportunity than ever before.
The best time to become an affiliate marketer after HCU is NOW!
Table of Contents
HCU was a big game-changer for affiliates, many lost their websites overnight. This caused a lot of fear and confusion, as well as many throwing in the towel.
The thing is, this update needed to happen. I can almost hear hundreds of affiliates shouting at their screen reading that. But, hear me out…
Before HCU, the search results were terrible and offered no value. 99% of the results were high authority news sites ranking for all the Best XYZ terms. Affiliates with the biggest wallets and able to pay for these posts would win.
Most sites ranking were full of poor quality AI content and had no expertise in their chosen niche.
Disclaimer – I did say most sites, there were some very good sites that did get hits that shouldn't have.
Some affiliates will say it's harder to rank for certain terms and that is true. Google has changed the types of sites for different terms. For example now more ecommerce sites tend to rank for best xyz style posts than affiliates.
So why is it worth becoming an affiliate marketer after HCU?
HCU has created more opportunities for affiliates that focus on niche topics. Topics that they have experience in and resonate with their audience.
From what I’ve seen from affiliates that have done well, building a brand around your chosen topic and diversifying traffic is key. Now do I believe previously hit sites could recover?
Perhaps, but I think it would be worth building not only a new site but focusing on multiple platforms and traffic sources.
If you’re passionate about your niche and can show that you’re an expert in it then you can see success post HCU.
Producing high-quality, relevant content is critical. It's not just about creating useful content though, that's always been the case.
It's important to not just rewrite the same content that is on every site. If you’re passionate about the topic, you’ll be able to write about things that other affiliates won't be able to write about.
If you want to be successful then you also need to venture into other types of content creation. Not just building a website but complimenting this with YouTube, TikTok and potentially implementing Instagram.
Building an audience on each of these platforms and funnelling traffic from those platforms back to your website. As I said before you need to become an expert, if someone is an expert on a topic you’ll usually find they’re also on other platforms.
Whether you are new to affiliate marketing or you want to succeed after HCU, now is the time to adapt, innovate and grab the opportunity with both hands.
With the impact of HCU, many affiliates decided to leave the affiliate game. With less players on the field it makes it much easier to score a goal and win.
The barrier to entry when it comes to affiliate marketing is higher, but with less people doing it, there are fewer barriers in the way. Does that make sense?
No longer do you need to compete with tens of thousands of affiliates, affiliates that were just looking for a quick win. By focusing on creating valuable content and building an audience that follows what you have to say, you can do very well.
Content creators that are passionate about their chosen topic have a much better chance of standing out. Focus on providing real value, quality and being authentic.
One thing that I can see is clear from HCU and that is affiliates that build a brand around themselves or their niche is key.
The old saying was content is king, now personal branding is king.
It's not just about having your profile image on the side bar, or having a decent author page. You need to show that you’re an expert in the niche, focus on topics you're passionate about and your authority in that niche will build.
Let me give you an example;
I’m a big AFOL (adult fan of Lego), when I started getting into this hobby I wanted to learn all about it. This included looking for reviews of sets that I was interested in, as well as learning different building techniques.
I would go to websites, YouTube and even find myself looking at videos on TikTok. You know what I soon discovered?
The people I was following the most and trusting, were those that I saw in multiple places. They had a website reviewing sets, but they also had YouTube channels. I might have discovered them initially on YouTube or from a Google search.
Since I saw them everywhere when it came to Lego, I soon learnt that they were an authority.
This is the same for any niche.
You need to build niche authority. It's no good to just have a website and focus on affiliate focused content. If you’re fully passionate about your niche, you need to build a website that covers that topic completely but also convert that content into video/images or even podcasts.
Google will soon start ranking your site, when it learns that you are an expert in that topic.
Building your personal brand around the topic will help that happen. If you’re serious about affiliate marketing then I’d start learning about brand building.
I’ve said for years that it's not a good idea to keep all your eggs in one basket when it comes to traffic, this is even more important now.
Just focusing on search traffic through Google is incredibly risky. Even though it remains a great source of traffic that is generally targeted, by getting traffic from different sources you will become a more successful affiliate. Plus Google updates will not impact you as much in the future.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it's bad advice to tell you to focus on every platform. This could result in you spreading yourself too thin. You need to work smarter and not harder.
First of all, pick platforms that are relevant to your niche. As an example if your niche is food, you’ll want a website, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. It would be pointless to have a Linkedin for your food blog.
I would recommend creating a long form video on YouTube, convert this into smaller videos for Shorts, TikTok and Instagram. By recycling this content, your getting more bang for your buck.
The platforms you focus on are going to depend on your goal. YouTube and other social platforms are good for audience building and driving traffic to your website. Whereas email marketing and pinterest are perfect for reaching an audience that is already engaged in your brand.
If there is one point I'd get across to you and that is to diversify your traffic!
This is going to help reduce the impact of Google updates, whilst also becoming less reliant on SEO. It’ll help to make your affiliate business more resilient and more profitable, since you’ll be getting more traffic and in turn more sales.
Another benefit is that by focusing on other platforms, you’re going to be building your authority/personal brand.
Building a site that your audience loves is not just a nice to have but is going to be essential.
User experience has always been something to focus on but it's even more important now. Make sure your site is fast but also focuses on your users' needs.
Don't over complicate the design, you want it to be clean with high quality images and helpful content. This is going to give you much higher conversions.
Interestingly ecom sites have done well since HCU, but is this just because they have a checkout? If that's the case you could simply start selling merch or a book, although having a published book would help with building your authority.
I doubt its just having a checkout that has benefited them. It's more of a case that they can funnel traffic through no matter where they are in the buyers cycle.
Since HCU you want to also focus on building user engagement. There are more and more community pages/forums showing up in the SERPS. Might be worth testing this kind of thing on your site, as long as you have the time to invest in it and make it as high quality as possible.
I’ve already mentioned about brand building, I cannot say enough how important it is to build a real brand since HCU.
You need to become a trusted person in your niche.
You’ll be able to build trust and loyalty with your community by becoming a recognized expert.
It's important to remember that building a brand will take time and effort but it is worth it. Building your personal brand in your chosen niche will help to increase traffic, sales but also open doors into even more opportunities.
I started building my own personal brand when I had a food blog, I generated affiliate commissions but I also got invited to restaurants for meals, food related experiences and even got some free products. The biggest I got was a full sized gas pizza oven worth over £500.
You might start your website to generate affiliate income, however by building your own brand in your chosen niche affiliate income can end up becoming just a percentage of your overall income.
I cannot stress enough focus on building your personal brand!
No i'm not talking about affiliate disclosures or just having your picture on your site (although these are good to have)
You want to be honest and transparent with your audience. This is not only going to boost your credibility but also increase the trust your community has with you. They’ll then more than likely purchase based on your recommendations.
Remember Long term trust is more important than a quick sale.
I have always been an advocate of sharing what I learn, this hopefully builds up my credibility and personal brand. Remember sharing is caring!
Not only will it build trust, it’ll also open doors in the fact that people will also reciprocate and share what they’ve learnt with you. This then helps you grow your business even more.
I’ve spoken to thousands of affiliates over the years and throughout this time i’ve been trying to build a community of affiliates.
What's the problem with that?
Well, affiliates never seemed to be keen to share or discuss strategies with affiliates that where in the same niche.
This is such a small sighted way of looking at things.
Just because you’re in the same niche, doesn't mean you have the same audience.
I watch a lot of Fortnite streams and two different streamers playing the same game will have a completely different audience in the chat.
What i'm trying to get at is even though you might be in the same niche as someone, doesn't mean you shouldn't work with them.
Working with other content creators, whether that's website owners, YouTubers or influencers, you’ll be able to reach new audiences and this will help build your authority.
As an example of this in practice. I recently was doing a stream on Twitch and when I was due to follow I raided another channel. This is basically where you send your viewers to their channel to watch their stream.
So I was basically sending my audience to them. Why would I do this?
Well they have their audience and when I raided them, they shouted me out. Which means they shared my channel in their chat. So their audience can check my channel out.
This resulted in me getting a few more followers.
Potentially increasing my audience.
So working with others in a genuine way, can help grow your own community.
That's a lot to take in, so let's summarise it.
HCU or otherwise known as Google’s Helpful Update had hit many affiliates. Not so helpful and hit most affiliates.
Affiliate marketing is NOT dead.
HCU has opened up opportunities but only for those that are passionate about their niche and wanting to build up their personal brand.
Its no longer possible to chuck a ton of AI generated content up or open your wallet and pay for some high DR articles. Now you have to know the niche, build trust and develop your own community.
The key is to build your authority and diversify your traffic sources. Don’t just focus on building a website and spending time just writing blog posts or buying backlinks. Instead write content related to the niche but also look at growing a YouTube channel, building an email list and helping your audience.
Affiliate marketing is NOT dead, its just changed. Build authority, diversify traffic, be real, and grow your brand. Now is actually the best time to get started.
Hopefully you’ve learnt there are some very good reasons to become an affiliate marketer after HCU.
