In the first panel of the second day of the Amplify Summit, Lee-Ann was joined by a selection of affiliate marketing peers to explore modern search, what’s changing how AI and Voice Search are impacting results and also how this will affect the way in which you work with your affiliate content and SEO partners. Lee-Ann is joined by Paul Kasamias, Managing Partner at Performics@Starcom, Martin MacDonald, CEO of MOGmedia, and Dominic Wells, CEO of Onfolio Holdings.
The team discuss key factors that should help you improve your partner performance in this niche and our panel of experts will be detailing exactly how you can use what’s changing to AMPLIFY your program performance and content partnerships across the diverse breadth of content curator publishers you’ll be working with as part of your program this year too!
Where is the SEO landscape currently heading?
SEO is obviously a huge part of affiliate marketing, as is content creation. And with SEO, primarily Google’s SEO policies and practices constantly updating and already mystified to the average user, it’s no surprise that it’s a topic that this panel could talk about forever. Based on his experience in the industry, Martin had quite the revelation to share about Google and SEO, saying: “Google is going to eventually – and 2023 might be the year – move away from being the 10 Blue Links that we’ve been accustomed to for the last 20 years now within Google and certainly within more search and more broad basis and move closer to being an answer engine, which we can see based on the insertion of content that they’ve got at the top of the search results.”
Will AI take over?
There were a lot of different opinions in this panel around the idea of using ChatGPT and by extension artificial intelligence tools to create content. Will the bots entirely take over? Martin doesn’t seem to think so. He seems to think there is no accounting for human quality, and that Google agrees, saying: “Authenticity is definitely key. … In certain smaller context, ChatGPT produced content is workable and will do well, but it will not replace actual human expertise, actual authority on a topic.”
Paul said: “I think ChatGPT will be utilized, and as it evolves it will take some of the grunt work out of what content creators do, particularly ideation. I would say some of the coding, perhaps, formatting, things that take a lot of time but aren’t necessarily adding strategic value the clients’ business or your website.”
Dominic seems to think that it’s all about the numbers, and that the proof will be in the pudding.
Dominic said: “If the seller says ‘Yeah, all of this content is AI’ then we’ll probably pass on it because it’s probably going to be a low quality site. But if it was ranking really well and the content was performing well and there were conversions then it is actually easier for us in that context because it allows us to analyse what is actually happening.”
What are buyers of affiliate sites looking for in content from affiliates?
And as for a little short and sweet tip on what makes for the best content, Dominic has some insights, saying: “For me the highest performing affiliate content I’ve ever produced has been content where I am simply a user or I’m telling people ‘Here’s how I use this tool and how it could benefit you’.”
If you are interested in more affiliate and social media marketing insights, take a look at our blog for all the latest news and advice. Or for a more personalised approach, book a free call with a member of our team.
Or, for the very best advice from industry peers, register to gain access to our Amplify Action Day. Taking place in January 2023 doesn’t mean you’ve missed it. Amplify aims to bring you the latest affiliate, performance, and partner marketing insights from across the globe and it’s all available to stream from our website.
