This week’s Ask an SEO is about affiliate marketing, which is actually one of my favorite topics to cover.
“With Google’s UCP and checkout happening inside Gemini and AI Mode, the shopper never clicks my link. Does the affiliate model survive this, and what should I be doing now?”
Great question, and yes, affiliate links still matter, so make sure you keep using them. It is similar to Shopify having the Google Direct Checkout UCP. That doesn’t mean you don’t need to keep your Shopify store, but you also want to make sure you are protected with multiple ways to monetize and that you work with brands that focus on more than just links.
For anyone unfamiliar with the question, Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) lets retailers offer checkout directly inside AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app, so a U.S. shopper can research and buy without visiting the merchant’s site. Affiliate marketing historically relied on a link click to set a cookie, then that cookie to stay through the journey to track the sale back to the partner.
This is why there is a question. If the person doesn’t make it to the link, do links matter? Yes, and this goes back to the history of links.
Cookie and link tracking became outdated technology many years ago when it became easier to browse with cellphones. A person would research a product or service on their phone, then shop from their computer because the mobile device made it difficult to shop or it didn’t have a strong enough connection. Mobile versions and responsive websites were also not as common.
This gave rise to cross-device tracking, syncing up shopping carts if the person was logged in, and server-to-server tracking.
I was on a call once where we decided that if there was an affiliate parameter and if it was on the browser, the website would automatically prompt the person to log in. This was high-tech back then.
The message displayed was a benefit to them, to let them know that if they logged in, they could add to their cart and check out later when they have more time vs. needing to do everything right now. When they logged in, we could sync up the sale with the original click, and the affiliate would get credit.
This led to fingerprinting and many more advanced techniques the networks (like Buy.at at the time) began working on.
There are also affiliate companies that show ads via streaming TV shows and track the IPs connected to the same connection to track affiliate sales back. They count the IPs against consumer data sent back to the network and get credit for the sale.
The reason I mention this is because, clicks don’t always matter, but they do add levels of tracking security for you. There is IP hashing, companies like TV Scientific and AudioHook are using alternative tracking methods, and vanity codes. Just make sure your vanity code doesn’t get leaked to coupon websites, browser extensions, and that AI doesn’t start showing them to traffic you didn’t refer.
See also: When Attribution Looks More Precise Than The Data Behind It
Being afraid of Google taking the order and cutting your link out is a valid concern. But think about TikTok Shop, or retailer apps inside ChatGPT like Walmart’s, which keep the purchase on the platform. These cut your link out completely. The person may read your content then go to TikTok for a review and purchase there.
You have big brands that allow third parties to sell on their website (i.e., marketplaces), and with some you don’t get commissions for those sales as they’re third party vendors. Your links matter and clicks tracked, but the conversion is not commissionable. In the case of systems like TikTok, use links on your website and upload content to their platform to make money with your vendors that are synced there.
You control the situation, don’t stress over a single link on the website.
For programs that allow third-party sales and don’t pay, select other programs. That is a choice you are knowingly making and you are knowingly sending your traffic there.
See also: Getting Your Product Into ChatGPT Isn’t The Hard Part, Getting It Through Checkout Is
Another reason to not stop using affiliate links is that consumers do not trust AI. Keynote speakers at college graduations keep getting booed when they talk about it; younger generations are avoiding brands that use it for creating images; people are starting to engage less with AI ads on social media and convert less when the content and images are clearly AI on a website (blog posts, product pages, etc.).
When AI is used, there’s no way to know if the store and ad are legit, or if they’re a third-party counterfeit produced overseas. Reviews are also being gamed. Consumers may not trust the AI Overview as much if quality doesn’t improve, and if they don’t like AI, they will instead scroll down to your content, where they can be exposed to your link.
There is another layer to affiliate links mattering as well.
AI Overviews cannot demonstrate a product or service. Yes, they can play a video, but Google search has done this for years. People, especially those who do not trust AI, will keep looking for human-created content before making the purchase. This is especially true for larger-ticket items like bikes, software, or computer systems, and demonstrations of video games before buying them.
Think of parents who want to make sure it is age-appropriate, or someone who wants to see what the graphics and games are like from an actual gamer.
This makes…
