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Affiliate Monitor Fake news
They explained : “ There are 10 positions on page one , so plenty of opportunity to drive traffic through multiple assets in parallel . In the UK , many ultra-premium gambling keywords featured an affiliate ranking in position one , and that affiliate ’ s media partnership in position two .
“ In some cases , the media partnerships gave instant results to companies in geographies where own-brand sites had failed to gain serious SEO traction . Depending on deal structures , the additional partnership FTD volume could also have supported their internal commercials , with a rising tide lifting all boats .”
CRASHING THE PARTY BUS
In business as in life , if something sounds too good to be true , it probably is and in this case it was only a matter of time before Google caught on to what was going on .
“ It was foreseeable that Google would crash the party – they often do ,” says Scott . “ The big tech companies have a way of rugpulling you .”
The media partnership approach was “ becoming too successful ”, according to the affiliate industry executive .
“ A crackdown was inevitable at some point ,” they added . “ Especially when the gambling content didn ’ t quite live up to the prestige and quality of the host site . In most cases it was a clear parasite strategy , rather than a proper integration .”
“ With Google , the question is when will they act , and how comprehensively ,” the source argued . “ On the timing , Google could certainly have acted sooner . However , I ’ m sure nobody would have been surprised to see these deals dominate for another year or two .”
But so far , the change looks very comprehensive , they admitted . “ A few of the smaller publisher deals remain visible in certain pockets , but the domination is over , for now .”
THE PARTY ’ S OVER
This mirrors the thinking expressed on the recent round of earnings calls . At BC , Søgaard said that a change in policy such as this where third-party content providers to established media sites have been affected , it is hard to know exactly what the “ continued development of this ” will be .
“ I think it ’ s relevant to know that when there are significant changes in the search landscape , it takes time to fully digest the evolution .”
But while Gillespie said media partnerships are “ not going to zero ”, and weren ’ t going away , he did accept they would be “ diminished ” and would not represent as big a portion of GDC ’ s business .
The same will apply for the rest of the affiliate space , he added . “ The changes you ’ ll see with us are going to be the same across the board for all manner of companies
“ I think the next wave of partnerships is with ‘ media brands ’ that have more engaged audiences , like influencers , newsletters and podcasts ”
KYLE SCOTT , HERD CAPITAL
which have cut deals in the same way that we have .”
Still , Gillespie was positive that the reconfiguration of the business model driven by Google ’ s move would be a long-term positive for his business . Indeed , he insisted the company was already seeing the benefit , stating this move had “ started immediately ”.
“ The way you should think about this is we run a precision machine ,” he said . “ And when something changes like this , we need to recalibrate that machine . And that takes a little bit of time . But once we do that , we will start to get iGB Affiliate Monitor