Best SEO affiliate programs in 2024
Are you looking to make passive income? Then you'll want to check out the top SEO affiliate programs in this article.
Let me start off this article talking about the different types of products and services you can sell in the SEO space. They boil down to these 3 main topics:
- SEO tools
- SEO courses
- SEO agencies
Now there are other angles of SEO affiliate programs you can find but I'll focus on these ones and answer a few more in the SEO affiliate programs FAQ.
At the time of updating this article on March 31st, 2024, I'm seeing this page ranked 18th and my Google Search Console says an average position of 19.8 over the past 3 months. If you like this page, do me a big favour and could you link to it to see if I could outrank Semrush?
This page covers the best SEO affiliate programs and all other topics related to being an affiliate promoting SEO products and services. Let's get started so I can help you make some money.
Make money selling SEO products and services
Search engine optimization is a massive industry that is only getting bigger year after year. SEO tools are really some of the first examples of Business Intelligence tools on the internet. This covers Google Analytics, Google Search Console and SEO tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and Semrush.
The SEO industry is valued at $74.76 Billion in 2023 and has a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 17.7% over the next 7 years and is expected to grow to $129.6 Billion in 2030. Everywhere you look, search exists. It exists in YouTube, it exists in social media platforms and it even exists on search bars on websites.
Let's just say SEO is not dead and the SEO niche is here to stay.
Anybody I personally know in the SEO industry has done very well. In the world of cooking, they say never trust a skinny chef. The same applies for never trusting a broke SEO consultant. As long as they don't really offer degrees in SEO in colleges and universities, the best way to learn SEO is by practising and by learning SEO with courses.
How does affiliate marketing work?
This is a very short crash course on affiliate marketing but here is a very quick breakdown. We have created a guide to get started in affiliate marketing that you can find on our site.
- Have an audience
- Search for affiliate programs and products to promote
- Sign-up and get your tracking links
- Share those traffic links with your audience direct, on your website or social media channels
The core elements of getting started is you need to apply to an SEO affiliate program and get accepted, get tracking links and then share with your audience. When you make a sale, you can get a commission that could be paid on numerous revenue models. Other SEO affiliate programs might also pay for registrations or other models like CPC (cost per click), CPL (cost per lead) but you are more or less dealing with revenue share. Sometimes it can be a recurring commissions and other times could be CPA which stands for Cost Per Action. Personally I call this cost per acquisition but then again I pronounce niches different than most people. Back to CPA, this is a one time payment made on a sale.
Overall it always helps to have an affiliate site both for applying to an affiliate program as well as sending your referrals to a single destination. Most affiliate marketer applicants that apply to join a program will have a website which helps generate passive income.
Revenue models for SEO affiliate programs
You can get the following types of revenue models when promoting SEO tools, products and services.
You essentially have mainly 2 types of revenue streams when it comes to SEO affiliate marketing.
- Revenue share
- CPA
Revenue share & recurring commissions
There are many SEO software affiliate programs that pay recurring commissions. Imagine you have an SEO tool that costs $200 per month and you got 20% of that every month. On that one user, you would be generating $40 per month continuously until that user stops paying for the service.
There are many SEO agencies that will also pay a monthly commission as some agencies can charge a 1 time project but others offer retainers.
CPA - cost per action
CPA stands for cost per acquisition, others will say it stands for cost per action and is a one time fee paid for a successful referral. This is a common commission type for promoting anything including the affiliate program for Semrush. Your successful referrals is what will trigger your sales provided they quality without any chargebacks either.
Do I need a website before I signup to my affiliate programs?
Sorta. The real answer is it is complicated but here is what affiliate programs are expecting from you.
If you at least don't have a website that has traffic, they will want to know how you plan to market their program and what channels you have and traffic. If you don't have traffic or a website then best not to apply because all affiliate registrations need to go through an approval process.
Most affiliate programs expect that you have your own website. You won't get your affiliate account approved if you don't have a site to get started so be prepared.
Best SEO tools affiliate programs
SEO tools are are everywhere with a few of them as dominant players in the SEO industry. You can see the who's who of the SEO world at conferences like Brighton SEO and Chiang Mai SEO. Those companies in question are brands like Ahrefs, Semrush, Surfer SEO, Screaming Frog, and Sitechecker to name a few.
SEO tools can cover a range of topics and features like rank tracking and rank checker, outreach tool, website optimization tools, organic traffic and long tail keywords analysis.
Who's the ICP for buying SEO tools?
ICP stands for ideal customer profile and there are essentially a few types of buyer personas.
- SEO consultants
- Affiliate marketers
- Marketing agencies
Senuto Affiliate Program
What is Senuto?
If you're not heard of Senuto before then you're missing out on one of the rising stars in the SEO tools space.
Keyword.com Affiliate Program.
Have you heard of Keyword.com? It is a SEO tool that does rank tracking and is self described as a keyword position and performance monitor.
Simply put, Keyword.com monitors your SERPs and rankings similar to how it can be done with other tools but this is a good alternative to Ahrefs for this. You can say the same as an alternative to Semrush for tracking rankings.
Semrush Affiliate Program
The Semrush affiliate program is one of the more popular SEO affiliate programs around. The tool is said to be comparable to Ahrefs however Ahrefs does NOT have an affiliate program.
You could consider Semrush to have one of the best seo affiliate programs around simply due to their popularity and ability to convert clicks to sales.
Surfer SEO affiliate program
Surfer SEO is one of the most popular SEO content tools around. The tool is often referred to as Surfer for short and this article was produced using the Surfer content editor. Surfer SEO is becoming more than another content writing tool, it does AI generated content and helps with keyword research. In interviewing Michal Suski whom is one of the cofounders of Surfer and is Head of Innovation, he stated that as of late 2023 they have a user base of 20,000 customers and 25% to 30% are using their AI content. Surfer SEO falls under the best AI affiliate programs category for their AI content writing tool.
Simply put, Surfer SEO is one of a few AI content tools on the market competing with the likes of Jasper but what is great about Surfer is their SEO Surfers Facebook community.
Ahrefs affiliate program
Does Ahrefs have an affiliate program? They used to have one but shut it down for unknown reasons. For all the people that want to share one of the most popular SEO tools around, it is upsetting that they don't provide a program. This simply gives more business to the Semrush affiliate program and I'm sure they are grateful for your business.
This SEO tool is a great one for backlink analysis which is very useful for SEO service providers. Ahrefs is also great for on page seo audits, it just sucks they don't have an partner program and they are one of the more requested seo affiliate programs we get to add in our app.
PageOptimizer Pro affiliate program
PageOptimizer Pro is also referred to as POP for short. It is an SEO tool developed by Kyle Roof. It is a more advanced SEO tool that focuses on on-page SEO optimization and is a powerful keyword research tool too. This tool has been compared to the Cora SEO tool which is another advanced on page SEO tool that analyzes search engine results.
Sitechecker affiliate program
Sitechecker.pro is a very unique and versatile SEO tool. In fact this is a great tool for affiliates that can can be an accurate keyword rank tracker, is a website crawler and does site monitoring. It can even check your backlinks too. It even has a Google Chrome SEO extension that should make life easier for checking out your competition.
Serpstat affiliate program
Serpstat does have an affiliate program and as the name implies, Serpstat helps you know the rankings of your page and kewyords.
SEO courses affiliate programs
SEO courses are in high demand and although not quite as much as SEO tools, SEO courses are a great way of capturing the demand that exists for learning SEO.
So who's your target audience when it comes to SEO courses?
- SEO consultants
- SEO newbies
Many SEO consultants are always looking to stay ahead of the curve and don't mind investing in their career. The first SEO course that comes to mind that is more advanced and helps SEO consultants is the Sementic SEO course by Koray Tugberk GUBUR however it seems to be not continued.
For people that want to learn SEO, the demand for it has never been stronger and continues to grow year after year. This also includes people that don't intend to become SEO consultants but want to learn the fundamentals or search and help their company rank higher and get more search traffic.
Best SEO courses
Here are the best SEO courses based on my research and having a chance to have interviewed some of of the course creators as well.
- IMG Courses
- The Affiliate Lab
IMG Courses affiliate program
IMG.Courses is a very well known SEO course program and is founded by Kyle Roof. They call it like the Netflix of SEO and it has a wide range of SEO educational content. It is a great place for people to learn about seo strategy, seo tips, digital marketing tools, local seo, on page seo, rank tracking, and a lot more. You'll learn the fundamentals of how a search engine works and learn from some of the best SEO specialists.
The Affiliate Lab
The Affiliate Lab was created by Matt Diggity who's a well known SEO affiliate who builds authority sites and teaches how people can learn to make passive income from recurring commissions. Matt does a lot in the SEO industry including running the Chiang Mai SEO conference which the 2023 sold out in under 24 hours with demand for the 2024 CMSEO event. Matt explains that one key to affiliate marketing success is learning how search engines work so your website traffic can increase leading to affiliate sales.
Matt's courses cover affiliate SEO mastery and of course how to build and grow websites so you can flip them.
Best SEO agency affiliate programs
SEO affiliate agencies can make a lot of money and while not all of them will offer affiliate commission payments, some will because they know affiliate referrals are a great source of paying customers.
SEO services is definitely one of the more common product in the SEO space.
Best SEO link building & digital PR affiliate programs
Link building and digital PR is one of the hottest topics in the world of SEO.
Search Intelligence with an exclusive offer
Search Intelligence is a digital PR agency run by Fery Kaszoni who's well known in the SEO community as one of the most creative link builders around. His agency does digital PR for anybody that needs it.
If you're looking for a great deal to get started with Search Intelligence then you cannot miss this exclusive offer.
We give a £1,000 discount to anyone using the JOHN1000 code on our contact form if they buy a campaign at the £7,000 price.
WhitePress - Content Marketing Platform
WhitePress are another top quality link building agency.
SeoProfy Partners
SeoProfy is a leading SEO agency that works in multiple languages across multiple niches. Founded by Victor Karpenko, SeoProfy is a great SEO agency that will do an SEO audit for any site and with their in-house SEO tools they will help small business owners with their online visibility.
I can say I've referred a few friends to SeoProfy to help their affiliate sites with their ranking issues and it has made a positive effect on their affiliate income.
The HOTH SEO Affiliate Program
The HOTH is an interesting site that covers SEO and content marketing. I personally haven't used The HOTH but I see it mentioned and recommended frequently in SEO communities. The HOTH does managed services, content creation, link building and local seo.
SEO research affiliate programs
Other SEO affiliate programs worth mentioning and their SEO tools
- SE Ranking affiliate program
- AnswerThePublic (keyword research)
- Money Robot
SEO communities vs affiliate communities
Where should you learn more about SEO, network with seo professionals and seo affiliate companies? Your options could be to find SEO communities, affiliate communities or both. In order to know what is happening in the SEO space, you should be joined to the numerous SEO communities that exist.
Affiliate forums might not go into detail about all the different types of SEO affiliate programs you can work with but they will cover all other topics that should be of interest.
Final thoughts on the highest paying SEO affiliate programs
The Semrush affiliate program might be the single SEO affiliate program that pays you the most. That said, SEO agencies can usually convert so finding SEO agency affiliate programs is the next best thing. Educational affiliate programs will always deliver sales so don't look past SEO course affiliate programs for good recurring revenue.
Tracking links & marketing materials
It is possible to send referrals to SEO courses and SEO agencies through an email without using a tracking link, however most transactions in affiliate marketing typically happen with a link.
Your promotional materials are what you should expect to receive from the seo affiliate programs and this can be in the login section but could also be a separate folder for you to access.
A tracking link can be referred to as a campaign and this is something you get in the backend. When you get your affiliate link then you can share it with your audience.
Pro tip: try using an affiliate link cloaking tool to manager your tracking links. You can find many link cloaking WordPress plugins that will do this for you.
The reason why you want to use these link manager tools is when you use one link on say 50 pages, imagine you had to update all 50 links? With a link manager, you can update it once and it updates across every channel you've ever used that tracking link.
How to apply for affiliate programs and what to expect
Affiliate programs are looking mainly for 2 things when considering to approve an application: you have a website and/or you have a strong social media following.
SEO industry
I've done some digging to find some more stats on the SEO industry itself and one article suggests the space will be worth $218 Billion USD by 2030. Another article suggests today the industry is worth $88.9 Billion USD.
SEO events & conferences
The world of SEO truly comes alive when you get to meet amazing people in person. There are always SEO conferences happening whether online or in a town near you. You don't need to travel the world to meet some amazing people and talented SEOs.
SEO communities
There is no shortage of SEO communities out there so you'll have to try out a few and see which one you consider to be your tribe.
Best SEO podcast episodes
Affiliate BI is the podcast that we run and we have had amazing SEO experts on the show.
Here is a short list of some of the best of episodes that we think are useful for learning SEO as well as helping you with your affiliate marketing sites.
- Product-led growth with Eli Schwartz
- AI for growth with Olga Zarr
- Secret to selling SEO with Mark Wright
- SEO for YouTube with Craig Campbell
- SEO masterminds with James Dooley
- Digital PR masterclass with Fery Kaszoni
- Content marketing strategies with Lashay Lewis
Frequently asked questions
Does Screaming Frog have an affiliate program?
According to the screamingfrog.co.uk website, there is no Screaming Frog affiliate program.
Is there a Keywords Everywhere affiliate program?
There is no affiliate program for Keywords Everywhere SEO tool.
Do you know of any outreach tools that are good for building links and have an affiliate program?
Usually you gotta check out digital PR agencies but would highly recommend Search Intelligence (use code JOHN1000) or WhitePress.
Does Ahrefs have an affiliate program?
The site used to have an affiliate program many years ago but it seems to be discontinued.
Does Senuto have an affiliate program?
They do although as of April 2024, the program seems to be in its infancy so you can apply and see if you get accepted.
Is search engine optimization necessary for making money in affiliate marketing?
Knowing the fundamentals of search engine optimization isn't a requirement but it is a very useful skill that can transfer well into social media. Google isn't the only search engine around and many social networks have their own algorithms for search and for driving traffic.
Do most agencies that provide SEO services have an affiliate program?
It might be rare to find any agency with their own program but doesn't mean you shouldn't ask. It just might mean they'll give you a commission for a successful referral but there won't be any assigned tracking link.
Do I have to pay for any Google ads to make money as an affiliate?
You don't have to but only do PPC (pay per click) if you're comfortable doing it. This is one segment of affiliate marketing which is performance marketing. Otherwise if you have a website or a YouTube channel, this is considered as an SEO affiliate and is also considered as passive income generated through search engines.
I run an SEO agency offering SEO services and want to know how I can setup my own affiliate program?
I know a lot of SEO agencies that run an in-house affiliate program. You can use software for tracking with an affiliate link but it isn't required. The advantage of having an affiliate program is that you be be listed in various SEO directories and discover more affiliates.
There are many SEO affiliate programs to choose from, which ones should I select?
One thing I always do in my market research is see who's promoting all other affiliate programs, do your keyword research including long tail keywords and you can find sites that list some tools or all the tools.
Is the Mangools SEO tools worth promoting?
I don't personally know however I see them everywhere so it is a good sign they are at least popular with affiliate marketers. Either way I think it is worth checking out the Mangools affiliate program.
How popular are in the affiliate marketing industry?
Tools like Ahrefs, Semrush and Senuto might not be commonly discussed at affiliate marketing conferences however there are more and more advanced SEOs that use these tools on a daily basis.
How can I do keyword research and backlink analysis to discover popular SEO tools?
I personally have used Ahrefs where I research a tool like Surfer SEO and use the backlink analyzer to see who's linking to them using a tracking link. I'll then use the Keywords Explorer feature in Ahrefs to see the search volume of various keywords. This can help to know if something is worth creating content for.
Should I work with all the SEO software affiliate programs?
My personal preference is to work with programs that you either use or you like the brand and software. If you want users to come back and buy from you again, send them to reputable software products that are quality.
