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Infographic: Affiliate SEO vs Client SEO

Battle header

Looks like we’re starting a tradition…

My link building service, Authority Builders, ran another contest in The Lab Facebook group.

Over 300 people responded to the age-old question:

Affiliate SEO vs Client SEO: Which One is Better?

Since the cool thing to do these days is put data in infographic format, here are their responses, all wrapped up for you.

Want to add your own feedback to this battle?  See you in the comments section.

Infographic-AffiliateSEO-vs-ClientSEO

 

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Shout out goes out to Win Bound Digital for creating this sexy infographic.

 

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Article by

Matt Diggity

Matt is the founder of Diggity Marketing, LeadSpring, The Search Initiative, The Affiliate Lab, and the Chiang Mai SEO Conference. He actually does SEO too.

34 thoughts on “Infographic: Affiliate SEO vs Client SEO”

  1. I had seen this debate in your youtube channel. But this infographic displays the points very well. Always a big fan of you Diggity Sir!

  2. Affiliate does take time to take off. But once it does, it’s smooth sailing. As for Google algorithm updates being a negative for affiliates, I tend to disagree. They affect both affiliate and client sites.

    I am affiliate all the way!

    1. Yes, but with Client’s you get paid to fix them, with affiliate, you don’t get paid til it’s fixed haha 🙂

  3. Awesome infographic indeed. I think that affiliate marketing is more lucrative than client SEO. Especially when you can flip the website for x30 multiple. But in order to succeed in affiliate marketing, you must have the knowledge and CAPITAL to make it profitable. The thing which holds most people back is the mindset. “What if im pouring all my money and time into this project and it doesn’t become a hit. Fear of failure is hard…

  4. Nice infographic Matt.
    But the question remains. Which is better? Was there a leaning towards one way or another? And what percentage of your audience does client SEO vs Affiliate SEO?
    I’d love to know

    1. My readership is probably a bit more affiliate than client SEO. But even these days, I’m split 50-50% myself.

  5. Awesome infographic and data points! What about leadgen though? I find that it falls somewhere in the middle of affiliate and client seo. Bottom line is there’s so many different ways to make money with SEO. Once you find what you like, laser focus on it and kill it!

  6. I think the main point had been missed here.

    When you do affiliate SEO, you are actually developing an asset…and in case you are good, you can flip it for 6-7 digits. Obviously, you can do the same with a reputable SEO agency too, just the scale seems to be quite different.

  7. If I could do it all over again. I would do Client side and trickle some of that income into a portfolio of sites then walk away and live on the steady income.

  8. Thanks Matt, I quite like you updates and see that you know what you’re talking about ALL the time.

    It’s been two steps forward and 2 steps back on both client and affiliate for me, starting gaining in affiliate earlier this year and all seemed OK then boom site got hit in March, income went to sleep. Likewise, with client I started quite well in 2015/16, but eventually got the wrong type of clients and lost them.

    All a learning experience I suppose, I prefer the set-up for affiliate but have yet to get there.

  9. Awesome Infographics and data.
    both have benefits and drawback but I would Like to recommend Affiliate SEO. It is the best way to generate Passive Income after investing Time and Efforts.
    Thanks, Matt for sharing with us.

  10. I have always worked on Client SEO. This infographic is eye opening. I am planning to start some niche sites for Amazon affiliate. Let’s see what happens. I am following your blog closely so that I don’t screw up. 🙂

    1. If you are 100% serious in learning affiliate SEO then buy Matt Diggity lab course. Worth spending money on a course 🙂

  11. Excellent computer graphics. That sums up my own experience perfectly. In everything, there is the ying and the yang. For my part, I chose the affiliation seo. Really great study.

  12. Another awesome article and cool graphic here Matt.

    It’s really interesting to see both sides of it like this. I’ve only ever been client side, but starting my first affiliate project now to test the waters and then grow from there.

    Diversify your revenue streams, I believe you once said?

    Quick question:

    What’s your thoughts on the new ITP > intelligent tracking prevention that Firefox and Safarui are implementing now?

    Do you think that’ll be a big issue with affiliate moving forward?

  13. So you mean Affiliate SEO is the winner? I think you didn’t mention that more people can succeed at client SEO because clients are easy to obtain. Running affiliate sites is much harder.

  14. Very lovely and well informative infographic. As a affiliate marketer I always prefer affiliate SEO for my won. Thanks Matt for your nice work.

  15. Awesome infographic indeed. I think that affiliate marketing is more lucrative than client SEO. Especially when you can flip the website for x30 multiple. But in order to succeed and make money in affiliate marketing, you must have the knowledge and CAPITAL to make it profitable. The thing which holds most people back is the mindset. “What if im pouring all my money and time into this project and it doesn’t become a hit. Fear of failure is hard…

  16. Hey Matt,

    First time visitor here. Love the infographics! Is your point to highlight 2 paths to do SEO: No headache vs headache? Do you do both where you have an affiliate business and an SEO for non-affiliate marketing? Was curious if you went all in on affiliate or not. Thanks!

    1. I’m into both. They both have their pros and cons (obviously), but I love diversity and keeping things fresh.

  17. What you think is more effective? Affiliate or Client? I have never done affiliate but I am in Client department. Should I try Affiliate Marketing? from my point of view both are quite similar in a number of aspects.

    1. To each their own, man. I do both.

      But how do you define effective? Are you talking about income growth? Income maximum? Lifestyle?

      1. Hey MATT. Awesome info as always.
        BTW Which do you think is better in terms of income and lifestyle.
        Thanks in advance

  18. Hey Matt, great post!

    The affiliate vs client debate is a never ending battle. Honestly they’re both great if you set up the right systems.

    Personally I’d like to be 100% affiliate, (right now I’m basically 99% client). Affiliate SEO seems to scale a lot easier. Clients are somewhat demanding in ways that can make your organization inefficient. With affiliate SEO it seems like you have more control since the assets belong to you and being able to sell them at a 30x multiple is a nice bonus!

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