Though there is no direct link between affiliate marketing and SEO, an understanding of the subject clarifies some doubts which are bound to arise while discussing search engines. Affiliate marketing is a term used when product and service providers seek marketing assistance from others for mutual benefit. The term affiliate marketing has acquired a bad name due to fraudsters and scammers who promise wealth and money to people without doing anything. Due to this the entire affiliate domain has suffered. We have to understand that there are no free lunches and we must have a genuine product or service which can be sold to clients.

The affiliates come together using search engine techniques. Each affiliate is an independent marketer who sells products and services. Usually a landing page or sales page is used to describe the service or product. It is important that the landing page is properly optimized for search engines. In addition traditional marketing techniques are also used for selling.

An affiliate gets a commission on every sale. This process is fully automated and once a client makes a payment, the affiliate gets his share. This payment may be scheduled daily, weekly or monthly as convenient to both parties.

Affiliate marketing needs powerful search engine optimization. In other words an affiliate must understand optimization techniques well if they want to be successful. This is the reason why we must understand what affiliate marketing means and how SEO fits into the overall scheme of things.

Affiliate marketing is also promoted by some dedicated sites which provide all the tools necessary for deploying    affiliate site. These sites usually charge a commission for handling affiliates and providing facilities.  Article submission sites are also used as part of SEO by affiliates.

An understanding of SEO is therefore essential for affiliate marketers.

Link building is an important aspect of website search engine optimization (SEO) since not all visitors to the site arrive through organic searches; many arrive from other sites or from paid ads through links. Internal links connecting different pages of the site improve navigation for visitors and web spiders. External links from other websites not only bring additional traffic, many search engines will give higher ranking to a site based on the number of its incoming links (‘link popularity’).

Considering the advantages, link building to other sites should be actively pursued once a website is operational (internal linking should be addressed at the website design stage itself). Link building normally takes the form of ‘Link Campaigns’ to persuade other website owners or site managers to link to the site by providing correct information about the site and its contents. This can usually be best achieved by embedding the links in specific keywords or phrases i.e. including the right keywords in the anchor texts of the links. This also increases quality traffic and improves conversions.

Many websites include a ‘Link-To-Us’ function; an HTML link-to-us coding which can be copied and pasted in the webpage source code of the site wanting to link in. The essential point to remember for effective link building, however, is that other websites will consider linking to the site only if they feel that it is worth their while. Hence, firstly, the website content has to be informative and useful and secondly, the linking process should be simple; one that needs the least amount of work for linking to the site.

General keywords are usually single-word keywords that people tend to type in when starting a search for some product or service about which they do not have much initial clarity. At this stage of the search the person is undertaking a ‘broad’ search using ‘general’ keywords; keywords that describe the product in generic terms. General keywords normally correspond to ‘broad-match’ keywords. After some preliminary information is gathered through this broad search process, the searcher normally narrows down the search through more precise search terms, usually ‘phrase-match’ or ‘exact-match’ keyword phrases.

‘General’ keywords help to draw in large volume of website traffic (visitors). However, many of these visitors are often at a preliminary stage of their buying decision process and not yet ready to buy. Hence, the potential for conversion of the hits (visitors clicking on the website) is low. On the other hand, people who key in specific search terms (keyword phrases more precisely describing the product, including long–tail keyword phrases of 3-4 keywords) are at an advanced stage of their buying decision process. Hence specific phrase-match or exact-match keyword phrases have a greater conversion potential (though lower volumes) and improve the ROI of the website.

‘General’ keywords are needed to draw in traffic volumes and increase site visibility but most of the traffic may be unproductive (low conversion). Specific keywords are needed for conversion and ROI but traffic volume is low. This is an unavoidable trade-off and a judicious mix of ‘general’ and ‘specific’ keywords needs to be arrived at through keyword research for the success of a website.

The aim of SEO is to drive traffic to your website. This can be done in several ways. The traditional way is to get listed with search engines. Search engine optimization means understanding keyword density and providing relevant content. There are two main search engines today: Google and Bing. Both these have their own algorithm based on which they rank your website.

Since link building is a huge part of SEO, it is necessary to create suitable links with other websites. Buying and exchanging links is now a big market.

Driving traffic purely through search engines is no longer an optimal solution. With the phenomenal growth of social sites like Facebook, MySpace and others, it is now necessary to engage ourselves with them. By participating in various forums, it is possible to drive relevant and focused traffic to your website.

Video sites like YouTube have gained importance. It is possible to create a viral marketing campaign using popular videos which are initially hosted on video sites. You can generate a humungous amount of traffic with videos.

In SEO circles it is said that content is king. Search engines love content. Your search engine ranking is likely to get a boost if you provide good quality content on your website. You must remember to use appropriate keyword density to attract search engines. Search engine bots look for any change or additional content when crawling through websites. Static content does not enthuse these bots.

Driving traffic to your website requires thrust from several angles. SEO alone is unlikely to make your site wildly successful. Social sites should be leveraged to boost traffic to your site. In the final analysis, it is the quality and quantity of your content which will determine whether your site attracts traffic. Everything else can only assist in adding to the numbers.

Google search engine has become so pervasive that we tend to forget other search engines. Microsoft Bing is a search engine which has a unique algorithm and displays search results based on a different set of criteria. What are the repercussions? For one, if your website, for any reason, does not attract better search engine ranking on Google, it may fare better with Bing. The overall share of Bing in the search engine market is less than 15% but is picking up fast. There are reports that Bing provides better and more relevant search engine results than Google.

You must submit your website separately to Bing to get registered.  Keyword searches work differently in Bing and the search algorithm is a secret like in Google. Since the competition is less severe in Bing, the chances of getting a higher listing are better in Bing.

SEO for Bing is not any different from Google. It is also based on keywords and therefore the content on your website need not change dramatically. In fact, since you are submitting your site to Google as well as Bing, the content has to be suitably modified. You must take care that in the process you don’t lose a good ranking in Google.

The presentation in Bing has been altered and is different from Google. Microsoft claims that this has been done after in depth research and analysis. Many experts confirm that the Bing interface is better   suited for human physiology. Despite all these claims Google still seems to hold a psychological edge. But it would not be a surprise if Bing with its pedigree comes up trumps in the search engine market. You must remember that there is enough space in search market for more than two players.  It is therefore advisable to do due diligence at this stage. Who knows how the search market would evolve in future?