Keyword research for affiliate marketing sites

Executive overview

Affiliate sites live or die by keyword choice. Targeting keywords where product recommendations feel natural drives clicks and commissions; informational queries rarely convert.

Four keyword types form a complete affiliate content strategy: general comparisons, branded comparisons, product reviews, and trust-and-authority (T&A) content. Each serves a distinct role in the funnel.

The right keyword mix balances commercial intent with link-earning content to build both revenue and rankings.

The four affiliate keyword types

1. General comparisons — "best [product]" queries; searchers are close to buying but haven't decided. High traffic potential, worth targeting even at high difficulty once the site has authority.
2. Branded comparisons — "[Brand A] vs [Brand B]" queries; lower volume but higher conversion because searchers have narrowed their shortlist.
3. Product reviews — "[Product name] review" queries; searchers are nearly ready to buy a specific item. Volume is low; prioritise products with measurable search demand.
4. T&A keywords — informational questions (e.g. "car seat safety"); don't generate direct revenue but earn backlinks that lift authority across all pages.

Finding general comparison keywords

• Use a keyword tool (e.g. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer or the free keyword generator).
• Seed with broad niche terms, then filter the matching terms report with the word "best".
• Apply a keyword difficulty cap (e.g. 20) to surface low-competition targets first.
• Add high-competition "best [category]" terms to a list for later — they signal strong commercial value.

Finding branded comparison keywords

• Build a list of brands or product models in the niche.
• Seed the keyword tool with those brands; filter matching terms for "versus" plus a category qualifier.
• Repeat with specific model names to surface additional comparison angles.

Finding product review keywords

• Browse major ecommerce sites (e.g. buybuybaby.com) to compile brand and model names.
• Paste brands into the keyword tool; filter matching terms for "review*" (wildcard to catch variants).
• Prioritise models with measurable search volume before committing to buying and testing products.

Finding T&A keywords

• Seed the keyword tool with core niche terms; open the Questions tab in the matching terms report.
• Filter to low keyword difficulty to find rankable informational topics.
• These posts attract links that indirectly boost commercial page rankings.