Affiliate content ratio: how much informational vs. commercial content to create

Executive overview

A purely commercial affiliate site struggles to earn backlinks and rank unless its reviews are genuinely exceptional. A purely informational site gets traffic but stunts revenue potential.

Neither extreme works well. A roughly equal split — anywhere from 40/60 to 60/40 — balances ranking ability with monetisation.

The ideal ratio is any roughly equal split; the product cluster structure from keyword research makes hitting that balance straightforward.

The commercial-only site trap

• Content is all best-of comparisons, versus posts, and product reviews.
• Without backlinks to commercial pages, ranking is nearly impossible.
• The Wirecutter succeeded pre-acquisition because hands-on, rigorous reviews were rare — that bar is far higher now.
• No backlinks to commercial pages = no rankings = no commissions.

The informational-only site trap

• How-tos, tutorials, and guides earn backlinks more easily, improving ranking chances.
• Informational content offers fewer natural opportunities to place affiliate links.
• Revenue potential is capped because readers aren't in a buying mindset.

Applying the ratio in practice

• Any roughly equal ratio (40/60, 50/50, 60/40) is acceptable.
• A product cluster — a general comparison post linked to multiple product reviews and branded comparisons — generates a defined block of commercial pages.
• Match that commercial page count with an equal number of informational pieces from your keyword research list.
• Example: a car seat site with 6 commercial pages (best car seats + product reviews + one branded comparison) pairs with ~6 informational pieces.