Affiliate Marketing VS Google Adsense: Which One Is Better?

Google Adsense and affiliate marketing are two of the most common ways people make a lot of money through the internet. When it comes time for people to get started on their online business journey, they may encounter the decision to focus on affiliate marketing or Google Adsense. So, which one is better?

The answer to this question depends on which platform you’re using. If you’re a blogger, Google Adsense may be better. However, if you’re a YouTuber creating video content, affiliate marketing actually may be the better option for you.

Below we will go over the reasons for each platform.

Affiliate Marketing VS Google Adsense For Blogging

If you’re looking to start a website, and want to compare the two monetization methods, you may want to focus more on Google Adsense. This is because Google has really put their foot down on affiliate sites in recent years due to spammy tactics and over-promotion. Google wants to see natural, organic content that adds value to the reader’s experience, not just constant affiliate links scattered throughout your posts.

This is why having a site with informational content, is better than just a site promoting products.

However, it is possible to do both with a site like this. If you want to do affiliate marketing on a website, you just need to link to products naturally. Let’s pretend you were writing the blog post, “can you use a paper towel as a Keurig filter”. This is a question many people would ask if their Keurig filter was broken. You can write a thorough blog post about this question, and link to a filter replacement on Amazon after stating that a paper towel may work in a pinch, but a proper filter replacement is recommended (not the actual answer).

This type of content is good for both affiliate marketing and Google Adsense, however, informational content tends to get more views and less affiliate link clicks than blog posts with the title “Top 10 Products for a Keurig.” That’s why display ads may bring in more revenue for a blog and why it should be at the forefront of your blogging strategy.

When you think about the overall concept of Google, you want to think about handling peoples problems by answering their questions. Writing 100 blog posts with the word BEST in the beginning of every one of them is not ideal for Google, but writing 100 blog posts answering peoples questions with display ads, and linking to related products for extra income\ is much better.

Affiliate Keywords Often Don’t Get The Best Traffic

When you write blog posts like “Best Keurig Filters” or “Best Yoga Mats,” these are considered to be highly competitive keywords. These blog posts may make some money through affiliate marketing, but they won’t bring the best traffic to your site.

This means you don’t have much ability to drive revenue through display ads on your site.

Consider Using a Premium Ad Network

If you’ve taken our advice and plan to start a website focusing more on Google Adsense, you may want to consider using a premium ad network. These networks often have higher paying advertisers.

These premium Ad networks like Ezoic and Mediavine partner with Google Adsense to optimize your ad placements and increase your earnings.

Affiliate Marketing VS Google Adsense For YouTube

In terms of video content, affiliate marketing may be the way to go. This is because when people want to buy something, seeing a visual representation of it can often trigger the desire to buy.

If you have a beauty channel, showing off your favorite makeup products and then linking them in the description box can lead to some decent income.

The biggest benefit to starting a channel with affiliate marketing at the forefront is that you could also monetize via Google Adsense eventually. However, it takes a while to become part of the YouTube Partner Program and start earning via ads on your videos.

On the other hand, creating affiliate content and optimizing the videos for search enable you to get traffic right away, along with affiliate sales.

Why You Shouldn’t Focus On One Or The Other

When you have a content business, you should try and post on every platform you could. If you’re creating blog posts, you should be repurposing those posts into YouTube videos and vice versa.

When you create content it should be driven by value, so whether or not you’re posting on a blog, or a YouTube channel, you should be able to monetize both in an efficient way.

Conclusion

This blog post is pretty much my opinion in what you should do when it comes to comparing affiliate marketing and Google Adsense. Both ways are great ways to make money, however, in certain situations one may be more advantageous than the other. This is especially true if you choose to only go with one to start your online income journey.

Affiliate Marketing VS Google Adsense: Which One Is Better?
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