A Potential SEO Gain from Affiliate Browsers

I’ve tested affiliate toolbars for attribution and the level of value-add for 20+ years, so its no surprise that a majority of our clients do not allow them in their affiliate programs.  But this post is about a possible SEO gain, not attribution.  I do think that some affiliate browser extensions can have a positive impact on SEO rankings if the theories below are true.

If the theory is true, I consider this a grey hat SEO technique because it is not being done to gain the system, it is a byproduct of Google not counting for browsers impacting user behavior and non-SEO teams impacting SEO search results.  This post has three parts, each one leads into the next.

The first section is the background on the theory that shares why the second part can be a possibility.  From there I share one option to test affiliate browser extensions for an SEO lift with the instructions to run the test, outliers to look for, and a way to measure the result.  If the test listed here is not doable for you, contact me.  I have more test ideas I can share and if you’re willing to share the results with me.

For non-affiliate industry readers, start here:

Affiliate browser extensions, also known as toolbars, are the plugins for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc… that offer cash back, airline miles, automatically apply coupon codes at checkout, make users aware of price drops, and offer other incentives.  They activate when there is a store or lead gen brand that allows them in their affiliate program.

Some affiliate toolbars create overlays directly on search results that are 100% independent of Google and your website’s code.  The overlays can highlight search results to entice a click, show incentives on top of the results Google displays with schema and datafeeds, and modify the user experience because the display is controlled by the browser extension and not by Google.  I have screenshot examples from one of the affiliate toolbars below.

The Background on How Browser Helpers Can Boost SEO

There have been theories that Google watches users and tracks click behaviors.  During the government testimonies at least one ex-Googler said they have been using user click data which you can learn about in this post on SEL.

Cindy Krum from Mobile Moxie created this video (its an hour long, so make sure you have time) that shows how Google’s chrome browser is potentially tracking your click behavior on the search results and after you reach the website.  It is in depth and contains the histograms, etc…

The theory I’m using is based on a possible Google signal or system called navboost, also known as the “glue” signal or system, which is an SEO theory based on Google patents, the “Google leak,” and DOJ testimonies.  Marie Haynes breaks navboost down here, I haven’t read the post in full, but after a quick skim and read of the introduction explanation, it gives a solid overview for the concept.

If navboost is a thing, then Google will likely watch:

• Brands that get more clicks than others.
• The queries that drive the clicks both branded and non-branded.
• If the results were good based on user engagement.
• For the content of the page and the meta data meeting the user’s needs.
• When a new store or service provider may actually be a brand and deserve SEO entity status.

By doing this Google can determine if they should:

• Show that brand’s pages more often.
• Know when to display specific pages or sections of the company’s website for specific query types like transactional intent (ecommerce and lead gen) or when a user needs more information (publishers and affiliate sites).
• Where in the search results their specific pages should be shown.
• How high in the rankings each page deserves to go and for which specific queries based on the user’s current intent, or when the intent is unknown.

When the website or a specific page meets the user’s needs, assuming Google is watching, this could be a sign there is a high-quality experience that will benefit other similar searchers.  That could mean:

• If there are more clicks to a specific site, that could be a trust signal for the brand.
• If there are more clicks on a lower ranking page, and the user doesn’t bounce, that could be a reason to lift that URL higher in the search results page.
  • An example could be moving from position 5 to position 2, or position 3 to position 1.
• When this same site keeps getting clicks even though they’re not in the top three positions, maybe that specific page or the entire site deserves to be ranked higher because users want it more often.
  • Google does use sitewide classifiers in addition to page only signals.  If these pages get the navboost bonus and it is combined with good sitewide signals, it could lift the entire domain, or at least a category or topic silo.

This is where affiliate browsers come into play.

The Reason Brands Get SEO Boosts from Affiliates

When you allow browser extensions into your affiliate program, some of them show the relationship over SEO results.  This includes your own branded searches and generic, non-branded phrases.  Here’s a few screenshot examples and how the results could impact user behavior and send SEO signals.

A Retailer Showing for a Major Brand’s Branded Phrases

In this first screenshot you’ll see eBay has a blue affiliate overlay for a branded phrase “coach slippers” and shows directly below COACH and COACH outlet.  This is controlled and displayed by the affiliate browser extension and not by Google.

COACH is offering 5 miles per dollar at the time of the screenshot and couch outlet is offering 1 mile per dollar.  If both only offered 1 mile per dollar, but eBay offered 10 miles per dollar, that may be the incentive to go to eBay and avoid shopping on COACH directly.

Think Foot Locker and Nike, or Hanes and Walmart.  Foot Locker would love to show up for “Nike shoes” just like Walmart would love to show up for “Hanes shirts.” All of the sudden shoppers are skipping the brand’s website directly because they have the extra incentive to go to the department store or marketplace.  If this happens in mass, Google’s navboost may decide the retailer is the better experience, at least for the product category.

Position 9 for Generic Phrases

VistaPrint is in position 9 for the phrase “tshirts.”  None of the sites above them on the day I took the screenshot had the blue “activate and earn” you’re seeing below, but now they do.  This was likely because my browser was an outdated version of chrome when I took the screenshot.  It’s updated now and more sites have the “activate and earn” overlay on the SERPs.

If I’m thumbing through and I don’t want funny tshirts or running tshirts, but instead need something custom printed, this is the first relevant result and a also has an incentive to click.  The blue “activate and earn” pops out and may be the deciding factor between me going to VistaPrint and me going to a listing above.

For high volume phrases and a mix of intents, this could be the signal navboost is looking for and gives VistaPrint the higher rankings.

Larger Brands Beating Local Companies in Local SEO

It is currently snowing here, so for this local example I’m pretending to make a reservation somewhere warm.  To reduce stress upon arrival, I want to arrange a car service.  I Google car services in St. Maarten and airport transfer companies since I’ve never been.

I’d expect to see local listings and the larger transfer services in the Caribbean.  At the same time there should be travel aggregators and sure enough Viator showed up.

By having the blue overlay there is an incentive to click and check them out.  Because the searches are limited, but the intent to click and convert is now higher, this may give Viator an advantage and signal to navboost this page and site is relevant for the queries and topic.

If you’re curious about how many users there are for these browser extensions, go to the downloads pages in the plugins stores and read the marketing materials about active users.  It is likely significant enough to move the needle and impact a search result.

I also do not think Google is considering the overlays that incentivize clicks and purchases in their algorithms.  This is because Google may not realize browser extensions may be altering their search results pages and user behavior for clicks and conversions.

If the browser with the plugin is owned by a search engine like how Chrome is owned by Google, the search engine could track the affiliate redirect and flag the browser overwriting the SEO click.  If Google does this, they could exclude the signal from navboost.  It is unlikely they would, so if my theory about the increased clicks and quality signals is true, this is a grey hat SEO strategy to move up from lower first page results to higher ones.

Hopefully you’re thinking, “how can you prove this theory on affiliate toolbars impacting SEO?”  Glad you asked, here is one of the multiple tests I came up with.

Testing SEO Boosts from Affiliate Toolbars

You first need an affiliate program with no active browser extensions in it.  Or one that removed the toolbar affiliates and the browsers no longer overwrite or overlay SEO search results.  Then follow these steps:

1. Find 6 to 10 keywords or keyword groups that have at least 40,000 monthly searches, and you rank in positions 4 to 7 on average.
   1. The average positions report mixed with the exact URL filter in search console is perfect for this.
   2. Navboost may only track larger volume keywords, and 40,000 or 50,000 monthly searches on a phrase should probably be a large enough volume.
2. Put these keywords and the URL (it cannot be more than one exact URL) in a spreadsheet and the position the page is in for the keywords going in rows.
3. Now approve the affiliates with browser extensions into your program and add your position on the first day the majority of them start overwriting your SEO results.
   1. The overlay can be the blue oval in the screenshots above, a full box around the result, the affiliate site’s logo next to the title tag, etc….
   2. Please be aware, this does change your attribution and you likely pay affiliate commissions, network fees, affiliate manager or agency bonuses, and other costs on these SEO sales you didn’t have to pay before approving the browser extension affiliates in. You are losing this money and revenue even if you gain some clicks.
4. Adjust your attribution models as SEO sales may get counted for the affiliate channel, and now you’re not allocating budgets correctly.
   1. Your own email list, PPC ads, social media traffic, etc… will need to be adjusted because the browser extensions may overwrite their clicks once the customer is on your website as the affiliate channel may take credit for these sales.
5. Check the average position of that specific URL weekly for the keyword or keyword cluster.
6. If in a month or two each of the groups have gained clicks, traffic, and then increase average position, it is a reasonable assumption the incentive to click on your SEO listing has helped signal the navboost bonus from the algorithm, or increased the click throughs from the same position in a Google result.

Outliers to look for:

There are outliers that can throw these numbers off, so include them before finishing the evaluation and conclusion.

• Did any viral social media moments happen for the category or a product?  This lifts the entire site or a specific category of products up in the SERPs.
• When your IT team or SEO team change the site structure (internal links, breadcrumbs, fixing redirects and 404s, modifying menu items, etc…) it redistributes authority and priority and can boost up specific categories and pages.
• If you are getting media coverage and attention for a product line, your brand, or category, the lift in citations, backlinks, and branded searches can lift your entire site in the SERPs.

If any of these happen during the test, it overrides any potential impact and benefits the affiliate browser extensions would have had on your SEO rankings.  You may be wondering why I don’t test this with our clients.  It’s because the revenue loss is likely larger than any gain from the attribution tests we’ve run.  And if it turns out there is no gain or the gain was minimal, it is a huge pain to remove these partners after.

The above is something I want to actively test, monitor, and then update this post with.  If you have a company and are open to running the test, please reach out.  And if you like this topic, check out this one on affiliate links being backlinks for SEO and subscribe below for more like it.