SEO

What Are Core Web Vitals & How Can You Improve Them?

Published

3 years ago

February 23, 2022

What Are Core Web Vitals & How Can You Improve Them?

Core Web Vitals are speed metrics that are part of Google’s Page Experience signals used to measure user experience. The metrics measure visual load with Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), visual stability with Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and interactivity with First Input Delay (FID).

Mobile page experience and the included Core Web Vital metrics have officially been used for ranking pages since May 2021. Desktop signals have also been used as of February 2022.

The easiest way to see the metrics for your site is with the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console. With the report, you can easily see if your pages are categorized as “poor URLs,” “URLs need improvement,” or “good URLs.”

The thresholds for each category are as follows:

	Good	Needs improvement	Poor
LCP	<=2.5s	<=4s	>4s
FID	<=100ms	<=300ms	>300ms
CLS	<=0.1	<=0.25	>0.25

And here’s how the report looks:

If you click into one of these reports, you get a better breakdown of the issues with categorization and the number of URLs impacted.

Clicking into one of the issues gives you a breakdown of page groups that are impacted. This grouping of pages makes a lot of sense. This is because most of the changes to improve Core Web Vitals are done for a particular page template that impacts many pages. You make the changes once in the template, and that will be fixed across the pages in the group.

Now that you know what pages are impacted, here’s some more information about Core Web Vitals and how you can get your pages to pass the checks:

Fact 1: The metrics are split between desktop and mobile. Mobile signals are used for mobile rankings, and desktop signals are used for desktop rankings.

Fact 2: The data comes from the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX), which records data from opted-in Chrome users. The metrics are assessed at the 75th percentile of users. So if 70% of your users are in the “good” category and 5% are in the “need improvement” category, then your page will still be judged as “need improvement.”

Fact 3: The metrics are assessed for each page. But if there isn’t enough data, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller states that signals from sections of a site or the overall site may be used. In our Core Web Vitals data study, we looked at over 42 million pages and found that only 11.4% of the pages had metrics associated with them.

Fact 4: With the addition of these new metrics, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP ) was removed as a requirement from the Top Stories feature on mobile. Since new stories won’t actually have data on the speed metrics, it’s likely the metrics from a larger category of pages or even the entire domain may be used.

Fact 5: Single Page Applications don’t measure a couple of metrics, FID and LCP, through page transitions. There are a couple of proposed changes, including the App History API and potentially a change in the metric used to measure interactivity that would be called “Responsiveness.”

Fact 6: The metrics may change over time, and the thresholds may as well. Google has already changed the metrics used for measuring speed in its tools over the years, as well as its thresholds for what is considered fast or not.

Core Web Vitals have already changed, and there are more proposed changes to the metrics. I wouldn’t be surprised if page size was added. You can pass the current metrics by prioritizing assets and still have an extremely large page. It’s a pretty big miss, in my opinion.

There are over 200 ranking factors, many of which don’t carry much weight. When talking about Core Web Vitals, Google reps have referred to these as tiny ranking factors or even tiebreakers. I don’t expect much, if any, improvement in rankings from improving Core Web Vitals. Still, they are a factor, and this tweet from John shows how the boost may work.

Think of it like this. Graphic not to scale. pic.twitter.com/6lLUYNM53A

— 🐐 John 🐐 (@JohnMu) May 21, 2021

There have been ranking factors targeting speed metrics for many years. So I wasn’t expecting much, if any, impact to be visible when the mobile page experience update rolled out. Unfortunately, there were also a couple of Google core updates during the time frame for the Page Experience update, which makes determining the impact too messy to draw a conclusion.

There are a couple of studies that found some positive correlation between passing Core Web Vitals and better rankings, but I personally look at these results with skepticism. It’s like saying a site that focuses on SEO tends to rank better. If a site is already working on Core Web Vitals, it likely has done a lot of other things right as well. And people did work on them, as you can see in the chart below from our data study.

Let’s look at each of the Core Web Vitals in more detail.

Here are the three current components of Core Web Vitals and what they measure:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – Visual load
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – Visual stability
First Input Delay (FID) – Interactivity

Note there are additional Web Vitals that serve as proxy measures or supplemental metrics but are not used in the ranking calculations. The Web Vitals metrics for visual load include Time to First Byte (TTFB) and First Contentful Paint (FCP). Total Blocking Time (TBT) and Time to Interactive (TTI) help to measure interactivity.

Largest Contentful Paint

LCP is the single largest visible element loaded in the viewport.

The largest element is usually going to be a featured image or maybe the <h1> tag. But it could also be any of these:

<img> element
<image> element inside an <svg> element
Image inside a <video> element
Background image loaded with the url() function
Blocks of text

How to see LCP

In PageSpeed Insights, the LCP element will be specified in the “Diagnostics” section. Also, notice there is a tab to select LCP that will only show issues related to LCP.

In Chrome DevTools, follow these steps:

Performance > check “Screenshots”
Click “Start profiling and reload page”
LCP is on the timing graph
Click the node; this is the element for LCP

Optimizing LCP

As we saw in PageSpeed Insights, there are a lot of issues that need to be solved, making LCP the hardest metric to improve, in my opinion. In our study, I noticed that most sites didn’t seem to improve their LCP over time.

Here are a few concepts to keep in mind and some ways you can improve LCP.

1. Smaller is faster

If you can get rid of any files or reduce their sizes, then your page will load faster. This means you may want to delete any files not being used or parts of the code that aren’t used.

How you go about this will depend a lot on your setup, but the process is usually referred to as tree shaking. This is commonly done via some kind of automated process. But in some systems, this step may not be worth the effort.

There’s also compression, which makes the file sizes smaller. Pretty much every file type used to build your website can be compressed, including CSS, JavaScript, Images, and HTML.

2. Closer is faster

Information takes time to travel. The further you are from a server, the longer it takes for the data to be transferred. Unless you serve a small geographical area, having a Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a good idea.

CDNs give you a way to connect and serve your site that’s closer to users. It’s like having copies of your server in different locations around the world.

3. Use the same server if possible

When you first connect to a server, there’s a process that navigates the web and establishes a secure connection between you and the server. This takes some time, and each new connection you need to make adds additional delay while it goes through the same process. If you host your resources on the same server, you can eliminate those extra delays.

If you can’t use the same server, you may want to use preconnect or DNS-prefetch to start connections earlier. A browser will typically wait for the HTML to finish downloading before starting a connection. But with preconnect or DNS-prefetch, it starts earlier than it normally would. Do note that DNS-prefetch has better support than preconnect.

4. Cache what you can

When you cache resources, they’re downloaded for the first page view but don’t need to be downloaded for subsequent page views. With the resources already available, additional page loads will be much faster. Check out how few files are downloaded in the second page load in the waterfall charts below.

First load of the page:

Second load of the page:

5. Prioritization of resources

To pass the LCP check, you should prioritize how your resources are loaded in the critical rendering path. What I mean by that is you want to rearrange the order in which the resources are downloaded and processed. You should first load the resources needed to get the content users see immediately, then load the rest.

Many sites can get to a passing time for LCP by just adding some preload statements for things like the main image, as well as necessary stylesheets and fonts. Let’s look at how to optimize the various resource types.

Images Early

If you don’t need the image, the most impactful solution is to simply get rid of it. If you must have the image, I suggest optimizing the size and quality to keep it as small as possible.

On top of that, you may want to preload the image. This is going to start the download of that image a little earlier. This means it’s going to display a little earlier. A preload statement for a responsive image looks like this:

<link rel="preload" as="image" href=“cat.jpg" imagesrcset=“cat_400px.jpg 400w, cat_800px.jpg 800w, cat_1600px.jpg 1600w" image>

Images Late

You should lazy load any images that you don’t need immediately. This loads images later in the process or when a user is close to seeing them. You can use loading=“lazy” like this:

<img src=“cat.jpg" alt=“cat" loading="lazy">

CSS Early

We already talked about removing unused CSS and minifying the CSS you have. The other major thing you should do is to inline critical CSS. What this does is it takes the part of the CSS needed to load the content users see immediately and then applies it directly into the HTML. When the HTML is downloaded, all the CSS needed to load what users see is already available.

Inlining critical CSS moves part of the CSS into the HTML

CSS Late

With any extra CSS that isn’t critical, you’ll want to apply it later in the process. You can go ahead and start downloading the CSS with a preload statement but not apply the CSS until later with an onload event. This looks like:

<link rel="preload" href="https://ahrefs.com/blog/core-web-vitals-2/stylesheet.css" as="style" onload="this.rel="stylesheet"">

Fonts

I’m going to give you a few options here for what I think is:

Good: Preload your fonts. Even better if you use the same server to get rid of the connection.

Better: Font-display: optional. This can be paired with a preload statement. This is going to give your font a small window of time to load. If the font doesn’t make it in time, the initial page load will simply show a default font. Your custom font will then be cached and show up on subsequent page loads.

Best: Just use a system font. There’s nothing to load—so no delays.

JavaScript Early

We already talked about removing unused JavaScript and minifying what you have. If you’re using a JavaScript framework, then you may want to prerender or server-side render (SSR) the page.

Your other options are to inline the JavaScript needed early. It’s similar to what we discussed about CSS, where you load portions of the code within the HTML or preload the JavaScript files so that you get them earlier. This should only be done for assets needed to load the content above the fold or if some functionality depends on this JavaScript.

JavaScript Late

Any JavaScript you don’t need immediately should be loaded later. There are two main ways to do that—defer and async attributes. These attributes can be added to your script tags.

Usually, a script being downloaded blocks the parser while downloading and executing. Async will let the parsing and downloading occur at the same time but still block parsing during the script execution. Defer will not block parsing during the download and only execute after the HTML has finished parsing.

Which should you use? For anything that you want earlier or that has dependencies, I’ll lean toward async. For instance, I tend to use async on analytics tags so that more users are recorded. You’ll want to defer anything that is not needed until later or doesn’t have dependencies. The attributes are pretty easy to add. Check out these examples:

Normal:

<script src="https://www.domain.com/file.js"></script>

Async:

<script src="https://www.domain.com/file.js" async></script>

Defer:

<script src="https://www.domain.com/file.js" defer></script>

Misc

There are a few other technologies that you may want to look at to help with performance. These include Speculative Prerendering, Early Hints, Signed Exchanges, and HTTP/3.

Resources

Cumulative Layout Shift

CLS measures how elements move around or how stable the page layout is. It takes into account the size of the content and the distance it moves. Google has already updated how CLS is measured. Previously, it would continue to measure even after the initial page load. But now it’s restricted to a five-second time frame where the most shifting occurs.

It can be annoying if you try to click something on a page that shifts and you end up clicking on something you don’t intend to. It happens to me all the time. I click on one thing and, suddenly, I’m clicking on an ad and am now not even on the same website. As a user, I find that frustrating.

Common causes of CLS include:

Images without dimensions.
Ads, embeds, and iframes without dimensions.
Injecting content with JavaScript.
Applying fonts or styles late in the load.

How to see CLS

In PageSpeed Insights, if you select CLS, you can see all the related issues. The main one to pay attention to here is “Avoid large layout shifts.”

We’re using WebPageTest. In Filmstrip View, use the following options:

Highlight Layout Shifts
Thumbnail Size: Huge
Thumbnail Interval: 0.1 secs

Notice how our font restyles between 5.1 secs and 5.2 secs, shifting the layout as our custom font is applied.

Smashing Magazine also had an interesting technique where it outlined everything with a 3px solid red line and recorded a video of the page loading to identify where layout shifts were happening.

Optimizing CLS

In most cases, to optimize CLS, you’re going to be working on issues related to images, fonts or, possibly, injected content. Let’s look at each case.

Images

For images, what you need to do is reserve the space so that there’s no shift and the image simply fills that space. This can mean setting the height and width of images by specifying them within the <img> tag like this:

<img src=“cat.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt=“cat with string" />

For responsive images, you need to use a srcset like this:

<img

width="1000"

height="1000"

src="https://ahrefs.com/blog/core-web-vitals-2/puppy-1000.jpg"

alt="Puppy with balloons" />

And reserve the max space needed for any dynamic content like ads.

Fonts

For fonts, the goal is to get the font on the screen as fast as possible and to not swap it with another font. When a font is loaded or changed, you end up with a noticeable shift like a Flash of Invisible Text (FOIT) or Flash of Unstyled Text (FOUT).

If you can use a system font, do that. There’s nothing to load, so there are no delays or changes that will cause a shift.

If you have to use a custom font, the current best method for minimizing CLS is to combine <link rel=”preload”> (which is going to try to grab your font as soon as possible) and font-display: optional (which is going to give your font a small window of time to load). If the font doesn’t make it in time, the initial page load will simply show a default font. Your custom font will then be cached and show up on subsequent page loads.

Injected content

When content is dynamically inserted above existing content, this causes a layout shift. If you’re going to do this, reserve enough space for it ahead of time.

Resources

First Input Delay

FID is the time from when a user interacts with your page to when the page responds. You can also think of it as responsiveness.

Example interactions:

Clicking on a link or button
Inputting text into a blank field
Selecting a drop-down menu
Clicking a checkbox

Some events like scrolling or zooming are not counted.

It can be frustrating trying to click something, and nothing happens on the page.

Not all users will interact with a page, so the page may not have an FID value. This is also why lab test tools won’t have the value because they’re not interacting with the page. What you may want to look at for lab tests is Total Blocking Time (TBT). In PageSpeed Insights, you can use the TBT tab to see related issues.

What causes the delay?

JavaScript competing for the main thread. There’s just one main thread, and JavaScript competes to run tasks on it. Think of it like JavaScript having to take turns to run.

While a task is running, a page can’t respond to user input. This is the delay that is felt. The longer the task, the longer the delay experienced by the user. The breaks between tasks are the opportunities that the page has to switch to the user input task and respond to what they wanted to do.

Optimizing FID

Most pages pass FID checks. But if you need to work on FID, there are just a few items you can work on. If you can reduce the amount of JavaScript running, then do that.

If you’re on a JavaScript framework, there’s a lot of JavaScript needed for the page to load. That JavaScript can take a while to process in the browser, and that can cause delays. If you use prerendering or (SSR), you shift this burden from the browser to the server.

Another option is to break up the JavaScript so that it runs for less time. You take those long tasks that delay response to user input and break them into smaller tasks that block for less time. This is done with code splitting, which breaks the tasks into smaller chunks.

There’s also the option of moving some of the JavaScript to a service worker. I did mention that JavaScript competes for the one main thread in the browser, but this is sort of a workaround that gives it another place to run.

There are some trade-offs as far as caching goes. And the service worker can’t access the DOM, so it can’t do any updates or changes. If you’re going to move JavaScript to a service worker, you really need to have a developer that knows what to do.

Resources

There are many tools you can use for testing and monitoring. Generally, you want to see the actual field data, which is what you’ll be measured on. But the lab data is more useful for testing.

The difference between lab and field data is that field data looks at real users, network conditions, devices, caching, etc. But lab data is consistently tested based on the same conditions to make the test results repeatable.

Many of these tools use Lighthouse as the base for their lab tests. The exception is WebPageTest, although you can also run Lighthouse tests with it as well. The field data comes from CrUX.

Field Data

There are some additional tools you can use to gather your own Real User Monitoring (RUM) data that provide more immediate feedback on how speed improvements impact your actual users (rather than just relying on lab tests).

Lab Data

PageSpeed Insights is great to check one page at a time. But if you want both lab data and field data at scale, the easiest way to get that is through the API. You can connect to it easily with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (free) or Ahrefs’ Site Audit and get reports detailing your performance.

Note that the Core Web Vitals data shown will be determined by the user-agent you select for your crawl during the setup.

I also like the report in GSC because you can see the field data for many pages at once. But the data is a bit delayed and on a 28-day rolling average, so changes may take some time to show up in the report.

Another thing that may be useful is you can find the scoring weights for Lighthouse at any point in time and see the historical changes. This can give you some idea of why your scores have changed and what Google may be weighting more over time.

Lighthouse scoring calculator with metric weights

Final thoughts

I don’t think Core Web Vitals have much impact on SEO and, unless you are extremely slow, I generally won’t prioritize fixing them. If you want to argue for Core Web Vitals improvements, I think that’s hard to do for SEO.

However, you can make a case for it for user experience. Or as I mentioned in my page speed article, improvements should help you record more data in your analytics, which “feels” like an increase. You may also be able to make a case for more conversions, as there are a lot of studies out there that show this (but it also may be a result of recording more data).

Here’s another key point: work with your developers; they are the experts here. Page speed can be extremely complex. If you’re on your own, you may need to rely on a plugin or service (e.g., WP Rocket or Autoptimize) to handle this.

Things will get easier as new technologies are rolled out and many of the platforms like your CMS, your CDN, or even your browser take on some of the optimization tasks. My prediction is that within a few years, most sites won’t even have to worry much because most of the optimizations will already be handled.

Many of the platforms are already rolling out or working on things that will help you.

Already, WordPress is preloading the first image and is putting together a team to work on Core Web Vitals. Cloudflare has already rolled out many things that will make your site faster, such as Early Hints, Signed Exchanges, and HTTP/3. I expect this trend to continue until site owners don’t even have to worry about working on this anymore.

As always, message me on Twitter if you have any questions.

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SEO

Plot Up To Five Metrics At Once

Published

7 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Max

Google has rolled out changes to Analytics, adding features to help you make more sense of your data.

The update brings several key improvements:

You can now compare up to five different metrics side by side.
A new tool automatically spots unusual trends in your data.
A more detailed report on transactions gives a closer look at revenue.
The acquisition reports now separate user and session data more clearly.
It’s easier to understand what each report does with new descriptions.

Here’s an overview of these new features, why they matter, and how they might help improve your data analysis and decision-making.

▶ ️We’ve introduced plot rows in detailed reports. You can now visualize up to 5 rows of data directly within your detailed reports to measure their changes over time.

We’ve also launched these new report features:

🔎: Anomaly detection to flag unusual data fluctuations
📊:… pic.twitter.com/VDPXe2Q9wQ

— Google Analytics (@googleanalytics) September 5, 2024

Plot Rows: Enhanced Data Visualization

The most prominent addition is the “Plot Rows” feature.

You can now visualize up to five rows of data simultaneously within your reports, allowing for quick comparisons and trend analysis.

This feature is accessible by selecting the desired rows and clicking the “Plot Rows” option.

Anomaly Detection: Spotting Unusual Patterns

Google Analytics has implemented an anomaly detection system to help you identify potential issues or opportunities.

This new tool automatically flags unusual data fluctuations, making it easier to spot unexpected traffic spikes, sudden drops, or other noteworthy trends.

Improved Report Navigation & Understanding

Google Analytics has added hover-over descriptions for report titles.

These brief explanations provide context and include links to more detailed information about each report’s purpose and metrics.

Key Event Marking In Events Report

The Events report allows you to mark significant events for easy reference.

This feature, accessed through a three-dot menu at the end of each event row, helps you prioritize and track important data points.

New Transactions Report For Revenue Insights

For ecommerce businesses, the new Transactions report offers granular insights into revenue streams.

This feature provides information about each transaction, utilizing the transaction_id parameter to give you a comprehensive view of sales data.

Scope Changes In Acquisition Reports

Google has refined its acquisition reports to offer more targeted metrics.

The User Acquisition report now includes user-related metrics such as Total Users, New Users, and Returning Users.

Meanwhile, the Traffic Acquisition report focuses on session-related metrics like Sessions, Engaged Sessions, and Sessions per Event.

What To Do Next

As you explore these new features, keep in mind:

Familiarize yourself with the new Plot Rows function to make the most of comparative data analysis.
Pay attention to the anomaly detection alerts, but always investigate the context behind flagged data points.
Take advantage of the more detailed Transactions report to understand your revenue patterns better.
Experiment with the refined acquisition reports to see which metrics are most valuable for your needs.

As with any new tool, there will likely be a learning curve as you incorporate these features into your workflow.

FAQ

What is the “Plot Rows” feature in Google Analytics?

The “Plot Rows” feature allows you to visualize up to five rows of data at the same time. This makes it easier to compare different metrics side by side within your reports, facilitating quick comparisons and trend analysis. To use this feature, select the desired rows and click the “Plot Rows” option.

How does the new anomaly detection system work in Google Analytics?

Google Analytics’ new anomaly detection system automatically flags unusual data patterns. This tool helps identify potential issues or opportunities by spotting unexpected traffic spikes, sudden drops, or other notable trends, making it easier for users to focus on significant data fluctuations.

What improvements have been made to the Transactions report in Google Analytics?

The enhanced Transactions report provides detailed insights into revenue for ecommerce businesses. It utilizes the transaction_id parameter to offer granular information about each transaction, helping businesses get a better understanding of their revenue streams.

Featured Image: Vladimka production/Shutterstock

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SEO

Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Platforms To Maximize Sales In 2024

Published

1 day ago

September 6, 2024

Max

Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Platforms To Maximize Sales In 2024

Affiliate marketing has been experiencing explosive growth in recent years, so it’s essential now more than ever for brands to run affiliate programs of their own.

It involves brands hiring affiliates to promote their products and services and rewarding them with a commission from every sale.

As such, affiliate marketing is an excellent low-cost and low-risk way for brands to drive sales and brand awareness without hiring an in-house advertising and marketing team of their own.

Affiliate marketing spending worldwide is estimated at around $14 billion in 2024 – and the industry is predicted to reach a worth of over $38 billion by 2031.

Affiliate Marketing And SEO

Affiliate marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) both share a common goal of attracting relevant and high-quality traffic to a site with the goal of increasing sales.

As such, both of these marketing activities shouldn’t be perceived as two separate, competing entities.

Instead, you should look at them as one and the same that work together in perfect harmony to increase website traffic and generate more revenue.

The most successful publishers in the affiliate marketing space combine the two to get the best of both worlds.

SEO affiliate marketing involves choosing the right products and affiliate programs that attract the most search traffic and offer the best commissions.

Publishers often make the most of affiliate marketing by creating content that adds real value for their readers and prioritizes their experience.

Publishers often do this by creating “Best of” or “Top X” oriented posts that address their audience’s needs and pain points, while, at the same time, allowing them to monetize their content by using affiliate links throughout the posts.

By adding relevant and contextual affiliate links in such posts, publishers foster an authentic user experience that puts their readers first.

This is one of the most significant advantages of affiliate marketing compared to alternative marketing methods such as sponsored posts.

Today’s consumers are increasingly distancing themselves from heavily business-oriented content, as it’s often perceived as inauthentic and disingenuous.

By focusing on high-quality content that adds value to readers and combining it with relevant and contextual affiliate links, everyone wins!

Additionally, Google rewards publishers who create original content and add real value for their readers.

They reward such publishers by placing them higher in search results and driving more traffic to them.

But, in today’s highly competitive and increasingly dynamic market, how can brands find the time to manage and grow their affiliate marketing program?

The answer is with the help of the right affiliate marketing software that streamlines the entire process.

Once upon a time, running a successful affiliate marketing program meant manually managing every aspect – a time-consuming and inefficient process.

Thankfully, these days, affiliate marketing software and solutions have evolved to offer all the necessary tools in a single place, which simplifies the whole process and enables brands to optimize their programs and focus on growth.

Therefore, brands need to utilize the right affiliate marketing software to stay competitive and maximize ROI in today’s highly competitive affiliate marketing space.

This article will go over what affiliate marketing software is and what makes a great affiliate software platform.

We’ll also review the top 10 affiliate marketing software platforms that brands can use to take their affiliate program to the next level.

What Is An Affiliate Marketing Software?

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing software is a comprehensive tool that facilitates all aspects of affiliate marketing program management.

It allows brands to track, manage, and grow their affiliate marketing campaigns.

Most affiliate marketing software platforms share standard features such as affiliate onboarding, collaboration with affiliate partners, affiliate tracking and reporting, and referral, cost, and commission payment management.

What Makes A Good Affiliate Marketing Software Platform?

Though most affiliate marketing software platforms share many of the same features, what sets apart the good platforms from the bad is what’s important.

For starters, the actual platform must have an intuitive and user-friendly interface.

An affiliate marketing platform can boast all of the best affiliate tools and features available.

Still, it’s a moot effort if the dashboard is complicated for most people.

Additionally, since brands usually utilize a variety of Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms for ecommerce and affiliate marketing, affiliate marketing software platforms need to offer tons of third-party SaaS integrations.

The best affiliate marketing software platforms offer robust tracking and reporting capabilities.

Brands need to be able to precisely track their affiliate sales and access real-time granular data to measure the ROI of their affiliate campaigns effectively.

Additionally, a good affiliate marketing platform will provide brands with all the affiliate tools they need to launch, manage, promote, and scale their affiliate programs, such as flexible commission management and customizable real-time affiliate tracking and reporting capabilities.

At the same time, they should offer their clients peace of mind by providing the highest level of fraud detection and other security features.

Lastly, the best affiliate marketing software platforms mean nothing if there isn’t quality customer service available 24/7 to back it up. Readily available customer assistance is equally important for brands as it is for affiliates.

Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Software

1. Refersion

Screenshot from refersion.com, August 2024

With over 60,000+ registered merchants, 6.6 million affiliates managed, and $2 billion in affiliate revenue tracked, Refersion is one of the leading affiliate marketing software platforms on the market.

Its robust and highly personalized dashboard allows brands to manage all aspects of their affiliate program, such as monitoring all aspects of their affiliate activity with extensive real-time reporting capability.

Refersion offers brands all the tools they need to scale and promote their affiliate programs, such as managing commissions, payouts, and providing simplified tax automation. It also offers easy integration with popular tools like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce.

While Refersion does come with a higher price point than some competitors – starting at $99 per month – it’s hard to find a solution that offers the same level of top-notch affiliate tools, marketplace, and customer service.

Pricing:

The professional tier starts at $99/month (if paid annually) for up to 50 monthly order conversions.
The business tier starts at $249/month (if paid annually) for up to 200 monthly order conversions.
The enterprise tier is available with unlimited monthly order conversions – you’ll need to contact Refersion for pricing details.

2. Impact

Screenshot from Impact.com, August 2024

Impact is one of the biggest affiliate marketing software platforms for cloud automation.

Its signature product, the Impact Partnership Cloud, allows brands to automate their affiliate and influencer marketing campaigns. It offers a marketplace where brands can connect with a network of affiliates, influencers, ambassadors, and other possible partners.

The platform’s tools also include dynamic commissioning, reporting, advanced analytics, and third-party integrations for companies to track and manage their affiliate programs.

However, pricing is not readily available, and you must contact the Impact sales team for a custom quote.

Pricing:

Custom quotes are available upon request.

3. Tapfiliate

Screenshot from Tapfiliate.com, August 2024

For businesses primarily operating and generating their revenue on ecommerce SaaS platforms, Tapfiliate may be a great choice.

It features a range of automation capabilities, including an autopilot mode that can automate things such as onboarding new affiliates, sharing via social media, or even drip campaigns.

Tapfiliate easily integrates with major ecommerce players like Shopify and WooCommerce, and offers advanced tracking and reporting capabilities. However, most of the features are accessible only through the Pro plan, which starts at $149 a month – nothing to sneeze at.

Pricing:

The essential plan starts at $74/month for 1 team member and basic features.
The pro plan starts at $124/month for 5 team members and more advanced features.
The enterprise plan offers custom pricing for unlimited team members, unlimited tracking requests, a dedicated personal manager, and more.

4. Awin

Screenshot from Awin.com, August 2024

Awin, previously known as Zanox, merged with Affilinet in 2017 to become one of the largest affiliate marketing platforms, providing “unlimited access to over 1M vetted partners.”

It features a handful of marketing and reporting features you’d expect from such an extensive network, like tools for cross-device tracking, real-time reporting, and automated compliance management.

The platform’s Awin Access program is an interesting option for smaller businesses or teams newer to affiliate marketing, as it offers a straightforward setup process and flexible pricing to make joining the network easier.

Registration is free on Awin, but it uses a performance-based pricing model. This means brands pay a predetermined cost-per-acquisition (CPA), and specific pricing details are only available upon request.

Pricing:

Custom quotes are available upon request.

5. CAKE

Screenshot from getcake.com, August 2024

CAKE is another SaaS-based affiliate marketing platform, meaning you can access it from anywhere (with an Internet connection).

CAKE partners with a bunch of partners to offer a variety of streamlined and automated features. It’s known for its great tracking and reporting capabilities, which enable you to follow and optimize your campaigns in real time.

The platform boasts more than 500 advertisers, networks, and publishers across 50+ countries, and it offers 24/7 customer support to its users. It has customizable features, granular data analysis, and impressive fraud protection to give customers peace of mind.

Unfortunately, CAKE’s pricing is not readily available on its website. It also doesn’t feature any pre-made promotional tools for marketers, which doesn’t make it quite suitable for novice users just starting out with their affiliate program

Pricing:

Custom quotes are available upon request.

6. ClickBank

Screenshot from ClickBank.com, August 2024

ClickBank was one of the first affiliate platforms, launching all the way back in 1998. Since then, it’s grown to one of the largest affiliate marketplaces with over 200 million customers.

According to the company’s website, there are 300,000+ daily purchases made on ClickBank – and it boasts $4.2B in paid commissions.

ClickBank stands out for its native support for subscription services, which makes it easy for brands to create one-click, repeatable purchases. This allows them to provide monthly products without requiring manual monthly payments.

It also offers some of the standard features commonly found on most affiliate platforms, such as affiliate reporting, payments, commissions management, and third-party integrations. It’s quick and easy to list your products and set up affiliate programs on the platform.

However, compared to some of the other affiliate platforms on this list, it doesn’t offer a demo, free trial, or monthly pricing. Instead, ClickBank charges a one-time activation to list products on the platform and then a fee per sale.

Pricing:

One-Time Activation Fee: $49.95.
Transaction Fee: 7.5% + $1 per sale.

7. CJ Affiliate

Screenshot from cj.com, August 2024

CJ Affiliate is a well-known and reputable affiliate marketing platform. It offers access to hundreds of advertisers, publishers, and potential partners in one platform.

CJ Affiliate provides a customizable dashboard and a variety of reports and specialized tools, including advanced tracking and reporting capabilities. Most notably, it offers specialized tools, such as Deep Link Automation and Product Widgets, that enable brands to improve their affiliate program ROI.

While CJ Affiliate is a great choice for businesses of all sizes, it’s worth noting that the company doesn’t provide a free trial or demo, operates on a performance-based pricing model, and you’ll need to reach out for specific details.

Pricing:

Custom quotes are available upon request.

8. TUNE

Screenshot from Tune.com, August 2024

Designed for companies that require detailed tracking and analytics, TUNE allows brands to build, manage, and grow their affiliate partner networks through its proprietary marketing technology.

TUNE offers a flexible platform, which users can tweak and tailor to fit their needs. Within the platform, you have customizable tools, commissions, payments, and real-time affiliate tracking and reporting.

However, it doesn’t provide affiliate promotional tools like most other platforms, and there is no straightforward pricing listed on the website.

It does, however, list details on its different plans, including a Pro Plan with basic features up to an Enterprise Plan with features like custom integrations, premium support, enhanced fraud prevention, and more.

Pricing:

Custom quote available upon request.

9. LeadDyno

Screenshot from LeadDyno.com, August 2024

LeadDyno specializes in affiliate program promotion and perhaps offers the most promotional tools available in an affiliate marketing software platform.

LeadDyno offers tools that enable brands to create various promotional campaigns, such as email, newsletters, and social media campaigns, making it a wonderful choice for companies that want to expand the reach of their programs.

It provides a straightforward user experience that makes it easy to onboard affiliates, track your performance, and manage payouts. Extensive real-time tracking and reporting features give businesses the ability to monitor and optimize their campaigns.

Pricing is on the affordable side and LeadDyno offers a free trial – which not all tools on this list do!

Pricing:

The lite plan starts at $49/month for up to 50 active affiliates, one commission plan, one reward structure, and other basics.
The essential plan is $129.month and offers up to 150 active affiliates, three commission plans, and one reward structure, as well as other advanced features like a landing page, 1:1 call and video support, and more.
The advanced plan is $349/month and offers up to 500 active affiliates, unlimited reward structures and commission plans, and many other advanced features.
The unlimited plan is $749/month and offers unlimited active affiliates, unlimited reward structures and commission plans, and more.

10. ShareASale

Screenshot from ShareASale.com, August 2024

With over 20 years of experience, ShareASale has been around for quite some time. It’s a reliable solution for merchants and affiliates alike, and carries a variety of tools to help boost your affiliate marketing programs.

If you’re looking for an extensive network of affiliates and partners across a ton of industries, ShareASale is a good option for you. You’ll also get access to customizable affiliable management, real-time tracking, detailed reporting, custom banner, and link generation, and plenty more.

One thing to note: like a few of the other tools listed here, ShareASale uses a performance-based pricing model that includes a one-time network access fee and then transaction fees.

Pricing:

There is a one-time setup fee of $650.
Transaction fees: 20% of each affiliate commission, with a minimum of $35/month.

Wrapping Up

Great affiliate marketing solutions enable brands to easily launch and manage affiliate programs, as well as track referrals and sales made by their affiliate partners.

The best affiliate marketing software provides brands with all the tools needed to launch, promote, and grow their affiliate program.

At the same time, they provide customizable and easy-to-use reporting capabilities for real-time performance tracking.

Without reliable tracking and reporting tools, brands cannot effectively assess the success and profitability of their affiliate campaigns and partnerships.

More resources:

Featured Image: Panchenko Vladimir/Shutterstock

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SEO

Early Analysis & User Feedback

Published

2 days ago

September 5, 2024

Max

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has introduced a prototype of SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine.

The launch has sparked considerable interest, leading to discussions about its potential to compete with Google.

However, early studies and user feedback indicate that while SearchGPT shows promise, it has limitations and needs more refinement.

Experts suggest it needs further development before challenging current market leaders.

Study Highlights SearchGPT’s Strengths and Weaknesses

SE Ranking, an SEO software company, conducted an in-depth analysis of SearchGPT’s performance and compared it to Google and Bing.

The study found that SearchGPT’s search results are 73% similar to Bing’s but only 46% similar to Google’s.

Interestingly, 26% of domains ranking in SearchGPT receive no traffic from Google, indicating opportunities for websites struggling to gain traction.

The study highlighted some of SearchGPT’s key features, including:

The ability to summarize information from multiple sources Provide a conversational interface for refining searches Offering an ad-free user experience.
However, the research noted that SearchGPT lacks the variety and depth of Google’s search results, especially for navigational, transactional, and local searches.
The study also suggested that SearchGPT favors authoritative, well-established websites, with backlinks being a significant ranking factor.

Around 32% of all SearchGPT results came from media sources, increasing to over 75% for media-related queries.

SE Ranking notes that SearchGPT needs improvement in providing the latest news, as some news results were outdated.

User Experiences & Limitations Reported By The Washington Post

The Washington Post interviewed several early testers of SearchGPT and reported mixed reviews.

Some users praised the tool’s summarization capabilities and found it more helpful than Google’s AI-generated answers for certain queries.

Others, however, found SearchGPT’s interface and results less impressive than those of smaller competitors like Perplexity.

The article also highlighted instances where SearchGPT provided incorrect or “hallucinated” information, a problem that has plagued other AI chatbots.

While the SE Ranking study estimated that less than 1% of searches returned inaccurate results, The Washington Post says there’s significant room for improvement.

The article also highlighted Google’s advantage in handling shopping and local queries due to its access to specialized data, which can be expensive to acquire.

Looking Ahead: OpenAI’s Plans For SearchGPT and Potential Impact on the Market

OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood revealed that the company plans to integrate SearchGPT’s best features into ChatGPT, potentially enhancing the popular language model’s capabilities.

When asked about the possibility of including ads in SearchGPT, Wood stated that OpenAI’s business model is based on subscriptions but didn’t specify whether SearchGPT would be offered for free or as part of a ChatGPT subscription.

Despite the excitement surrounding SearchGPT, Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently reported continued growth in the company’s search revenue, suggesting that Google may maintain its dominant position even with the emergence of new AI-powered search tools.

Top Takeaways

Despite its current limitations, SearchGPT has the potential to shake up online information seeking. As OpenAI iterates based on user feedback, its impact may grow significantly.

Integrating SearchGPT’s best features into ChatGPT could create a more powerful info-seeking tool. The proposed subscription model raises questions about competition with free search engines and user adoption.

While Google’s search revenue and specialized query handling remain strong, SearchGPT could carve out its own niche. The two might coexist, serving different user needs.

For SearchGPT to truly compete, OpenAI must address accuracy issues, expand query capabilities, and continuously improve based on user input. It could become a viable alternative to traditional search engines with ongoing development.

Featured Image: Robert Way/Shutterstock

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