Affiliate Monitor: September 2025
Scott
Longley
The Affiliate Monitor rounds up the action and numbers from the year-to-date which saw the listed sector confront its sharpest-ever structural shift.
The story of the first half of 2025 is one of fragmentation, of performances and of narratives, as AI and Google’s algorithms continued to overturn the SEO-at-scale model that has driven the listed sector relentlessly forward for many years.
One insider that report author Scott Longley spoke to for our lead feature pegs organic acquisition as down 50% down YoY, albeit with CPAs remaining stable.
The squeezing out of the longer tail from the top of Google SERPs is however increasing the predominance of black hat, negative SEO and parasite and other domain authority tricks as the fight for visibility intensifies.
And this is not the kind of SEO expertise listed companies are able to bring in-house, posits one source, putting them in a position of reliance on Google “to police the clown show of spam”.
So while the big players’ trust and authority is tilting the ranking game in their favour at present, this looks a long way from being played out.
As always, any feedback you have on this and other iGB Affiliate content please contact stephen.carter@clariongaming.com