The affiliate-media partnership deals that were in vogue the last few years were the primary target. If I can be so bold as to quote Happy Gilmore, “Talk about your all-time backfires.” The overall outcomes are mixed depending on the company, but the partnership deals specifically have turned decidedly sour.
Affiliates — companies that make revenue by referring customers to operator websites — have trumpeted the benefits of these deals with more mainstream media outlets for several years. Thanks to the legacy media sites’ reputation in searches, affiliates brought in tons of new depositing customers (NDCs), padding their key performance indicators (KPIs).
Now, after May 5, those sites are missing from searches. That has boosted affiliates’ core content but leaves them trapped in what increasingly looks like costly zombie deals. In some cases, deals with eight-figure annual guarantees and highly unfavorable revenue splits.
According to several sources with knowledge of the situation, this is the new reality. Even with cleanups and content removal, Google is unlikely to reverse course and bring these sites back into the search engine results pages (SERPs).
That raises the question: Are the affiliates finished taking their lumps, or should they brace for more?
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