▶  AEO · S6E140 · · October 12, 2026

Affiliate Marketing in the Age of AI Search with Adam Riemer

Guest: Adam Riemer, Founder and CEO of Adam Riemer Marketing
Hosts: Jon Clark & Joe DeVita

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about this episode

Adam Riemer, founder and CEO of Adam Riemer Marketing and a Search Engine Journal “Ask an SEO” columnist, has spent more than 20 years working where affiliate marketing and SEO overlap. His argument: AI answers are increasingly personalized to the individual user, so the source that shapes a recommendation is the author, creator, or community your specific buyer already trusts, not simply the biggest publication. Two people with the same age, income, and magazine subscriptions can still follow completely different writers. So how should brands pay for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) visibility through partners? Adam’s short answer: if a partner reaches your audience and can drive revenue, pay a flat media fee plus commission, and never purge a dormant affiliate that AI assistants keep surfacing. Jon Clark and Joe DeVita also get into affiliate tracking without cookies, valuing YouTube versus TikTok creators, and where SEO and affiliate teams clash.

In This Episode

  • Why audience-matched authors may matter more than big publications in personalized AI answers
  • How should you pay affiliates who influence AI answers but never send a click?
  • Server-side tracking, app conversions, and click-free podcast attribution
  • YouTube vs. TikTok creators: long-term content investment vs. short-term sales burst
  • Re-engaging dormant affiliates that LLMs keep citing
  • Affiliate subnetworks, brand-term bidding, and the program governance most brands skip
  • Do affiliate links count as backlinks?

A practical look at where affiliate marketing, SEO, and AI search collide, from someone who works hands-on in all three.

Connect with Adam Riemer

Adam’s Website
Adam on LinkedIn
Adam’s Colum on  Search Engine Journal

Chapters

  • 0:00

    Where affiliate, SEO, and AI search meet

  • 1:41

    Meet Adam Riemer

  • 2:05

    Smart vs. stuck affiliate managers

  • 8:28

    Inside an affiliate, SEO & CRO practice

  • 13:48

    What does good affiliate tracking look like?

  • 17:58

    Valuing YouTube vs. TikTok creators

  • 21:44

    Should you pay affiliates for AI answers?

  • 28:51

    How SEO and affiliate teams can share data

  • 30:11

    Should you purge dormant affiliates?

  • 33:48

    Getting creators products you can’t ship

  • 37:13

    Comparison videos, listicles & gift guides

  • 41:45

    Pitching niche creators on custom content

  • 43:43

    Using paid search data to forecast revenue

  • 45:19

    Should affiliates bid on your brand terms?

  • 47:11

    Who owns creator relationships?

  • 50:11

    Fixing the homepage hero

  • 53:22

    Do affiliate links count as backlinks?

  • 55:16

    Rapid fire: networks and platforms

Resources mentioned

  • Article

    How Can Affiliate Managers And SEOs Stay Relevant In The AI Era?

  • Article

    Affiliate Links are Backlinks for SEO, But Bad Ones

  • Article

    A 6-Step, Money-Making, AI Content Strategy for Affiliates

  • Article

    Affiliate Marketing Has Evolved from Pay on Performance

  • Article

    Your Best Selling Product is Not Based on the Number of Sales