Globally affiliate marketers contribute a significant portion of the revenue Google earns.

It seems though that the big G in South Africa is not above some clever advertising to drum up new business for their fledgling office - using their own Adwords, of course.

I happened to see an ad for Google’s Adwords product triggered off a search for “SA Affiliate Networks” on google.co.za.

SA Affiliate Marketing
Gain New Customers In Just 15 Mins Sign-Up To Google Adwords Today!

They go one step further and target Affiliates in the same way to attract Adsense users.

I’m not complaining - Google’s been a great source of leads for us over the years and our affiliates earn a lot of income using Adwords to promote affiliate programs……….. but I have to wonder about the anti-competitive nature of advertising your own services on your own platform in competition with smaller (just, lol) companies.

Especially since you don’t seem to have to pay for the ads while your competitor who’s going after the same market has to pay a premium fee completely determined by you.

What happens when Google decides to start offering jewelry, shoes, apparel and more?

Kinda makes you think, doesn’t it?

Luckily for us, merchants realize that affiliate programs deliver value beyond paying for the click.

There’s more to affiliate marketing than just search engine placement - as long as the niche lives affiliate marketing will flourish!