SEO tools are the most competitive corner of SaaS affiliate marketing, and the most misreported. Several of the biggest names pay a flat bounty per sale rather than recurring revenue, and at least one major brand closed its program years ago while affiliate blogs kept publishing its old commission rate. The records below separate what vendors actually publish from what gets repeated.

What the data shows in this category

5/7pay recurring commission
2pay for the lifetime of the account
29%average published commission rate
68 daysaverage cookie, across the 4 that publish one
  • Longest verified attribution window: Semrush at 120 days.
  • 3 of 7 programs in this category do not publish a cookie duration anywhere we could verify. Those fields are left blank rather than filled from third-party listings.
  • 2 programs are not currently open to new affiliates: Surfer SEO, Ahrefs. They stay listed because the status itself is the useful answer.

Compare every seo program

ProgramCategoryStatusCommissionRecurringCookieNetworkScoreVerifiedActions
SemrushFeatured
SEOActive$50–$450One-time120 daysImpact7.2View
SEOActive30%Lifetime60 days7.6View
SEOInvite only25%Lifetime60 days7.5View
SEOActive40%RecurringNot disclosed7.1View
SEOActive30%Recurring30 days6.5View
SEOActive20%RecurringNot disclosed6.4View
SEOClosedNo commissionView

Top-scoring open programs

Semrush

Active
7.2

SEO and marketing intelligence suite paying a flat bounty per sale, not recurring commission.

Commission
$50–$450
Recurring
One-time
Cookie
120 days
Network
Impact

Rank Math

Active
7.6

WordPress SEO plugin paying 30% on all sales including upgrades, behind a 60-day cookie.

Commission
30%
Recurring
Lifetime
Cookie
60 days
Network
Not disclosed

SpyFu

Active
7.1

Competitor keyword and PPC research tool paying 40% recurring commission.

Commission
40%
Recurring
Recurring
Cookie
Not publicly disclosed
Network
Not disclosed

How we selected and checked these

Every SEO record here was checked against the vendor's own affiliate page or terms document where one exists. Where a vendor publishes tiered per-sale bounties rather than a single rate, we store the full range instead of quoting the headline number in isolation. Programs that have closed stay in the directory with a closed status, because 'this program no longer exists' is the answer a lot of people are searching for.

Programs are ordered by the SaaS Affiliate Score, an editorial rating built from commission, recurring potential, cookie duration, payout terms, promotional flexibility, program stability and market opportunity. Components whose underlying data a vendor does not publish are dropped from the calculation rather than guessed at, so no program is penalised for a figure it never disclosed. Sponsorship has no input into the score.

SEO affiliate program FAQs

Do SEO tools pay recurring affiliate commission?

Some do and some do not, and the split matters more than the headline rate. Semrush pays a one-time bounty per sale with no recurring revenue, while SE Ranking and SpyFu pay a percentage of subscription revenue on an ongoing basis. Check the recurring column before you build content around a program.

Which SEO tool has the longest cookie?

Of the programs we have verified, Semrush publishes the longest attribution window at 120 days. Cookie duration matters more for SEO tools than for many categories because buyers typically trial several platforms before committing.

Why is Ahrefs listed if it has no affiliate program?

Because it is one of the most searched SEO affiliate questions, and the honest answer is useful. Ahrefs closed its program and has publicly said it does not plan to reopen it. Listing it with a closed status stops people wasting time looking for a signup page that does not exist.

Run a seo affiliate program?

Submit it and we'll verify the terms against your official page before listing. Verification is free.