SEMrush Alternative for Finding Affiliates
SEMrush is one of the most comprehensive SEO toolkits available. With keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, and backlink analytics, it gives marketers deep visibility into organic search performance. If you are doing SEO, SEMrush deserves its reputation.
But a growing number of affiliate managers have been using SEMrush's backlink tools as an improvised way to find competitor affiliates. This works, sort of, but it involves a painful manual workflow that SEMrush was never designed to support. Here is why a dedicated tool does the job better.
The SEMrush Backlink Workaround
The process typically goes like this: you enter a competitor's domain into SEMrush's Backlink Analytics, pull up the list of referring domains, and then start the tedious work of figuring out which of those domains are affiliates.
The Manual Filtering Process
- Export the referring domain list from SEMrush (often thousands of domains)
- Open a spreadsheet and start checking domains one by one
- Visit each site and look for affiliate links or disclosure language
- Check if links contain tracking parameters (utm tags, affiliate IDs, click IDs)
- Try to determine which affiliate network the site belongs to
- Search for contact information on qualifying sites
- Record everything in your outreach spreadsheet
This process works in the sense that you will eventually find affiliates. But it is enormously time-consuming. A competitor with 5,000 referring domains might have 200 actual affiliates buried in the list. Finding them means checking thousands of irrelevant links from forums, news sites, directories, and social media.
What SEMrush Shows You
SEMrush gives you powerful data about each backlink:
- Source domain authority
- Anchor text
- Link type (text, image, form)
- First seen / last seen dates
- Follow vs nofollow status
What it does not tell you is whether a link is an affiliate link. A product review blog with affiliate tracking looks the same as an editorial mention in SEMrush's backlink report. You have to figure that out yourself.
AffiliateSpy: Automated Affiliate Filtering
AffiliateSpy was built specifically for the job that SEMrush users have been trying to do manually. Instead of showing you every backlink and leaving you to sort through them, it scans a competitor domain and returns only verified affiliates.
The verification happens automatically. AffiliateSpy analyzes cookies, tracking parameters, and redirect chains on each linking site to confirm whether an actual affiliate relationship exists. No manual checking required.
What AffiliateSpy Gives You
- Verified affiliate lists with confirmed tracking relationships
- Quality scores based on site authority, content quality, and relevance
- Contact emails ready for outreach
- Weekly re-scans to detect new affiliates
- Competitor auto-detection to monitor your entire vertical
SEMrush vs AffiliateSpy: Comparison
| Capability | SEMrush | AffiliateSpy |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | SEO toolkit | Affiliate intelligence |
| Backlink data | Comprehensive (all links) | Affiliates only (verified) |
| Affiliate identification | Manual (you filter) | Automatic (verified detection) |
| Keyword research | Yes (industry-leading) | No |
| Rank tracking | Yes | No |
| Site audits | Yes | No |
| Quality scores for affiliates | No | Yes |
| Affiliate contact emails | No | Yes |
| Time to find 50 affiliates | Days (manual filtering) | Minutes (automated) |
| Starting price | $129/mo | $49/mo |
SEMrush Is Great at SEO. It Was Not Built for Affiliate Recruitment.
This is not a criticism of SEMrush. It is a world-class SEO platform, and if you are doing keyword research, technical SEO, or competitive organic analysis, it should probably be in your toolkit.
The point is simply that using SEMrush to find affiliates is like using a Swiss Army knife to cut down a tree. The blade technically works, but a proper saw does the job in a fraction of the time.
SEMrush's backlink database is designed to help you understand link profiles for SEO purposes. AffiliateSpy's scanning technology is designed to identify affiliate relationships. Different problems, different tools.
The Real Cost of the Manual Approach
Consider the economics. An affiliate manager earning $70,000/year costs their company roughly $35/hour. If the manual SEMrush filtering process takes 20 hours to produce a solid list of competitor affiliates (a conservative estimate for thorough research), that is $700 in labor.
AffiliateSpy produces verified results in minutes for $49/month. Even if you use SEMrush for everything else in your SEO workflow, adding AffiliateSpy for affiliate research pays for itself on the first scan.
When to Use Each Tool
Use SEMrush when you need to:
- Research keywords and search volume
- Track rankings for your target terms
- Audit your site for technical SEO issues
- Analyze competitor organic strategies
- Build and monitor your backlink profile
Use AffiliateSpy when you need to:
- Find affiliates promoting your competitors
- Recruit high-quality partners for your program
- Monitor competitor affiliate programs over time
- Get contact information for potential partners
- Assess affiliate quality before reaching out
Using SEMrush and AffiliateSpy Together
The smartest approach for affiliate managers who also handle SEO is to use both. SEMrush handles your organic search strategy. AffiliateSpy handles your affiliate recruitment.
A practical workflow:
- Use SEMrush to identify competitors ranking for your target keywords
- Run those competitors through AffiliateSpy to find their verified affiliates
- Use AffiliateSpy's quality scores to prioritize outreach
- Recruit the best affiliates using the provided contact emails
- Use SEMrush to monitor how affiliate-driven content ranks for your brand terms
This gives you full coverage of both the SEO and affiliate channels without trying to force one tool to do the other's job.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can SEMrush identify affiliate links?
No. SEMrush's backlink reports show all referring domains without distinguishing affiliate links from editorial mentions, directory listings, or other link types. You would need to check each domain manually to determine affiliate status.
Is AffiliateSpy a replacement for SEMrush?
No. AffiliateSpy is not an SEO tool. It does not do keyword research, rank tracking, or site audits. It is purpose-built for affiliate intelligence. Most users benefit from having both tools in their stack.
How long does it take to find affiliates with AffiliateSpy?
A competitor scan typically returns verified affiliate results within minutes. Compare this to the days of manual filtering required when using SEMrush's backlink reports for the same purpose.
Does AffiliateSpy offer a free trial?
You can run a free competitor scan to see verified affiliates for any domain before committing to a paid plan. Plans start at $49/mo.
I already pay for SEMrush. Why would I add another tool?
Because the manual process of filtering affiliates from SEMrush's backlink data costs more in time than AffiliateSpy's subscription. At $49/mo, AffiliateSpy pays for itself if it saves you even two hours of manual research per month.