RSOC Arbitrage
For the past few months, there has been a major hot topic within the affiliate marketing world—RSOC arbitrage.
If you’ve been to affiliate conferences, online forums, or talked to peers in the industry, you’ve most likely heard of RSOC.
It’s still a fairly new topic, especially within the context of search arbitrage, so there is very little useful information about it online.
This article tells you everything you need to know about RSOC, how it works, why you should care about it, how to track it, and how to make it profitable.
What is RSOC?
RSOC stands for related search for content, and it’s a new feature from Google that allows website owners to show their visitors relevant search terms based on the page they’re on. These relevant search terms are displayed inside the content page, generally after the introduction paragraph, like in this image from Google:
This setup improves user experience, because it helps them find more information related to the topic they’re reading about. This can attract more traffic, keep visitors engaged for longer, and expose them to more relevant ads that blend in with the content.
What is RSOC Arbitrage?
For this article, we will mostly focus on RSOC arbitrage. RSOC arbitrage is a strategy that uses paid ads to attract users searching for specific topics and then directs them to relevant monetization pages.
While traditional SEO is all about ranking high for valuable keywords in search results, RSOC arbitrage brings in visitors through paid traffic and guides them to carefully chosen content or search pages.
Just like with classic search arbitrage, you make money by buying traffic for cheaper than you sell it. If you’ve been doing search arbitrage with AFD feeds before, you can probably tell that RSOC is a huge improvement in user experience compared to the old-school parked domains. This is a win-win situation for both users and content creators, and that’s why it’s currently such a hot topic in the industry.
But how does it actually work?
How Does RSOC Arbitrage Work?
First, you’ll need to create a content website and publish a few articles to increase the chance of getting your site approved.
Then, you’ll have to apply with an RSOC search feed provider such as Google or other monetizers. We’ll give an overview of some of the major RSOC search feed providers below.
After you have implemented the feed offers on your page, you can drive traffic to your website through paid ads via platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook / Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, native ads (Taboola, Outbrain) and more. This is commonly referred to as buying traffic.
RSOC can have anywhere from 1 to 3-click flows depending on the provider, but generally a user will click on your ad on one of the advertising platforms and land on your content page. There, they’ll be able to click on a keyword from your relevant keyword block. Usually, this will take them to a search result or monetization page. This part represents your revenue. Apart from monetizing the keyword block, with RSOC you can also add more monetization options. We will explain them further in a bit.
The ultimate goal is for the revenue you generate from your page to exceed the cost of buying traffic.
How to Get Started with RSOC
There are two main options when you are trying to get started with RSOC. First, you can run directly using your Google AdSense account. If you have a website that meets AdSense requirements, such as no scraped content, illegal topics and so on, you can apply directly for your AdSense account.
You can also get in touch with one of the monetizing platforms, also known as search feed providers. Below, we will list the main search feed providers for RSOC at the moment. The process is similar, you need to apply for an account with one of the providers.
How to Monetize RSOC
We briefly explained how to monetize RSOC above. Let’s dive further into the details:
- Ads: This is the core monetization method for RSOC. Using platforms like Google AdSense or third-party providers, you can show ads that match your users’ interests and earn revenue each time a user clicks on them.
- Affiliate links: Promote affiliate products or services on your page and earn a commission each time a user converts. You can find affiliate offers from platforms such as CJ Affiliate, ShareASale, Amazon Associates, MaxBounty and more.
- Email: You can collect email addresses and build your own email list. This increases the lifetime value of each visitor.
What Are the Benefits of RSOC?
As we mentioned above, the user experience with RSOC pages is much better compared to landing on a parked domain.
Since users engage with the content before clicking on the ads, they are likely more informed about the topic and thus more highly qualified. Also, this kind of setup allows Google to deliver higher quality ads that match the content of the page. These factors typically result in higher RPCs (revenue-per-click).
Another improvement for the website owner is the possibility to add more monetization options. As explained above, apart from ads you can also add affiliate links on your page or enable Google AdSense, which was not possible previously with traditional search arbitrage.
Finally, content pages also lead to less compliance issues, and they are suitable for more traffic sources. This overall improved experience for all parties is a strong indication that Google will continue moving in this direction going forward.
The Top RSOC Search Feed Providers
Up until a few months ago, the main approach to get started with RSOC was to start running with Google AdSense.
Since the beginning of 2024, many other search feed providers have either started offering RSOC solutions, or are currently working on developing it. This includes many of the major AFD search feed providers. So, if you have a contact within any of the AFD providers, you can ask them about getting started with RSOC.
Some of the top RSOC feed providers are:
More companies are working on bringing out their own RSOC solutions. While the key functionality will be the same, the different players are taking slightly different approaches.
Choosing between Google and other providers comes down to this—you stand to potentially benefit from a higher rev-share with Google, but you have less control over tracking data. Within the traffic arbitrage space, it is crucial to be able to track accurate data and continuously optimize your campaigns based on the results.
Challenges with Tracking RSOC Campaigns
We probably don’t need to tell you why limited tracking capabilities present a huge challenge to your scaling strategy. Without knowing what’s working and what isn’t, you can’t optimize your campaigns properly.
If you’re one of the early RSOC adopters, you’re most likely struggling to track your performance right now. The main challenge is that Google doesn’t provide revenue insights on a click ID level, making it difficult to accurately attribute revenue on a click level.
There are also limitations imposed by RSOC providers on the number of unique channel names you can use daily.
So, how can you overcome these challenges in order to track your RSOC campaigns?
How to Track RSOC Campaigns with ClickFlare
At ClickFlare, we’ve come up with a way to attribute revenue on a click level!
If you’re not familiar with ClickFlare, it’s a click-based tracking software that works for any business model such as affiliate, ecom, lead gen, and more, but it offers many unique features specifically for search arbitrage, including RSOC.
ClickFlare is one of the first trackers to establish a direct API integration with System1, ExplorAds and three other major RSOC feeds. We’re already working on more RSOC integrations.
This direct integration means that we will automatically import revenue from these monetization platforms. All you need to do is input your account details (e.g., username, authentication key).
So, how accurate is revenue attribution on ClickFlare? Well, we surely didn’t reinvent the wheel. The revenue attribution limitations are very well-known by everyone running RSOC. We just came up with a way to estimate revenue on a click ID level utilizing the feeds’ revenue data breakdowns for dimensions such as GEO, channel name, and device.
This method makes it easier for you to understand the data and attribute conversions to ads and adsets. You can then use this data to optimize and scale your campaigns with more confidence.
RSOC Best Practices
The beauty of RSOC is that, compared to traditional search arbitrage where you can only optimize the keyword block, now you can optimize different elements on the page to increase your profits.
Here are the top RSOC best practices, based on Google’s recommendations as well as our general experience.
Throughout this article, we’ve highlighted how important the user experience is within RSOC. This should be your main focus when optimizing your content page. If you have control over the page, you need to strive to create high quality content. This means having an attention-grabbing headline and writing text that actually brings value to your visitors and is informative (e.g., sharing tips, reviews). Put special focus on the first paragraph of your article. You also need to write a good amount of content per article to improve performance.
You need to update your content consistently—while quality is the most important element, quantity also matters. You need to be able to create articles fast, and publish them on a regular basis. Also, make sure that your articles are getting indexed on Google.
The related keyword block also needs to be optimized for better results. After all, you ultimately want users to click on one of these keywords. They should be interesting enough to drive clicks, but avoid misleading or deceiving the user. The keyword block should be placed somewhere visible, generally after the introduction to the article.
Finally, the website should appear professional and have an intuitive layout that will keep the user engaged. Below, we give some tips on how to create a high-converting landing page using LanderLab.
How to Build High-Converting Content Pages for RSOC Arbitrage
LanderLab.io is a drag-and-drop page builder that requires no coding or design skills. You can use it to build any kind of landing pages or websites, but for the purpose of this article we will highlight features related to content pages.
LanderLab offers a tested content page template to simplify your work. This template already includes the main pages you’ll need (e.g., Homepage, About Us, Terms, and a sample content page).
Apart from being super easy to edit, these pages also have a fast loading speed to ensure you don’t lose any traffic (very important for RSOC). LanderLab also has a built-in AI translator that automatically translates the content on your page (better than Google Translate can), and helps you test multiple GEOs quickly. You can also easily split-test different elements to constantly optimize your page.
LanderLab has a direct integration with ClickFlare, which means your page data will be automatically imported to ClickFlare.
For a live demo on how to create a content website from scratch with LanderLab, watch our webinar How to Build a Content Website for Search Arbitrage.
How to Optimize Keywords for RSOC
As mentioned before, the keyword block is one of your strongest optimization tools. You need to make sure that the keywords you choose to display here are fully optimized for conversion.
While you can find keywords using Google Ads Keyword Planner or other keyword research tools such as Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, Semrush and more, you still need to continuously test and monitor performance.
You can test keywords manually by adding them to the offer URL you’re promoting. The problem with this method is that every time you wish to test a different keyword set, you need to manually change the link. This takes time, and every change may trigger a review of your ads. Also, many search feed providers only offer basic reports, which are not enough for gaining detailed insights into keyword performance.
ClickFlare has a keyword builder that allows you to easily split-test different keyword sets automatically. You simply need to add your keywords and you can even assign weights:
You can see detailed reporting in ClickFlare to better understand which keyword is converting better:
If you want to learn more about keyword optimization, we have a full guide on How to Master Keyword Optimization for Search Arbitrage and How to Analyze Keyword Performance.
Conclusion
RSOC is still relatively new within the arbitrage space, which brings its own challenges and opportunities. While tracking is not as accurate as AFD, trackers like ClickFlare are here to guide you and provide fast solutions to this problem.
We already know that RSOC provides a better user experience, so it seems like it’s here to stay. The fact that it’s relatively new also means more opportunities to make money before the market becomes too saturated.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates from ClickFlare on this topic!
