✅ Intro: It’s Not Just About Traffic — It’s About Connecting
If there’s one mistake I see over and over in affiliate marketing — especially when teachers, side-hustlers, or helpful bloggers start out — it’s thinking all search traffic is good traffic.
In reality, if you don’t understand the layers of how people search — and how AI Overviews hoover up surface-level queries — you can write a brilliant post that nobody sees, or that brings the wrong visitors who never click, care, or buy.
So, let’s break it down with Sam — our friend, the UK geography teacher — and see how the “levels” work from both sides:
✅ How Sam searches when he wants answers.
✅ And how someone trying to help Sam should pick search terms to reach him — instead of wasting time fighting AI or giant sites at the surface level.
✅ Level 1: Superficial, Broad Searches
When Sam first hears about affiliate marketing, he does what anyone does — he types:
📌 “affiliate marketing”
🔍 The result?
- A giant AI Overview with a detailed explainer: what it is, how it works, examples of programs, generic tips.
- Big sites: HubSpot, Investopedia, hundreds of bloggers who’ve been doing this for 10+ years.
- A million YouTube videos — none specific to teachers, let alone UK geography teachers.
For Sam, it’s overwhelming.
He doesn’t see himself in it. There’s no clear “Here’s how this could work for someone like you.”
From the helper’s side — the blogger who wants to help teachers like Sam — it’s a dead end too.
Why?
✅ The AI can summarise broad advice well.
✅ Massive sites dominate.
✅ Your single blog post will never get near the top — you can’t out-AI the AI or outspend the big brands.
✅ Level 2: Add a Group — Still Crowded
So Sam refines his question:
📌 “affiliate marketing for teachers”
Better, right?
A bit. He’ll see:
- Another AI Overview — now with a teacher twist: “Teachers can share lesson plans, blog about education tools, sell digital products…”
- Generic articles: “10 side hustles for teachers.”
- Maybe a forum post or Quora answer.
Still, not much practical help for a UK geography teacher.
Still, no real examples he can relate to.
From the helper’s side — you still don’t want to target “affiliate marketing for teachers” on its own. It’s a better angle than “affiliate marketing” by itself, but you’re still fighting big sites and generic AI summaries.
✅ Level 3: Add Geography, Context, Local Flavour
Now Sam’s a bit more focused:
📌 “affiliate marketing for UK teachers”
Now he might see:
- Fewer big sites — some results talk about UK tax.
- Maybe no AI Overview — a good sign it’s a crack.
- Still, most advice is generic: “Pick a niche. Write helpful content.”
Useful, but still doesn’t show Sam exactly how this could work for his situation.
A smart blogger, coach, or affiliate helper should definitely dig into Level 3 — because it’s more specific and there’s already a gap: the AI Overview might skip it entirely or stay shallow.
✅ Level 4: Deep, Specific, and Human
Finally, Sam thinks like this:
“Hang on — what about my subject? I’m not just any teacher. I’m a geography teacher. In the UK. Maybe I should look for: ‘affiliate marketing for UK geography teachers.’”
When he tries that?
✅ No AI Overview.
✅ No real competition.
✅ No one telling him exactly how his fieldwork kit, local curriculum, or unique classroom experiences could translate into a blog that helps other teachers.
And that’s the golden connection — the place where Sam wants better, more specific help and the helper (blogger/affiliate) has a realistic chance to be found.
✅ This Works for Small Topics Too
Same idea for individual problems:
When Sam wanted to figure out how to recommend clipboards, he didn’t just type “best clipboards.”
- Level 1: “clipboards” — hopeless. Amazon wins that.
- Level 2: “best clipboards for teachers” — still crowded, generic.
- Level 3: “best clipboards for fieldwork” — better.
- Level 4: “waterproof clipboards for coastal field trips UK” — now you’re in crack territory. Few results, no strong AI summary, real teacher need.
✅ The Two-Sided Lesson: Search Works Both Ways
✔️ For Sam (the searcher):
The deeper he goes, the more likely he is to find practical help that fits his exact need.
The surface-level stuff looks impressive, but it’s too generic to actually guide him.
✔️ For you (the helper/blogger):
If you want to reach teachers like Sam, you’d be foolish to aim for broad keywords the AI can swallow in seconds.
You’re far better off creating content that answers Level 3 or 4 queries — because that’s where people like Sam are when they’re serious, motivated, and ready to act.
And the deeper you go, the harder it is for the AI to summarise your unique, human experience. A generative answer can’t show your soggy clipboard disaster or your trusted fix — only you can do that.
✅ But Doesn’t Search Volume Drop?
Yes — the deeper you go, the fewer searches you’ll see on paper. But guess what?
✔️ The match is better: you’re solving the exact question.
✔️ The competition is weaker: the big sites ignore it, and the AI Overview is patchy or nonexistent.
✔️ The trust is higher: your reader feels like you wrote it for them — because you did.
And when you stack dozens of these deeper “cracks,” your blog becomes a trusted corner of the internet for the right people — not everyone.
✅ Your Practical Takeaway
Think of search in levels:
1️⃣ Level 1: Generic, surface — the AI’s playground.
2️⃣ Level 2: Add a group or context — a bit better, but still crowded.
3️⃣ Level 3: Add location, scenario, real life — now you’re finding cracks.
4️⃣ Level 4: Deep, human, specific — your chance to own a tiny piece the AI can’t do well.
🔑 If you’re searching: go deeper.
🔑 If you’re writing: meet people deeper — and you’ll have a chance to be found.
✅ This Is How Sam Will Win
Sam, or anyone else, will never rank for “affiliate marketing” or “clipboards”.
But he can own:
- “How UK geography teachers can earn extra income with affiliate marketing.”
- “How I picked my first affiliate niche as a UK geography teacher.”
- “Best waterproof clipboards for coastal field trips UK.”
No big site is covering that in detail — and the AI Overview won’t bother either.
And that’s how you find — and fill — the “cracks” in search.
✅ Want to Find Your Cracks Too?
This is exactly the step-by-step approach Sam and I were taught in Wealthy Affiliate:
- Find real search phrases people type at deeper levels.
- See where the AI Overview doesn’t do a good job.
- Build posts that help real people in ways a chatbot can’t.
If you’re serious about not fighting impossible competition — but actually getting found by people like Sam — this is where you start.