Traffic sources in affiliate marketing: a complete overview of working channels in 2025

Affiliate marketing remains one of the most dynamic digital niches. In 2025, traffic sources continue to evolve, tightening moderation rules, raising rates, and complicating the technical side. This makes it increasingly difficult for beginners to understand which channels are truly effective and which are outdated or require too much investment.

Below is a detailed analysis of all key traffic sources, their features, advantages, risks, and applicability to different verticals.

Meta Ads (Facebook + Instagram)

Meta remains the most powerful channel for scaling affiliate marketing campaigns.

Pros:

• The best optimization algorithm among all advertising systems.
• Huge volume of global traffic.
• Accurate targeting based on interests and behavioral factors.
• High conversion with the right warm-up funnel.

Cons:

1. Strict moderation.
2. Mandatory work through anti-detectors, proxies, and account farms.
3. High cost per click in popular GEOs.

Verticals:

Dating, Gambling, Nutra, Finance, E-Com (in white formats).

Google Ads

Google ranks first in the world in terms of coverage, making it an ideal channel for white verticals.

Pros:

• Stable traffic;
• Long-term “permanent” campaigns;
• High conversion based on user intent (especially in search).

Cons:

1. Expensive clicks.
2. Strict moderation on nutra and gambling.
3. Need for deep SEO understanding to work with RYA and context.

Verticals:

E-Commerce, services, finance, mobile apps, education.

TikTok Ads

TikTok remains one of the best sources of cheap traffic.

Pros:

• Low cost per click;
• Ideal for quick tests;
• Creativities “live” longer than on Meta.

Cons:

1. Difficult to scale to large volumes.
2. Advertising restrictions in some niches.
3. Unstable moderation.

Verticals:

Dating, Gambling (in gray schemes), Mobile Apps, Nutra.

Telegram traffic

In 2025, Telegram became a full-fledged ecosystem with channels, bots, and internal advertising exchanges.

Pros:

• High audience loyalty.
• Flexible combinations: bots, pre-lands, mini-apps.
• Ideal for UBT (conditionally free traffic).

Cons:

1. Difficult to predict volume.
2. Requires a personal brand or high-quality channel packaging.
3. Many bots and low-quality sources.

Verticals:

Crypto, Finance, Education, Betting, Dating.

For more information about affiliate programs that work with Telegram traffic and other sources, see here: https://affcommunity.org/

Push traffic

Push networks remain a working source, especially for mass traffic and smart links.

Pros:

• Very low cost per click
• Quick launch
• Can run huge volumes.

Cons:

1. Low user engagement
2. Not suitable for all offers
3. High percentage of bots in some networks.

Verticals:

Dating, Gambling, Sweepstakes, Mobile CPI.

Popunder traffic

A difficult but high-volume source for certain verticals.

Pros:

• Huge traffic volumes;
• Low cost;
• Works well with smart links.

Cons:

1. Low conversion.
2. Requires constant optimization.
3. Many advertisers do not accept this format.

Verticals:

Gambling, Adult, Sweepstakes, Utilities.

SEO traffic (white and gray)

Long-term but profitable source.

Pros

• Stable organic flow
• High LTV
• Minimal lead cost

Cons

1. SEO experience required
2. Slow start
3. Risk of sanctions for gray approaches

Verticals

E-Com, finance, education, travel, nutra

YouTube (Shorts + long videos)

YouTube has become one of the key sources of Conditional free traffic and paid traffic.

Pros:

• High level of user trust;
• Shorts are easy to scale;
• Can be combined with Telegram funnels.

Cons:

1. Labor-intensive in production.
2. Requires regularity.
3. More difficult to adapt to gray niches.

Verticals:

Education, Dating, Finance, Travel.

Native Ads (Taboola, Outbrain, MGID)

Native advertising remains popular among experienced webmasters.

Pros:

• High CTR;
• User trust;
• Suitable for complex offers.

Cons:

1. Expensive clicks.
2. Requires strong copywriting and pre-lands.
3. Long optimization period.

Verticals:

Nutra, E-Commerce, Education, Health.

Conditionally free traffic (CFT)

In 2025, CFT became a separate direction.

This includes:

• Pinterest;
• Reddit;
• Quora;
• SEO blogs;
• commenting;
• Telegram channels;
• free bulletin boards.

Pros:

• Can be started without a budget;
• High ROI;
• Organic audience run.

Cons:

1. Requires a lot of time.
2. Little predictability.
3. Difficult to scale.

Verticals: all white, partially gray.

Conclusion

There is no “ideal” source in affiliate marketing — each channel fulfills its own task. Meta and Google are suitable for scaling, TikTok and Telegram are suitable for quick tests and run, native advertising is suitable for complex verticals, and Conditional free traffic is suitable for beginners and long-term models.