The Ultimate Guide To Search Arbitrage In 2024

What is Search Arbitrage?

Search Arbitrage is a traffic arbitration method where display traffic is bought and then sold as search ad results to profit from the price difference. 

In simple words, you buy traffic for a cheaper price and sell it for more..

The search ads are served through parked domains and feature advertisements for which other advertisers pay on platforms like Google Ads, Yahoo, or Bing.

If you have experience with running search ads on Google, you’ve probably noticed the traffic inventory options available:

Search arbitrage typically uses Native ad formats, where advertisers bid on a specific publisher site and pay for clicks on their ads. It also involves social ad networks, where advertisers pay for impressions, clicks, or results, depending on the chosen model.

Where Can You Run Search Arbitrage Campaigns?

Basically you can buy traffic from many mainstream ad networks that are known for offering high quality traffic. However, it is crucial to first consult with your search feed provider to get their list of approved ad networks. Once they confirm which ad networks you can use, you can proceed.

Here are some of the most commonly used ad networks in Search arbitrage: 

• Facebook
• TikTok
• Taboola
• Outbrain
• RevContent
• Google Ads

What are The Rules for Being Compliant?

Like any business model, search arbitrage has standard rules as well that you need to follow, and that are generally the same across all search feed providers and search networks. 

Here are some of the most common rules you MUST follow:

• No Clicking on Your Own Ads: This is kinda obvious, but still, it’s strictly prohibited to click on your own ads to generate revenue.

• No Push Traffic: Because of its disruptive nature, promoting search arbitrage campaigns with push traffic is strictly prohibited. If push traffic publishers appear on native ad networks, they must be blocked immediately.

• No Incentivized Traffic: The upstream provider strictly prohibits sending incentivized traffic to your parked domains.

• No False Claims:  Ads must use headlines and images that correctly represent the services being promoted in the ad, and should not contain any misleading claims.

Regarding the traffic monetization flow, there are also some rules on how to send traffic from specific networks to your parked pages.

There are 2 main rules regarding your flow, and these are Direct linking and/or using a Content page.

1. DIRECT LINKING

If you’re using a native ad network to drive traffic, you can use the direct linking method. This approach takes users straight from the ad to the search results, with no additional content between the ad and the keyword landing page.

2. CONTENT PAGE

If you’re driving traffic from Google Display, Google Search, or even Facebook ads, you’ll need to route through a content site. This means your visitor must go from the ad to a content page before reaching the monetization page (parked domain).

You should always consult with your search feed provider account manager about the rules you need to follow. Non compliance can result in withheld payments, drawbacks and even  account suspension, so be careful and always keep in mind that you must be compliant if you run search arbitrage campaigns.

Best Search Feed Providers to Work With

Search arbitrage has become much more competitive in recent years, but the search feed providers have remained the same. Some of the most popular and best search feed providers you can work with are:

• Tonic
• DomainActive
• System1
• Ads.com

These are probably some more networks out there that offer search arbitrage, but these are the ones we know that can be trusted.

Now before you reach out to any of these networks, keep in mind that these networks may require you to meet certain criteria to get accepted. 

The main requirements are proof of concept and ad spend. They are looking for people who can spend a lot of money on a monthly basis, so if you have a tight budget, they probably won’t accept you.

How To Track Search Arbitrage Campaigns

In search arbitrage there are 2 main campaign flows that people use. Direct Flow and Tracked Flow.

• Direct Flow is when people use the ‘’offer links’’ from their search feed provider as the final URL of the ads, and the visitor will land on the parked domain (monetisation page) without going through a redirect of a third party tracking system.

With this method you can only track a limited amount of data which is definitely not enough for proper optimization if you ask me. 

• Tracked Flow is when we are using a 3rd party tracker like Redtrack, Voluum, ClickFlare, etc. between the traffic network and the search feed provider.

When using this flow, the visitor goes from the ad to the tracking platform’s redirect link and then to the link provided by the search feed provider (offer link). 

This means they will pass through two or more domains and redirects, depending on the search feed provider you are working with. These redirects occur in milliseconds, making them completely unnoticeable.

So, the direct flow method might sound easier, but I highly recommend choosing the track flow method and using a 3rd party tracking solution!

Tracking data is so important, you can save so much money by optimizing your campaigns properly, and not just running campaigns blindly hoping for good results.

Using a tracker also allows you to split test more domains, keyword sets and even search feed providers, all in a single campaign.

It also gives you the ability to setup conversion API and send back conversions to traffic networks, like Facebook for example.

The tracking platform that we use for everything from Affiliate Marketing to Search Arbitrage is Redtrack, so in this guide I’m going to show you how to set things up properly using Redtrack, but don’t worry, if you use another tracker, the steps will be pretty much the same.

How To Set Up Tracking for Search Arbitrage With Redtrack

The first thing you need to set up to be able to track conversions properly is the Postback URL. 

This is very important to receive conversions from the search feed provider to the tracker. This way each time a conversion fires, the tracker receives the conversion data to the Postback URL and reports it to the tracker.

POSTBACK SETUP

To set this up in Redtrack, go to Tools, Conversion tracking and you will find your postback url template there.

You will need to modify the clickID and sum (payout) macros according to the search feed network’s specification you are working with. What I recommend is to send this Postback to your account manager and they will help you set up the correct macros and set the postback URL for you.

OFFER SOURCE SETUP (AFFILIATE NETWORK)

When the postback was successfully placed, the next step is adding your Search Feed Provider (network) as the offer source in Redtrack.

Go to offer sources, and select add new from template. Redtrack has a bunch of pre-built templates of most networks, so find your network and click add.

In case you can’t find the network you are working with, select add new from scratch and add it manually.

In case you add the network from the template, Redtrack will automatically fill in the required macros like the clickID and payout according to the network’s parameters.

ADDING OFFERS

The next step is adding your parked domains as Offers in Redtrack. 

But first it’s very important to know the correct Offer URL structure to create your offer links. All search feed providers have similar but different offer url structures, where you need to define the mandatory parameters that you need to pass to the search feed provider.

Like the clickID parameter, the traffic network, the ad title, keywords etc.

So always check and follow the guidance provided by the search feed provider you are working with and create your offer links according to their requirements.

In most cases you will define your keywords in the offer URL, I highly recommend creating and testing at least 3-5 offer links with different keywords for each campaign. (more on this later)

When the links are ready, go to Offers, click add new, name your offer, select the offer source and add your offer link in the URL box.

TRAFFIC SOURCE SETUP

The next step is adding the traffic source where you are going to run your ads on. (Facebook, TikTok, Taboola etc.)

In Redtrack go to Traffic Channels, click add new from template, select your traffic source and click on the Add button.

If your traffic source is Facebook or TikTok Ads, you should also connect and integrate Conversion API to be able to track campaigns costs inside redtrack, and to send back conversion data to TikTok or Facebook which will help with optimization.

CREATING A TRACKING CAMPAIGN

The next and final step in campaign tracking is creating a tracking campaign in Redtrack. Go to campaigns, click create new campaign.

Then you need to name your campaign, select the traffic source and tracking domain, and select the offers you want to test.

As I mentioned before, I highly recommend testing at least 3-5 offers with different keywords right from the start. Keywords can make a huge impact on your ROI, so testing keywords right from the beginning is very important in search arbitrage.

So once you add all the offers you want to test, Redtrack will rotate and split test them for you, so later you can check the reports and get rid of the offers that don’t perform well.

In Redtrack you can even use their auto optimization feature, that will send most traffic to the best performing offers automatically, based on ROI, EPC, or however you configure it.

This feature is super useful, it can save a lot of money and time!

So once your campaign is configured, click save and copy your tracking URL from the tracking links and parameters section:

This is going to be your destination URL on Facebook, TikTok or whatever your traffic source is.

Keyword Research

When it comes to finding keywords for your offers, you have 2 options: Free and Paid methods.

If you ask me, the free method can be absolutely enough to get started and find keywords that will be profitable.

For this I recommend using the good old Google Keyword Planner, which is a free tool that provides insights about volume, competition and an estimated CPC of the keywords. You should use this tool to find new keywords, or get info about your current keywords, and to build a list of keywords for testing.

To find keywords for your campaign, go to the keyword planner tool in your Google Ads account, click Discover New Keywords, set your target Geo and language, and type in some basic keywords that are related to your vertical and click get results.

When you click get results, it will show you a bunch of potential keywords you can test. Focus on the ones with high avg. monthly searches, high competition and high bid (low range bid). 

Another method you can do is type in your generic keywords in Google Search, and collect a few websites from the sponsored results that come up.

Then go back to the Google Keyword Planner, and select ‘’search with a website’’ and put those sites in the box.

When you click on Get Results, you will get the list of keywords the domain you entered in the above screen is using to drive paid traffic to their ads. And then of course you can also try to use paid tools for keyword research like Ahrefs, Semrush, Ubersuggest, they might save you some time, but I think the Google Keyword Tool is just enough if you know how to use it.

Keyword Optimization

When you are done with all the technical parts about setting up tracking and launching your campaign, it’s time to talk about the optimization process.

Keywords are one of the most important elements when it comes to search arbitrage, so always keep an eye on the performance of your keywords.

Most if not all search feed providers automatically optimize the keywords to some point, but it’s important to know that it doesn’t happen instantly. It usually takes about 3 to 7 days for a new parked domain to go through various tests before it can generate the best possible revenue for you.

So it is also important to know that there are 3 main external factors that play the biggest role in automated keyword optimization, and these are the following:

Ad Title: In addition to the compliance requirement, where the upstream provider (such as Google) needs to know what headlines are driving clicks to the ads, the ad title plays a key role in indicating the visitor’s intent. So the ad title is closely tied to keyword optimization.

Keywords Overriding: This process is driven by upstream providers like Google to optimize the buy side for search ads in their network, and it’s virtually impossible to control. However, as mentioned earlier, the ad title significantly impacts the percentage of overridden keywords. A lower intent in an ad headline leads to a higher keyword overriding ratio, while a higher intent results in a lower keyword overriding ratio.

Traffic Quality: You might often see that some publisher sites generate a lower average revenue per click (RPC), while others generate a higher one. Aside from the clicked keyword, the reputation of the publisher site can significantly influence these fluctuations in RPC.

It’s also crucial to optimize your keywords manually, which means changing the keywords in your domain. The main goal here is to find keywords with the highest RPC and use those keywords only in the domains (offers) you promote.

There are 2 ways for changing the keywords in your domains:

In Search Feed Provider UI: Some search feed providers let you change the keywords at the landing page level through their user interface. 

This process is quite manual and requires detailed note taking to get the best results. If you decide to use this option, make sure you have a solid system in place to track the keywords you set, the overridden keywords, and the keywords you discard.

In URL Parameters: Similar to using the search feed provider’s UI, some providers also allow you to set keywords in the URL query string of the promoted links, not just through their UI.

A keyword set represents the group of keywords served in a parked domain.

Here is an example:

By defining keywords in URL, you will have the advantage and flexibility of rotating two or more “offers” of the same domain with different sets of keywords under the same campaign. 

This keyword rotation is compliant and allows you to A/B test keywords and keyword groups. You can follow A/B testing best practices by testing different keyword groups under the same traffic, targeting options, and creatives.

If you use Redtrack, their auto-optimization tools can help you a lot by optimizing your offers (sets of keywords) automatically. (See in campaign tracking section above)

Campaign Optimization

While keeping in mind the rules of keyword optimization, as well as the external factors and testing procedures, you can move on to optimizing your campaign.

Manually optimizing your campaigns allows you to closely monitor and identify specific performance trends and fluctuations. This way, you can take actions to benefit from positive shifts and avoid potential losses from negative ones.

The most important metrics you need to monitor regularly when it comes to search arbitrage campaigns are the following:

• Conversion Rate
• RPC (Revenue Per Click)
• ROI (Return On Investment)

Depending on the traffic source you’re buying from, the optimization needs may be different. 

However, it’s crucial to first understand the specific behaviors of each traffic source before adopting your optimization strategy.

If you run on Native traffic sources (Taboola, Outbrain) the optimization process will involve pausing or blocking underperforming sites, changing campaign bids and budgets, adjusting site bids, refreshing creatives, and more.

OPTIMIZATION METHOD FOR NATIVE:

• Block Non-Converting Sections
• Pause Non-Promising Campaigns
• Block Low Conversion Rate Sections with very Low ROI
• Decrease Bids on Low ROI / High CPA Sections
• Block Unprofitable Converting Sites
• Unblock Profitable Converting Sites
• Increase Bids on Profitable Converting Sections
• Scale Up Profitable Campaigns

If you run on Social (Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads) the optimization process will be a bit simpler compared to native.

With Facebook Ads, it’s crucial to have accurate conversion reporting, as this is what your campaign will be optimized for. Additionally, you need to focus on the creatives by testing many of them and scaling according to best practices to keep things under control.

OPTIMIZATION METHOD FOR FACEBOOK ADS:

• Pause Underperforming Campaigns 
• Pause Underperforming Ad Sets 
• Re-Activate Profitable Ad Sets or Campaigns 
• Change Bids
• Duplicate Ad Sets
• Scale Up Profitable Ad Sets or Campaigns

When it comes to TikTok Ads, it also requires a much easier optimization method compared to native ads.

When running TikTok campaigns, there are only a few things you can control since most of the traffic comes from TikTok’s owned and operated properties. This doesn’t mean buying media from TikTok is easy, but it’s less complex compared to native advertising.

TikTok requires using and testing lots of creatives, generally in a User-Generated Content (UGC) style, to keep up with quick creative burnout and maintain performance control. Accurate conversion reporting is crucial for optimizing your campaign. 

Additionally, you need to focus on the creatives by testing many of them and scaling according to best practices to keep everything under control.

OPTIMIZATION METHOD FOR TIKTOK ADS:

• Pause Underperforming Ad Groups and Campaigns
• Pause Degrading Ad Groups
• Clone Winning Ad Groups
• Pause Low ROI Ads
• Scale Ad Group Budgets

So these are a few basic optimization methods that you can easily implement into your optimization process whether you run Native, TikTok or Facebook ads.  

Conclusion

You’ve now reached the end of the Ultimate Search Arbitrage Guide. By now you should have all the knowledge that is needed to get started, master and make money with Search Arbitrage.

Remember, success in search arbitrage depends on knowing and using the best methods for keyword research and optimization, campaign tracking, and managing traffic sources. 

Whether you’re running campaigns on Facebook, TikTok, or Native ad networks, the key to making money is constantly testing new niches, angles, creatives and keywords, and of course  ongoing optimization and scaling.

So if you are ready, let’s put the knowledge and strategies into action and start making money with Search Arbitrage!

Good luck!