I keep going in circles picking topics that seem popular but don’t lead anywhere. How do you spot niches with actual buyer intent before wasting time on content and links?
Stop starting with “popular” and start with commercial intent signals: scrape SERPs for affiliate-heavy queries (“best X for Y,” “X vs Y,” “coupon,” “review”), then validate with CPC + SERP composition—if top 10 has multiple review/comparison pages, Shopping ads, and ≥$2–$5 CPC (varies by geo) with consistent ad density, you’ve got monetizable intent. Next, sanity-check EPC potential by mapping keywords to offers with real payouts (Awin/CJ/Impact), looking for products with $100+ AOV or recurring rev, and confirm demand via Ahrefs/SEMrush keyword clusters + Amazon/Google Trends stability before you write a single piece of content.
Look for buyer intent signals, not “popularity”: keyword modifiers like best, review, vs, coupon, pricing, plus competitors already running ads (Google/FB) and lots of affiliate SERPs. Validate with 10–20 offer pages: EPC/CR hints, clear pain point, and recurring billing (SaaS/parental control) or high-ticket (biz offers). I’ve had consistent wins testing these on BizzOffers.