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Google is saying don't put Affiliate Links on your website!

alanben
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Google is saying don't put Affiliate Links on your website!

Hi guys,

I have just invested in google to start a ppc adds but I have to say pretty confusing they are saying don't put affiliate links on your web site. That sounds crazy to me! Why would you want to build a website without affiliate links?

The only conclusion I can arrive at is cloaking the links. I'm not sure what the best path for that would be.

Thanks for listening,
Alan
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Last edited by michellerana on 23 Sep 09 3:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: revised to make the post more readable
 

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crystal01
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I think I read somewhere that Google frowns on cloaking and hidden text. Do correct me if I am wrong.
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alanben
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Hi Crystal that rings a bell with me to thanks for your reply
alan
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jpastorizo
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I think what works best is a php redirect.


Renato
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alanben
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hi renato thanks for your reply but what is php redirect?
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gradyp
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Alan,

A PHP redirect is a PHP script that when you browse to one page, it redirects you to another.

To see more about it and how to set one up, check out this affilorama lesson:

https://www.affilorama.com/site-building ... -redirects

Grady
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alanben
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Hi Grady Thank you for your reply I watched this video which explains how to create it in xsitepro here 7/video-6-creating-redirects/file:LessonNotes:week7v6.pdf but I am now sorted
Thanks Again Alan
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gradyp
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Alan,

Affilorama has a tool where all you have to do is give them the address you want to redirect to and it will generate the redirect code for you. You just copy and paste that into a file and put it on your site. Real easy.

Grady
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gerrydr
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Alan

If you're using XsitePro, you can either do a re-direct by going to the 'other' page and following the instructions or going to the CPanel of your hosted site. There you will find a section named 'redirects' which makes it very easy.

Gerry DR
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alanben
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Hey Gerry brilliant I have chosen to use the other page but for future reference I will bear the cpanel method in mind
Thank you for you response
Alan
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paulie69
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Hi Alan :)

Have you read anything directly written by Google saying that you shouldn't be putting affiliate links on your site? I mean have Google said it themselves in black and white? I was interested in this question too.

According to their own webmaster guidelines (http://www.google.com/support/webmaster ... swer=66361 as an example) the main problem they have is with affiliate sites that have little-no valuable content for visitors.

To quote them, "There is no problem in being an affiliate as long as you create some added value for your users and produce valuable content that gives a user a reason to visit your site. For example, you could create product reviews, ratings, and product comparisons."

That seems very self explanatory.

From this they are not saying at all we shouldn't be using affiliate links and you could go one step further to say that they pretty much expect us to have affiliate links on our affiliate sites. We just have to be smarter and work harder to provide worthwhile, unique content. Which is good for us all because there are lots of dodgy affiliate sites out there.

I'm only learning too but from my understanding I'd still use PHP redirects + nofollow on affiliate links to preserve your link juice. I'm not sure but I think using redirects in this way (for legitimate affiliate sites) is perfectly fine as long as the links are all legit and not to dodgy sites. Doesn't link cloaking really refer to shady black hat techniques? So that won't affect us, right? (ie the "good guys"). Can anyone elaborate on this?

Just my 2c worth
Wishing you luck and success
Paul
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alanben
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Hi Paul thanks for your reply. I have not started ppc yet reluctant to be honest however I have now created php redirects on all 7 sites which was a monster job and I make sure it opens in a new window. Frankly I find google a little t tire-some it would be good if they had competition then perhaps they would be a little more forgiving for affilates providing a service to the public just like anyone else. I do agree with you there are some very poor affiliate sites out there and I have made sure that my sites all have a lots of content but google tend to put good and bad affiliates in the same box.

I am prepared to wait for the organic results rather than burning money on the ppc. All my page keywords are not very competitive so in time maybe I won't need Google to slap me.
To answer your question no I have not read anything about google not liking affiliate links however Iast week I bought google googles software and this is where it all began they say not to put bare affiliate links on your web site. by the way just so you don't make the same mistake I made don't buy google googles It simply dosent work I cancelled and got my money back

good luck and stay in touch
Alan
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paulie69
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Hey Alan,

Yes, I know what you mean, a little competition can be "nice" ;)
I'm only into organic too at the moment too, it's one step at a time for me I'm afraid. It's so darned hard to see the forest from the trees sometimes. There's a lot to learn and it's easy to get discouraged.

Mmmm, I've heard of a lot of products but never heard of Google Googles. Thanks for the headsup on it! Perhaps I don't think I'd use bare links, certainly not without appropriate anchor text anyway I guess (were they right, in that respect?), everyone else seems to recommend redirects so I'll go with the tide for now anyway.

Yes, we should keep in touch - that's always nice, maybe you can pm me

Good luck with everything and best regards Alan,
Paul.
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alanben
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Hi Paul I got the google googles from here there is a video on this site but it is only relative to ppc to tell you how good your quality score.
Yea Paul I will send you a Pm next time
best regards Aaln
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markling
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Its not that you cant have affiliate links on your site when doing PPC, its just they are cautious about sites that are "full of" affiliate links, as that is a common indication of a spam site, the mortal enemy of Google.

As has been mentioned you need to make sure you have valuable content on your site. In week 2 of AB it talks about writing articles of 500 words or more so your site is seen as a helpful research for Googles users. As long as youre doing that you dont need to worry about including affiliate links (or redirects).

For more info on PPC check the last 3 weeks of AB - theres a lot there on creating landing pages that will have Googles smile of approval and lower your CPC.

Mark
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alanben
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Hi Mark thanks for your reply I have been putting plenty of content on my 7 sites so I shouldn't have a problem but I have now changed all the links on the sites to php redirects it looks more professional I followed your instructions from the video
Thanks again Alan
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