Outbound Affiliate Links - Positive or Negative Effect
-
Hello
I would like to increase the value of my value proposition to users by adding complimentor affiliate links and embedded widgets like postcode search to my promote my affiliate's service.
I already have a great ranking....
Am I jeopardizing my position by putting outbound links to affiliate sites? Also would a nofollow tag on an affiliate link work?
I understand Google is fast changing - so what is the latest advice on this for Spring 2011?
Thanks a lot
-
Thanks a lot for the valuable advice - looks as though the risk reward ratio does not stack up in my favor just yet. I'm definitely going to hold fire until the Panda update has stabilized even though I am sure I would be benefiting the users.........
-
Isn't it a bit of an contradiction to link to sites you don't trust enough with a followed link? If you are doing it for the users benefit a followed link is best almost all the time.
I would focus on adding truly valuable links, and follow them
-
All in moderation. Google always says "do what's best for your users" but I would stick to a single affiliate link per page to be safe if this was my website. Nofollow is a good way to link to sites you don't trust and I would say it would be applicable to affiliate sites.
-
Hi Philip,
I would hold fire until Google Panda has been rolled out as there are many unknowns about which sites are being hit right now. There are affiliate sites in the US that have taken a nose dive, so for the sake of a few weeks, hold onto what you have and then review again when we all know more.
Regards,
Andy
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Setting up external link goals in GA
I have recently switched all my travel affiliate links to TripAdvisor using their javascript code that converts the natural links (direct links to TA URLs) to affiliate links. I have set up goal tracking in GA to try to put a monetary value on clicks through to these links (based on the known conversion rate to commissionable bookings) but GA is over-reporting the goals by a very large margin. I'm wondering what I've done wrong. The first screen shot below is of the goal settings I used in GA. The second screenshot shows that GA is reporting 7125 goal completions since I set up the goal on 7 August. The third screenshot shows the actual number of GA events recorded on outbound clicks to TA URLs in the same period, which is just 97. So the goal completions being recorded far exceed the actual goal completions, but I'm not sure why. I know I've done something wrong but as this is the first time I've used goals, I'd appreciate some help to see what I've done wrong. Thank you. 3f7dc3de6f9f1373d47994144a5cb016 56aa39130a7d54b07d8f2ce9cf1d7fb0 35ee827275928ca8c4d4c941f0672ef8
Affiliate Marketing | | Gavin.Atkinson0 -
How to setup affiliate marketing for my website?
I work for an ecommerce company and would like to setup some sort of affiliate marketing similar to Amazon. 1. If someone was referred to our site and they made a purchase we would pay out. 2. If we referred a user to someone else's page and they made a purchase we would get paid. I looked into http://www.commissionfactory.com/ but wasn't sure if that would meet my needs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Affiliate Marketing | | EcommerceSite0 -
Affiliate Programs
Hi, I am wondering what if any affiliate management applications are being used out there. Anyone using Shareasale... I am looking into them.
Affiliate Marketing | | unikey0 -
Does Google look at Domain Registrar owner information when counting links into a site?
Question: If the domain registrar owner info is the same on two websites, will Google/other search engines discredit any linking between the two sites when calculating page rank? We have two company sites. One is our main ecommerce domain which we have been linking into from information domains in the past. We recently cut ties with the company that hosted them for us and wish to host them ourselves to preserve the inbound traffic. We are worried, however, that the traffic will be discredited now that we own both domains. Thanks for looking!
Affiliate Marketing | | tennisexpress0 -
How do the engines look at pages populated using content from an affiliate site?
We are building out a section of our site using an affiliate partnership in the travel space. How would you suggest organizing the content so we do not get penalized for duplicate content? Do you suggest not suing the content at all?
Affiliate Marketing | | TSDigital0 -
How much SEO benefit am I getting from 'affiliate' links?
Hi all, We run lots of different campaigns with affiliates and as such they have links on their websites pointing back to ours. I was keen to know how much 'link-juice' these kinds of links are passing back to our websites or how much SEO benefit we are getting from them. The links have "?=affiliate" in them. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Many thanks! Rob
Affiliate Marketing | | RobertHill0 -
Is setting up affiliate marketing on website worth it for a small businesses?
Is setting up affiliate marketing on website worth it for a small businesses?
Affiliate Marketing | | seoukrsf0