Accepted into Google Affiliate Program - then rankings tanked

[Slygun]

I made my first sale also about two weeks ago and made my first $26 sale. I was really exited! Then I got accepted into The Google Affiliate Network so I added one of the affiliates banners to my site. The next day my rank dropped off the planet and has not come back since. I should have just left it alone.

I usually cloke my links but decided I shouldn’t have to because It's the Google Affiliate Network.

Does anybody know why I got sandboxed so hard with there own affiliates and when my site may be ranked again?

 

[djbaxter]

First, I'm going to move this to its own thread.

Second, are you perhaps talking about the site in your signature? How long was that site indexed in Google? how high did it rank? is it even listed now if you do a site:domain.com query? And how long ago did all this happen?

 

[Slygun]

The site is Best HD Camcorders .net and it was in Google on the first page was jumping between # 1 and # 3. It was there for about 2 months. It is still indexed with a query but deeper than 1000 pages. I removed the banners that I thought may be the culprit since it tanked the next day after adding them to the main page. This happened about 2 weeks ago right before Christmas rush (what a bummer).

Thanks

 

[djbaxter]

It seems unlikely that adding an affiliate link would do that. You're obviously still indexed by Google.

I'm not sure what you're trying to optimize for but you have a fair bit of competition:

Results 1 - 10 of about 17,200,000 for best hd camcorders

and apparently no incoming links counted by Google:

Your search - link:besthdcamcorders.net - did not match any documents

Do you have a Google Webmaster account? I suggest you look there for clues. If you don't have one, register and set one up.

 

[Slygun]

That’s what I mean. I had over 100 back links and was # 1 to 3 with exact phrase match on the first page and 7 to 10 on broad match. That’s how I got my first sale, when it hit 7 on broad match.

Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see. I will register for Google Webmaster. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[djbaxter]

That?s what I mean. I had over 100 back links and was # 1 to 3 with exact phrase match on the first page and 7 to 10 on broad match. That?s how I got my first sale, when it hit 7 on broad match.

Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see. I will register for Google Webmaster. Thanks for the suggestion.

It would seem that most of those backlinks have disappeared or been downgraded. Were you buying links? Were the links in paid directories? Have a look at the source of those links and that might give you your answer. It may be that joining Google Affiliates had nothing to do with this and it's merely Google updating various algorithms as it prepares to launch Caffeine in the new year. Or I suppose it's possible that becoming a Google Affiliate brought your site and those backlinks under scrutiny...

 

[Linda Buquet]

Couple thoughts, although I doubt anyone but Google knows for sure.

Google Affiliate Network is a very separate entity and I doubt Google search would be biased toward Google affiliates. So if Google were to devalue sites that had affiliate links, I don't think they would spare affiliates that used GAN, necessarily.

Google doesn't have a problem with affiliate links per se, they only have a problem with THIN affiliate sites - sites that have little unique content and just a bunch of affiliate links. So if you already had a content rich site and just added an affiliate banner, that should not have caused a problem.

Also many new sites lose ranking after they've been up for a couple months - even though they don't have any affiliate links. If you don't think you've done anything wrong, such as buying paid links, then just keep adding content and targeted backlinks and your site should eventually come back.

 

[Slygun]

Wow...After about two weeks it's back! I am now # 6 in exact phrase match out of 666,000 pages and # 8 out of 17,500,000 pages!

Too bad it is after the Christmas season rush
Hopefully I'll get more sales!

Thanks for your help Minstrel and Linda!