How does Google treat affiliate links? 22 Best Practises

[Honeybadger]

This article covers 22 best practises for affiliate marketers that rely on organic search traffic from Google.

If you don't rely on organic search traffic from Google, or you think SEO is a dead in 2020, then you can simply ignore this article. It's not an argument about the pros and cons of SEO (vs PPC and other paid advertising methods), but rather how to actually run affiliate marketing campaigns and maintain high Google rankings at the same time.

This is also not an argument about the Google algorithm or whether Google is right or wrong about how search listings are generated, but rather how you as an affiliate marketer can present content that ranks at the top of search results rather than in the graveyard of anything beyond the first page.

Below are excerpts taken from parts of the Google's official quality guidelines that specifically focus on affiliate marketing. The hyperlink is: Affiliate programs - Search Console Help and I have bolded important words that form an overview list at the end.

Affiliate Programs

Our Webmaster Guidelines advise you to create websites with original content that adds value for users. This is particularly important for sites that participate in affiliate programs. Typically, affiliate websites feature product descriptions that appear on sites across that affiliate network. As a result, sites featuring mostly content from affiliate networks can suffer in Google's search rankings, because they do not have enough added value content that differentiates them from other sites on the web. Added value means additional meaningful content or features, such as additional information about price, purchasing location, or product category.

Google believes that pure, or "thin," affiliate websites do not provide additional value for web users, especially (but not only) if they are part of a program that distributes its content across a network of affiliates. These sites often appear to be cookie-cutter sites or templates the same or similar content replicated within the same site, or across multiple domains or languages. Because a search results page could return several of these sites, all with the same content, thin affiliates create a frustrating user experience.

Examples of thin affiliates:

• Pages with product affiliate links on which the product descriptions and reviews are copied directly from the original merchant without any original content or added value.
• Pages of product affiliation where the majority of the site is made for affiliation and contains a limited amount of original content or added value for users.

Not every site that participates in an affiliate program is a thin affiliate. Good affiliates add value, for example by offering original product reviews, ratings, navigation of products or categories, and product comparisons. If you participate in an affiliate program, there are a number of steps you can take to help your site stand out and differentiate your site:

• Affiliate program content should form only a minor part of the content of your site if the content adds no additional features.
• Ask yourself why a user would want to visit your site first rather than visiting the original merchant directly. Make sure your site adds substantial value beyond simply republishing content available from the original merchant.
• When selecting an affiliate program, choose a product category appropriate for your intended audience. The more targeted the affiliate program is to your site's content, the more value it will add and the more likely you will be to rank better in Google search results and make money from the program. For example, a well-maintained site about hiking in the Alps could consider an affiliate partnership with a supplier who sells hiking books rather than office supplies.
• Use your website to build community among your users. This will help build a loyal readership, and can also create a source of information on the subject you are writing about. For example, discussion forums, user reviews, and blogs all offer unique content and provide value to users.
• Keep your content updated and relevant. Fresh, on-topic information increases the likelihood that your content will be crawled by Googlebot and clicked on by users.

Pure affiliate sites consisting of content that appears in many other places on the web are highly unlikely to perform well in Google search results and may be negatively perceived by search engines. Unique, relevant content provides value to users and distinguishes your site from other affiliates, making it more likely to rank well in Google search results.​

22 Best Practises for Affiliate Marketing & SEO in 2020

1. Create original content
2. Provide real value to users
   
3. Write unique product/service descriptions
4. Write product/service features
5. Provide extra information abut pricing
6. Create category information
7. Use a unique web template
8. Don't put the same content on multiple domains
9. Avoid duplicate content
10. Write original product reviews
11. Include real product ratings
12. Don't frustrate visitors (test that everything works)
13. Make content a bigger part of your site than advertisements
14. Write your content or blogs for a specific audience
15. Build a loyal community of followers
16. Create sources of helpful information
17. Run discussion forums
18. Allow user reviews and comments
19. Use good technical navigation
20. Keep your content updated
21. Create relevant content to users now
22. Distinguish your site from your competitors

 

[azgold]

Terrific information, thanks for making it easy to find.

It's obvious that G expects affiliates to put in the thought and work to make sites/blogs of the best value possible for visitors. And that's what it always boils down to, isn't it? Build your site for the people who'll come to it. G may richly reward you with good search ranking.