So news broke yesterday of a new “Google Slap” at Adwords that particularly targeted affiliate review sites and the affiliate marketing world is awash with panic. If you use PPC or organic traffic, this is something you need to be aware of.
There’s been a lot of talk about what this does and doesn’t mean for affiliate marketing, and it seems like the need for some backpeddling and clarification is high.
Before we do anything else, let’s review the facts.
Firstly, we need to take all information about this slap with a grain of salt. There’s not a lot of info about it yet besides a few blog posts mostly referencing this blog post. We need to wait for further analysis from some of the big ppc giants after the dust settles.
The facts are that a number of affiliate marketers using Adwords have noticed that their quality score on pages that contained affiliate links, suddenly went from 10 (a good score) to 1 (bad score), which is typical of “slaps” in general. Suddenly you need to pay a stupid amount of money per click so you can’t keep bidding on that term and you’re out of the game.
What was interesting about this slap, was:
“these were NOT skinny sites, rather well build out, consistently updated blogs with good navigation above the fold, xml site maps, high click through, hyper-relevant keyword mapping, low bounce rates, long average time on page … everything else Google loves.
When we analyzed which pages survived, and we take it in combination with other information, it seems pretty clear they’ve added code which screens for affiliate links on the landing pages.”
So it seems at this stage that the sheer presence of an affiliate link has caused a slapping.
Does Google hate affiliate marketing? Do affiliate marketers need to change their business model? Will these changes eventually apply to organic search listings too??
These are some important questions, so let’s look at each in turn.
1. Does Google Hate Affiliate Marketing?
I found it strange as did another couple of commenters (the minority) that the tone of the initial, and currently still most authoritative post on this slap took the angle of “it’s time for affiliate marketers to change their business model”.
Google does NOT hate affiliate marketing.
I remind you of the pertinent fact that yes, Google does own a huge affiliate network of it’s own called DoubleClick. Besides that, they make a truck load of money from affiliate marketers running ads with them. Further still, affiliate marketing isn’t just a Google thing, it’s an internet thing. Affiliate marketing is a growing industry and a huge source of income for some of the net’s biggest players (think ebay and Amazon). There’s no reason for Google to start flat out beating up affiliate marketers per se.
So why the scan for affiliate links? What does Google REALLY hate?
Personally, I’m waiting to hear more about the “context” of the affiliate link slappings, because that’s important. I just flat out don’t yet believe that they slapped EVERY single page that was running a PPC ad and contained an affiliate link.
Maybe they slapped landing pages that had affiliate links that bid on keywords that already had a number of affiliates promoting the same term… Or landing pages containing affiliate links that promoted a certain type of product.
One commenter alluded to something that I haven’t been able to find further information on about the slap but that might be a hint:
“You forgot, (or just plain left out), the fact that google slapped sites, (all sites not just review sites), that used the “Google” trademark in their product name.
It wasn’t all review sites. A bunch of review sites were promoting these products that Google didn’t give permission to. So they naturally slapped them silly.”
Again, we will have to wait to hear more about the context of the slapped sites but regarding what Google hates, we can make some observations. In fact, Perry gave some hints in his post:
“[Google] don’t like anyone who’s doing “me too.”
And that makes sense. If you’re one of 5 ads promoting the same product without any unique content or angle, it’s likely Google is looking for a way to eliminate you. Note: They don’t want to eliminate you because you’re an affiliate, but because you’re a “me too” affiliate. They’re trying to serve the highest quality, most relevant ads and content to their viewers and if you’re one of 5 that’s pretty much the same, you’re not high quality… not a tough logical leap to make.
Likewise if you’re a direct linker (if that business model isn’t dead already), you’re not providing value by yourself, so you’re not doing G any favors. Moving on…
2. Do affiliate marketers need to change their business model?
Now there’s all this talk that affiliate marketers need to stop pushing affiliate links and instead change to building lists and relationships.
Of course, building lists and relationships is smart, but I don’t see anything about this new slap that means it should REPLACE putting targeted relevant links on your content pages where it’s appropriate.
I’ve said before that there are certain niches and keyword markets where building a list is of little value and it’s easier and more profitable to push a reader straight to the product they’re looking for and let them be. Did anything about that change because Google freaked out about affiliate links on certain landing pages? Of course not.
The smart words spoken are:
“Fortunately it’s possible to be a “Value Added Affiliate” who adds a unique contribution to the product of whatever person you are promoting.”
It sure is! Adding value as an affiliate is crucial, and good affiliates know that. But that doesn’t JUST mean sending people to an opt in form instead of an aff link. There are many ways to add value.
Finally…
3. Will these changes eventually apply to organic search listings too?
First we have to note the difference between the two, starting with:
a) You can’t get an organic listing by paying for it. You can’t get it immediately either. In ranking you on the front page for a keyword, the algorithms have to do a number of checks and analyses to decide that your site is high quality before they send you traffic. Not the same with PPC.
b) the nature of making sites for organic traffic is that you’re providing content first, and if you’re not providing unique content and getting links from authoritative sites in the same circles, you’re not getting Google’s traffic.
In light of that, can you envision a situation where a blog say, with unique content, plenty of incoming links and authority, great on page optimization, and a reasonable and not overly excessive promotion of a relevant product (that’s not in a scam prone niche or using Google’s trademark in their product name) via an affiliate link being kicked out of the SERPS?
We should never say never, but personally, I don’t see it.
So end of the day, we need to be aware of what Google’s doing at Adwords whether we’re PPC marketers or not. But at the same time, we don’t need to freak out and draw our own conclusions from it that don’t match the facts.
Hope this soothes some nerves 
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I had pinged Andrew about this before I realized he wrote a response to Perry’s blog post today. Interesting to consider, this new move by Google. I do think, though, that it is even more important to consider the myriads of ways you can funnel traffic without having to go through Google. With quality blogs from Firepow you can do article and directory submissions alone and get high rankings (with unique articles) or use social media marketing. Of course, time is of the essence. But be creative; the internet is a vast space waiting to be explored. Who will be the next Howie Schwartz, finding that next high ranking web 2.0 website or a place where traffic just exists? That’s the fun, for me…being the first to find a goldmine and then boldly sharing the findings (if I choose to
). For Andrew Hansen and our FP2 crowd, I think it is business as usual…keep making blogs, keep adding content, keep putting in relevant anchor text links, and then pursue your own strategy for traffic.
Adwords is not the only daddy in the market. Get creative.
Hmmm… a couple months ago Amazon yanked commissions for PPC links to their product pages. I would assume G lost a lot of PPC business because of that. Business that was likely filled by a glut of “other” affiliate traffic, many of whom were not necessarily the “cream of the crop” (the so-called “me too” affiliates)..
I suppose an occasional purging of any system is worthwhile.
I went to the blog post and read it. I then scanned through the comments and realized this is deja vous all over again as Yogi would say.
Back in 2007 near Christmas time something had happened with Google algorithms or so I read. Then as now I was totally in the dark on this stuff and a brand spanking new internet marketer. The blogs and comments were all saying one of two things either “content is king” or GOOGLE IS EVIL.
I guess the vote is still out. shammo
Nice post.
I think it’s a good thing if they’re targeting affiliates using Google adwords to promote products that apparently show people how to make money from Google, like those ads on facebook that read ‘make money from google’. Or promoting products about beating Google like they’re the bad guys.
I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t think a lot has changed if you’re adding real original content and real original value to your clients landing on one of your review sites. I suspect that a lot of these review sites were finding it hard to rank on the first on page of Google anyway and so makes little difference.
I reckon review sites still work as well as they ever did if you’re:
1. Writing articles and sending them to either a review site or a blog reviewing several products.
2. A blog you’ve set up as a review site with plenty original content, competitons, and video content. Basically interacting with the client.
3. Viral “how to” videos on sites like YouTube where you can place a link back to the review site in the description.
I could list more but I think you’ve get the idea. I suppose what I’m saying is it’s great to get ranked on the first page of Google and get plenty of free traffic to your website. It’s not the only way to get traffic to your review website though.
Has anything changed? Probably. Will effect your review sites? Not if you build your business with several direct backlinks coming from many different sources like the ones I’ve just mentioned.
My 2c
As you can see I have review sites. So far I have not been slapped which I am thankful for. Waiting to see if the big Google is phasing in the slap or already has done it all at once. Anyone know regarding this?
[quote] “the nature of making sites for organic traffic is that you’re providing content first, and if you’re not providing unique content and getting links from authoritative sites in the same circles, you’re not getting Google’s traffic”
This is not correct: There are tens of thousands of e-commerce sites that strictly promote a product/s that are listed number one. Google understands that a lot of searches are people looking to buy something NOW. They do not need content they need choices and an order form. Ebay certainly isn’t lacking Google love for its lack of content: EBAY=PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE
That said, a small nich marketer would have to use content as a tool to get anchored backlinks and therefore perform better in the serps.
Good post btw
Thank you Andrew for pointing out some odd things about this that I had missed.
I am on Perry’s list so I got this early on. I have no real idea what is behind this “scam” but I went back and read down the comments.
What a pile of drivel!
But thanks for pointing out the comment ( number 66 ) on sites using Google’s name! I have wondered for years how these guys were getting away with it when google is zealous at protecting trademarks in Adwords.
Another “fun” comment ( 55) was from Jerry West.
Keep it coming Andrew!
It seems to me that this slap was not a site wide slap. There are still tons of direct linkers and skinny affiliates in the niches that I’m in.
Google would be completely stupid to slap every affiliate website. They wouldn’t make any money and bottom line they are in this for a profit.
Thanks for your interesting post. It makes one wonder about the tactics that Google uses to slap people that are paying them money to advertise with them. This is either not good business sense, unless they are only slapping low quality adverts – in which case, it makes good sense. Even though they may lose some customers, they will retain their reputation as providing good quality only, so will benefit in the long run.
From what i have seen in the past, they have tended to slap anyone and everyone. Maybe they think they are so big that they can do what they like and not suffer any consequences?
Food for thought…….
Barry
Thanks andrew- I do have an interesting experience to share – I have niche firepow site, which has had a fair amount of SEO done to it, and was ranking at Number 1. It is an adsense site with unique content. Because this was an obsquare niche with no clickbank products in the niche.
I then added an image- with an affiliate like to amazon. I then waited till Google had re indexed the page – the site then dropped to 46.
To test it I have removed the affiliate link to confirm that it was the cause, but have had some problems with hosting/wordpress – will see what happens when Google reindexs the changed site.
To my knowleadge- this is the only test i have seen to seen what google thinks of affiliate links (I known Google can follow and see reconized redirects) maybe affiliate marketeres will be “pushed” to List building?
Excellent post.
Although I agree with what you say, I think Google has gone way beyond what it was expected. Some unrelated people were slapped. Some unrelated companies were slapped. As a result, I believe there’ll be a trend of shifting a way from Google, and I even wrote an article about this (Sorry to self promote, but I really think this is relevant: http://www.industryreview.org/search-engines/drifting-away-from-google-beginning-of-a-trend )
I hate to get off topic, but the launch of keywordelite20 is out, and haven’t seen your bonus offered yet. Come on, what gives? I know, I am an impatient person. With all of these bonuses out there, I’m waiting on just yours!