Is Google an Amazon affiliate?

8 replies
I've been taking a close look at the Google search results for products & I noticed something I don't quite understand.

I typed a few random product names into Google to see what search results were returned. I noticed Google has put a little star rating & customer reviews link next to some listings. If you click on the link it takes you to Google products search.

What I did find interesting though was an Amazon link in the Adwords section. I clicked on it to take a closer look & noticed the affiliate ID in the URL which is - "googhydr-21"

Every Amazon link that comes up in Adwords has this affiliate ID in the URL.

Is this Googles affiliate ID?

I also noticed something else when searching for some products.

Google Shopping results are in the number one organic position & the Google customer reviews link is in position one.

Is it just me or does it look like Google are trying to draw people into their shopping search & make things harder for marketers to promote physical products.

Is the Google shopping search just a search engine Google set up to help people search for products or do Google get affiliate commission from the search results?
#affiliate #amazon #google
  • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
    I thought that shopping results were those that the merchant themselves, in this case Amazon provided to Google. They would provide a data feed of product that would change to match the search words.

    If that is the case then this could be an ID that Amazon assigned to their products so they know where traffic is coming from.
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    • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
      Originally Posted by LilBlackDress View Post

      I thought that shopping results were those that the merchant themselves, in this case Amazon provided to Google. They would provide a data feed of product that would change to match the search words.

      If that is the case then this could be an ID that Amazon assigned to their products so they know where traffic is coming from.
      I see...well that makes sense.

      I read some where that said Google is an affiliate for some sites, can't remember where or what site.

      I was wondering if this was true?
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      • Profile picture of the author careybaird
        Amazon doesn't allow PPC directly to it's website. If you do it, then you have to send to a landing page first.

        So this googhydr-21 and googhydr-20 that you are seeing (and I have been seeing, hence coming to this thread!) must either be Google, Amazon themselves or somebody that is authorised to do this.

        There is no way to tell really.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChickenMan
    Yes, I believe shopping results have been in google for years now.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelAppleton
    I would say this is someone authorized to send PPC traffic directly to Amazon. The affiliate handle "googhydr-21" I would guess is for tracking purposes and the goog bit is just to help where the traffic has come from.

    As to who the authorized person is, it maybe google, amazon or an affiliate.
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  • Profile picture of the author careybaird
    Anyone who is an amazon affiliate can setup those "tags". You get to choose the first bit (i.e. googhydr) and the -20 and -21 indicates US and UK respectively (the Amazon.com and .co.uk sites operate independently in terms of affiliates).

    PPC is not allowed by the Amazon Affiliates Terms of Use, if you are linking directly to Amazon. So whoever is behind this has a special agreement of some kind... so it must be a big company like Google. Or someone with a lot of money to burn (as Amazon will stop their comissions if they don't have permission)
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  • Profile picture of the author Darla
    Google and Amazon teaming up? I am not sure if that would be a good thing or a nightmare. That would be an incredible combination. Not sure if the world is ready to have that kind of "commercial power" vested in one entity.

    From what I understand, Amazon is now the 5th largest search engine. The idea alone of combining Amazons extensive market reach with the Big G is a lil "scary".
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  • Profile picture of the author careybaird
    I think the Amazon and Facebook potential is more game changing... Amazon + Facebook = A Perfect Storm of Recommendations

    In fact the idea of anything + Facebook looks good right now. It is like having the opinion of your friends, family and people you trust automatically. Your trying to choose between two products on Amazon and you can effectively say... what did my friends pick?
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