Is this the nastiest Google slap yet?

JayXtreme

15 years ago

The last piece of advice on that page is Golden...

"time to stop building on sand"

Peace

Jay

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AndrewHansen 15 years ago

I agree.

It's just that never before has "building on sand" referred to affiliate marketing so directly.

Building crappy single page sites, excess scraped content, not providing value, not performing proper optimization or being overly promotional... yeah, all very "sandy". But just having an affiliate link on your page?

It's interesting stuff.
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Steven Wagenheim

15 years ago

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

The last piece of advice on that page is Golden...

"time to stop building on sand"

Peace

Jay

Jay, what do you suggest as an alternative? I don't honestly see how
using Adwords (which I don't do) in a legit way (sending people to a
content loaded site) is building on sand just because they don't like
affiliate links on the page.

In essence, what they are saying is that they don't like affiliate marketing.

So what? Affiliate marketers are out of luck with PPC?

It honestly makes no sense to me just to penalize a page just because
it has an affiliate link on it.

But as I said, if you have a solution, I think everybody would love to
hear it.

Promote your own products maybe?

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JayXtreme

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

Jay, what do you suggest as an alternative? I don't honestly see how
using Adwords (which I don't do) in a legit way (sending people to a
content loaded site) is building on sand just because they don't like
affiliate links on the page.

In essence, what they are saying is that they don't like affiliate marketing.

So what? Affiliate marketers are out of luck with PPC?

It honestly makes no sense to me just to penalize a page just because
it has an affiliate link on it.

But as I said, if you have a solution, I think everybody would love to
hear it.

Promote your own products maybe?

Nobody HAS to promote affiliate products directly from the pages that PPC traffic lands on Steve...

You just need to garner the trust right there, it's a longer game than selling right on the landing pages.. but it's a helluva lot more profitable.

A 20 page minisite can be VERY well optimised to fit in with Google quality score (I do this every day), promoting $3 and $4 products easily pumps a list full of hungry buyers into a funnel that can be sold down the line with higher level affiliate products..

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Steven Wagenheim

15 years ago

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

Nobody HAS to promote affiliate products directly from the pages that PPC traffic lands on Steve...

You just need to garner the trust right there, it's a longer game than selling right on the landing pages.. but it's a helluva lot more profitable.

A 20 page minisite can be VERY well optimised to fit in with Google quality score (I do this every day), promoting $3 and $4 products easily pumps a list full of hungry buyers into a funnel that can be sold down the line with higher level affiliate products..

But don't those 20 page minisites still have affiliate links somewhere on
them even just to sell that $3 loss leader, or whatever you want to call it?

My understanding is, no matter how many pages your site is, if there are
any affiliate links on it, you're toast.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

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JayXtreme

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

But don't those 20 page minisites still have affiliate links somewhere on
them

No... that's my point..

You do know short reports, don't you?

(I know that you do)

Peace

Jay

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Steven Wagenheim

15 years ago

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

No... that's my point..

You do know short reports, don't you?

(I know that you do)

Peace

Jay

Right, then you are talking about selling your own short report (either
created yourself or through PLR) and selling that or even giving it away
in order to build a list and sell on the back end.

This presents the following problems to PPC affiliate marketers.

1. Not everybody who is an affiliate marketer has the smarts or the
desire to create their own products, no matter how short it is.

2. PPC costs are going to have them at a loss on the front end for
certain in most niches. Even at 10 cents a click, which is cheap today,
100 clicks is $10. If you convert even at 2% for your $3 report, you're
still losing $4 for every $10 spent.

The average affiliate marketer is probably going to say screw it to
these kind of conditions.

As I said, makes no difference to me as I don't use PPC.

But this is going to have a lot of affiliate marketers stewing in their
own stew.

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JayXtreme

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

1. Not everybody who is an affiliate marketer has the smarts or the
desire to create their own products, no matter how short it is.

If they're driving PPC traffic, they'd better hope they already have the smarts.

Giving away PPC traffic right now with recent Google attitude is marketing suicide. To most of us, this "Google slap" is old news anyways. It's been a long time since I was prepared to give away any paid traffic directly to the merchant.

Apart from those BIG Plasma TV selling peeps and occasionally a certain Diabetes CPA...

2. PPC costs are going to have them at a loss on the front end for
certain in most niches. Even at 10 cents a click, which is cheap today,
100 clicks is $10. If you convert even at 2% for your $3 report, you're
still losing $4 for every $10 spent.

If you can't structure your back-end to destroy this $4 "loss" (your words not mine, I call it a short term investment), then you're not a marketer.. you're just playin' around at this thing.... and shouldn't be using paid advertising.

The average affiliate marketer is probably going to say screw it to
these kind of conditions.

And that is EXACTLY why they will always remain an average affiliate marketer.. it's cool by me, all the more scope to take my action.

Peace

Jay

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Tom B

Banned 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

But don't those 20 page minisites still have affiliate links somewhere on
them even just to sell that $3 loss leader, or whatever you want to call it?

My understanding is, no matter how many pages your site is, if there are
any affiliate links on it, you're toast.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

It depends on your goal, Steven. If you want them to optin to your list than don't put affiliate links to other websites. You should be building a list first, anyway.

Personally, I just give them some software that is free. They download the software and then optin into my list to get the password. It works very nicely.

I just wrote about this on my forum as a way around the review sites. Once they are on your list, you can then send them a link to your review site and many more.

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PPCtoTheTop

15 years ago

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

Nobody HAS to promote affiliate products directly from the pages that PPC traffic lands on Steve...

You just need to garner the trust right there, it's a longer game than selling right on the landing pages.. but it's a helluva lot more profitable.

A 20 page minisite can be VERY well optimised to fit in with Google quality score (I do this every day), promoting $3 and $4 products easily pumps a list full of hungry buyers into a funnel that can be sold down the line with higher level affiliate products..

I see a product in your Sig..

Does this show you how you do it with a 20 page minsite?

My guess is that you build a 20 page minsite on one niche and have a product for each page, or only on some pages.. that costs very little, then you have found the buyers, have them in a list and can market something better to them?

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Joe118

15 years ago

Should also point out that this is a clear conflict of interests situation since google itself owns a big affiliate network. Do the sites that push products from that network also get slapped?

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

Jay, what do you suggest as an alternative? I don't honestly see how
using Adwords (which I don't do) in a legit way (sending people to a
content loaded site) is building on sand just because they don't like
affiliate links on the page.

In essence, what they are saying is that they don't like affiliate marketing.

So what? Affiliate marketers are out of luck with PPC?

It honestly makes no sense to me just to penalize a page just because
it has an affiliate link on it.

But as I said, if you have a solution, I think everybody would love to
hear it.

Promote your own products maybe?

Thanks

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yourreviewer

15 years ago

Originally Posted by AndrewHansen

Looks like there was a big crack down today at Adwords, on affiliate landing pages, representing the latest slap from the big G..

Google Slap for Product Review Sites

Most interestingly, the tester in this article reports that it seemed that it was a blatant attack on pages containing affiliates links, rather than on thin, spammy sites with minimal content or bad link structures...

I guess we'll learn more about it in the coming days but it's not a good sign for affiliate marketers. The anti aff marketing sentiment in this blatant a move sets a scary precedent.

What do we think?

P.S. Mods, since this is an issue that will affect many affiliate marketers, I hope it can stay in the main forum

There is just one word I would say- "Wow", If this is indeed true, I can see a lot of people being in trouble.

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garyv

15 years ago

This should be seen as an immediate opportunity. Those keywords will now become a bit cheaper for those that have proper sites ready to go.

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Jayson L

15 years ago

I have an insurance website and use Insureme for my quote tool. I sell the leads that I can't write in other states. Does this mean that I am getting penalized by Google. If so, should I use another source that isn't considered an affiliate?

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ChadMarano 15 years ago

I have to agree with gravy on this one. I look at this as a great opportunity. I have so many potential customers that tell me they see so many scams out there they don't know who to listen to. Taking out the garbage is great news.
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- Fernando Veloso 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by ChadMarano
  
  Taking out the garbage is great news.
  
  uh? And who decides what is garbage? You? Me? Him? God?
  
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  garyv 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso
  
  uh? And who decides what is garbage? You? Me? Him? God?
  
  Google's algorithm is God when it comes to deciding garbage content - unfortunately.
  
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- AndrewHansen 15 years ago
  
  Again, I point out that this is different to previously slaps because it seems to be defining garbage as "containing an affiliate link". Yeah there's an opportunity to get cheaper clicks... on keywords you now have to find a different way to monetize.
  
  Steve, I'm with ya on this one buddy. It's a confusing decision from my end too. Even if I was trying to cut down on garbage pages receiving PPC traffic, I'd choose some different measure to point out that a page was "garbage" than the presence of an affiliate link.
  
  Also, at the end of the day, how anti affiliate marketing can Google be, as the owners of their own affiliate network DoubleClick?
  
  Andrew
  
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Jeremy Kelsall

15 years ago

I'm wondering if any of this will roll over to how Google ranks pages in the SERPS. If they are taking this type of stand on affiliate links in general, are they doing to devalue sites in all situations or is this just an adwords thing?

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AndrewHansen 15 years ago

Jeremy,

That's my main concern in the situation.

Logic might suggest that they wouldn't take such a hard stand on pages with affiliate links in the SERPS, since with an organic ranking, you can't just get it by paying money, and to even get to the front page, your site needs to be judged by the algorithms as being of reasonable quality anyway..

But we'll wait and see.

Andrew
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briank99

15 years ago

Small Business Rule Number 1: No matter how hard you work to prevent Murphy's Law, it will happen.

Small Business Rule Number 2: He who owns the gold makes the rules. Whether it is government, banks or anyone bigger than you, e.i. Google.

Small Business Rule Number 3: Never, ever stand still. Just because you are on the right track doesn't mean that a train isn't coming toward you.

Small Business Rule Number 4: When you are facing a problem, build a bridge and get over it. Then make it a toll bridge for others.

Small Business Rule Number 5: It is ALWAYS better to own your own business than work for someone else.

When all else fails, find the Ferengi "Rules of Acquisition" esp. #57 and follow them! Well, maybe not #56.

Brian

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gacott

15 years ago

I have been having issues with Google for some time now. I made some bad choices an got a few sites de-indexed. There was no plan to screw Google or anything like that, just that I was illinformed. I have been trying to get the domains back alive for about 4 months now . . . still no love and I can't honestly see why they still have issues with them.

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markclimins

15 years ago

my flogs aint goin nowhere

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jakesellers

15 years ago

A friend of mine fell for one a few months ago for web hosting. He clicked on an adsense somewhere for "mass web hosting reviews" or some such hosted on some bestwebhostreviewssiteonline.info-type domain, signed up with a big but really bad shared hosting provider based on the "5 star" rating and a bunch of positive comments. He found quickly it sucked and tried to post a comment on that site to that effect but the site just said "your comment will be reviewed by a moderator as soon as possible." He told me his story and I suggested he check if the affiliate payouts from the providers listed and star ratings on that had something in common (of course).

He is the type of guy that will (and did) complain to Google, the registrar of the site, the hosting provider for the site, and anybody else who has anything to do with it if he feels he's been ripped off. How many people like him do you think it takes for G to slap that site and all like it?

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Lucid

15 years ago

In case you've misplaced your Ferengi Rules of Acquisition book, #57 that briank99 mentions states:

"Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them."

The other five rules are oh so true as well. I especially like #4.

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ChrisBa

15 years ago

Time to build some more quality sites

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Mike Linley 15 years ago

All I can say is I am glad I finally have created my own products and have my own websites now so I dont have to worry about any of that affiliate crap coming down on me!..besides google slaps you have worry about the owner of the product taking their product off the market..changing the rules on you..or just not paying up...phew glad to be done with that!
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Jimerson Farveez

15 years ago

This is a sad news to affilitate marketers. I am sure google too into Affilitate marketing, is it? Then what happen to that?

However, there are more alternates for the guys to do affilitate marketing.

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kkchoon

15 years ago

Google shouldn't had a problem with affiliate link, the problem is quick & dirty review sites that don't have any value to the user, and Google don't want that!!

Who pay Google salary - Affiliate Marketer, E-cormmerce owner, Digital Product Owner....

Google just don't want their user felt that sponsor Ad is crap, rubbish, and eventually stop clicking on it!!!

Google want more sales, and only good ad and good site will help Google Achieve that! Google is working on new algorithm to combat low quality sites, I don't think this is the final slap... if you are providing value to the visitor, it shouldn't slap you it all...

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Steven Carl Kelly

15 years ago

This has already been discussed in another thread, and I personally haven't experienced any slap whatsoever.

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Zach Booker

15 years ago

Another aspect of this has somewhat been talked about in my thread over here: http://www.warriorforum.com/ad-netwo...ews-yahoo.html

Again Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Facebook aren't everything. They don't consist of all the traffic in the world and we shouldn't be overacting in the way we are. (I'm guilty of over-reacting too.

)

Anyway the hammer has not dropped yet and it's like trying to predict the end of the world, we all think we may know what's going to happen, but we don't really.

As Jay pointed out a lot of our business' have been built on sand, quick sand, and you should only blame the person in the mirror for not building a more stable business.

Building a list is one way to get around this and also giving you a long term source of income.

I've talked to a lot of experienced PPC players about this and the general thought is "grow and adapt" and I think it's not going to be all that hard.

Zach

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Is this the nastiest Google slap yet?

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