NEVER put google analytics on your affiliate sites???

17 replies
I've been doing some research on traffic generation and I was reading that aAn affiliate should NEVER put Google analytics on his/her site!

Is that true?

According to my source this would cause your affiliate site to be deindexed.

What's your take on this?

And how am I going to track traffic to my site??

Thank you in advance
#affiliate #analytics #google #put #sites
  • Profile picture of the author Owen Smith
    This is not true, google analytics can be installed on ANY type of website.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gavin Abeyratne
    Not true at all in my experience, or anyone else I have heard about.
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    • Profile picture of the author SteveBaker
      No problem with analytics. They aren't snooping your data or whatever you are afraid of.

      But open source software that does a similar job is available:

      hxxp://piwik.org/
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  • Profile picture of the author jaxrefinance
    A site of mine has been having the affiliate link from day one. Now it's indexed & ranking VERY good, i'm only cloaking with GoCodes (Wordpress plugin). Myth Busted
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    • Profile picture of the author TheNewGuy2010
      Try again.

      It's not a myth. It's more so a misunderstanding. It has nothing to do with "cloaking links".

      Originally Posted by jaxrefinance View Post

      A site of mine has been having the affiliate link from day one. Now it's indexed & ranking VERY good, i'm only cloaking with GoCodes (Wordpress plugin). Myth Busted
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      Retired Internet Marketer.
      Gone Fishing....
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  • Profile picture of the author TheNewGuy2010
    Here's the thing with that.

    If you stick around any IM forum long enough, you'll eventually read something like this- "Google does not like affiliate sites" or "be sure to cloak your links so Google can't detect them"

    WRONG!


    What Google doesn't like are SPAM affiliate sites. If you're building sites that povide great content and provides the user with a great experience, your site will not get de-indexed even if you have affiliate links on your site.

    Ask yourself- Even if I did not have adsense or affiliate links on my site, can the user still gain from reading my content? If you can answer yes, you'll be just fine with adding analytics and affiliate links.

    It's all about the end user. Provide great content for the end user and you'll be just fine.

    Doesn't that make sense?


    Ron




    Originally Posted by franamico View Post

    I've been doing some research on traffic generation and I was reading that aAn affiliate should NEVER put Google analytics on his/her site!

    Is that true?

    According to my source this would cause your affiliate site to be deindexed.

    What's your take on this?

    And how am I going to track traffic to my site??

    Thank you in advance
    Signature
    Retired Internet Marketer.
    Gone Fishing....
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2435492].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    NewGuy2010,

    I assume you meant you will see someone say "Google does NOT like affiliate websites."

    I asked this very same question aboug Google analytics in the SEO forum and not one said they had actual proof it's true. If you have a real website yet it has some affiliate links on it, it should not hurt at all. AFter all, if you have adsense on your site, isn't that a form of being an "affiliate" for Google. Google even has it's own affiliate network, so now, they do not deindex affiliate websites.

    Besides deindexing, a term you are probably looking for is to sandbox your site, or cause it to go way, way, hundreds of results lower in the search engines. This also, should not be true. There are tons of affiliate sites ranking very high in Google.

    De-indexing would mean your site will not show up in Google at all, and that's an extreme view, that they would do that to all affiliate sites. It's just not so.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheNewGuy2010
      Thanks, yes, that's what I meant.




      Originally Posted by redicelander View Post

      NewGuy2010,

      I assume you meant you will see someone say "Google does NOT like affiliate websites."

      I asked this very same question aboug Google analytics in the SEO forum and not one said they had actual proof it's true. If you have a real website yet it has some affiliate links on it, it should not hurt at all. AFter all, if you have adsense on your site, isn't that a form of being an "affiliate" for Google. Google even has it's own affiliate network, so now, they do not deindex affiliate websites.

      Besides deindexing, a term you are probably looking for is to sandbox your site, or cause it to go way, way, hundreds of results lower in the search engines. This also, should not be true. There are tons of affiliate sites ranking very high in Google.

      De-indexing would mean your site will not show up in Google at all, and that's an extreme view, that they would do that to all affiliate sites. It's just not so.
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  • Profile picture of the author bgray
    I'm not putting it on my newer affiliate sites at all. I got hit w/ an Adwords ban with no explaination on a 8 year old account. I still have no idea why and I'm a stickler for their guidelines. It had a huge impact on how I operate w/ Google and I'd prefer to keep my niche sites completely seperated from everything.

    I really like Piwik (free) as an Analytics replacement.
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    Hebrews 12:11

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    • Profile picture of the author franamico
      Wow guys,
      I understand this is a hot topic...
      I just discovered an amazing tool called Woopra!
      It's free (basic version and you can even istall the software in your PC)

      Thanks for that and good luck!!:-)
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      • Profile picture of the author cheerios2009
        There are so many rumors floating around online I guess it's hard to tell the myths from the facts.

        I have GA on "all" of my sites. This includes any site with affiliate products and or Adsense. Google has no issue with people making money on Affiliate programs. After all Adsense IS an affiliate program. The issue comes into account when it involves PPC.

        One of my sites has been sandboxed at one point due to adding a pop up video. But other than that, I have never had any problems with Google deindexing my affiliate sites.


        Chrisi D.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary McCaffrey
    I thought you were going to say that if somebody was inquisitive enough they could grab your Google Analytics ID, then they can snoop on what you're up to and what niches you're in by finding all your other sites you put Google Analytics on.

    If you have reason to be so paranoid that you think people might be interested in all the niches you're in and what 'secret' sites you might run, maybe you don't want to put Google Analytics on all your sites.

    But I can't see Google penalizing a useful site just because they are affiliate marketers.
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  • Profile picture of the author PaulaC
    I have affiliate sites and use Google Analytics and none of my sites have been 'deindexed'.
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    My Blog --> Affiliate Blog Online

    Our New Membership Site - Affiliate Tools HQ

    Amazonian Profit Plan - Our Complete Blueprint for Making Money Online by Promoting Amazon Products - The Amazonian Profit Plan

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  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    If Google is "indexing" or "deindexing" your site, then they already know what the site is all about (affiliate or not). So it wouldn't really be applicable if there is GA installed or not. Indexing and Stat Tracking are two separate things.
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    Greg Schueler - Wordpress Fanatic... Living The Offline Marketing Dream...

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  • Profile picture of the author marketingmadness
    Thanks everyone for clearing this myth up for me as well. I recently read from a top marketer that you should never put GA on any of your affiliate sites since this just gives Google an outside looking in view.

    I even went as far as deleting GA off one of my sites, but after reading this thread, I have gone ahead and re-loaded it back on.

    There are just so many myths out there that sometimes you just don't know who to trust.
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