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SEO and Amazon Associate

by ChristianSites
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I'm building a site very slowly. It's in the education sector and currently has 9 pages. I'm aiming for a grand total of about 200. I'm ranking decently (5-10) for the keywords I am targetting.

I was just approved for the Amazon associate program. If I put affiliate links to Amazon on my site, will that have negative effects in the SERPs? I've heard people claim it will, while others claim it won't.
#amazon #associate #seo
  • Profile picture of the author wendallb
    If you are going to sell Amazon products you will have to have some links somewhere. I would suggest that when you do put links in they should be "nofollow". In my case I have found that natural links within my posts do better than any other type of links or banners.

    I don't really think that affiliate links that are nofollow will hurt but I am not an expert.
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  • Profile picture of the author Darren Mallory
    You should not have a problem - better to place the links as nofollow - just don't spam your pages with links all over the place. We use Amazon quite a lot and do not see any major problems with using their affiliate scheme on our pages for some of our sites.

    GOOD LUCK
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    • Profile picture of the author zulickusa
      Hi,

      Is there a blog or post here which can encourage Amazon Associates to list products being sold on Amazon?

      Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author nik0
    Banned
    I never add the nofollow thing to my affiliate links, also don't see a single reason why I should. The reasons that people come up with are mostly based on pure nonsense/guessing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
      Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

      I never add the nofollow thing to my affiliate links, also don't see a single reason why I should. The reasons that people come up with are mostly based on pure nonsense/guessing.
      While Google surely treats them as affiliate links, I can only assume that each post (review) will be leaking away from some of PR. There's no harm installing the "auto nofollow" plugin on Wordpress. I use that, and get every link nofollow'd.
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      • Profile picture of the author ChristianSites
        Thanks for the responses. I have two further questions.

        First, most Amazon associates either have an e-commerce store that goes to Amazon or do reviews of sites. I am doing neither. I have a site that is geared toward education and training for professionals. I was hoping to feature a few books that would be helpful to my audience, in addition to Adsense's contextual ads. Would the affiliate links harm me, because they are only tangentially related to the content?

        Nik0 (second) - Would you mind providing a few of the reasons you commonly hear for applying the nofollow attribute, along with your rebuttal? I've read your answers on other topics and would value your opinion.

        Thanks for all the help.
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        • Profile picture of the author nik0
          Banned
          Originally Posted by ChristianSites View Post


          Nik0 (second) - Would you mind providing a few of the reasons you commonly hear for applying the nofollow attribute, along with your rebuttal? I've read your answers on other topics and would value your opinion.

          Thanks for all the help.
          People say that it leaks link juice which is complete nonsense. Other reasons people come up with to make it look like it aren't paid links, again nonsense, Google knows what they are.

          Making them nofollow only looks unnatural to me.
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          • Profile picture of the author Sojourn
            Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

            People say that it leaks link juice which is complete nonsense. Other reasons people come up with to make it look like it aren't paid links, again nonsense, Google knows what they are.

            Making them nofollow only looks unnatural to me.
            nik0 - Google, through Matt Cutts, has implied that affiliate links are a sort of paid link and should not be considered an endorsement of the other site and, therefore, should be nofollowed.

            If I understand correctly, Google automatically nofollows affiliate links from larger networks (like Amazon) based on a video with Matt Cutts and a couple of other interviews he's done. So adding nofollow to those kinds of links doesn't matter for that reason, right? Am I thinking about this correctly?

            However, what about smaller affiliate networks which Google may not have identified? I've always figured it's best to nofollow all affiliate links just to be safe.
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      • Profile picture of the author jxam69
        Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

        While Google surely treats them as affiliate links, I can only assume that each post (review) will be leaking away from some of PR. There's no harm installing the "auto nofollow" plugin on Wordpress. I use that, and get every link nofollow'd.
        No-following OBLs does not retain PR within your site - hasn't done for years.

        My apologies if you were trying to say something different, but that's the way I read it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ethan F.
    Overthinking it. Would your average joe with a "real" website be adding nofollow to ANYTHING on his page?
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