SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems Overview

This overview of an SEO Friendly Affiliate System is based on my experience with SEO Friendly Affiliates over the last year and a half. This will go over different stages of what I have seen with SEO Friendly Affiliate Programs.


My Experience

I started like anyone else. I built my first site in 1998 and became an affiliate to generate income off my website. Then over the past 7 years I continued to build websites and promote affiliate programs. In 2001 I began working on an affiliate system. In April of 2002 I launched my first affiliate program. So my overview is based on my experiences as an SEO, Affiliate System and Affiliate.

I understand HTML, PHP, Perl, java scripts, flash, and many other types of web related code and graphics. I have administrated several Unix and Windows based servers (MCSE). I work on over 300 websites. I have an Associates Degree in Computer Science from Sawyer College in Merrillville Indiana and a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Visual Communications) American InterContinental University - AIUonline.com.


Stage 1. SEO Friendly Affiliate System.

During the first stage of working with a SEO Friendly Affiliate System I watched as my site ranked for keywords I targeted. Usually I had several sites that promoted the affiliate programs products or services. Sometimes I would use the same affiliate link in several sites and other times I would use a different affiliate link to track how well a domain was doing. During this stage everything seems well. In the examples I am Affiliate 1 and Affiliate 2.



This is wonderful. I'm ranked and my affiliate links are ranked as well. I like this stage and would be happy to stay in this stage. But as an affiliate system gathers more affiliates and as you continue to push your domains and your links, problems develop.


Stage 2. SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems. Problem 1.

As I continue to promote the affiliate programs products and services and my own domains, I started noticing changes in the SERP's. Now instead of ranking on Page 1 several times and even my affiliate links ranking, my sites have gained value. At this point my anchor text has promoted the affiliate link making it more important than my own sites. Google starts noticing that the affiliate link is important so it starts ranking them as important. Then Google notices that these links are all the same page. So Google ranks the most important link.



This is ok; I'm still ranking well and generating income from the Affiliate Programs. I can live with stage 2 or make changes to the way I link to the landing page and increase my domain in the ranks again. But from the Affiliate System point of view, I'm getting less traffic because now the landing page ranks and traffic no longer comes through many affiliate sites. On the other hand the traffic is going straight to the landing page which many times will have a higher conversion rate.

I also noticed during this stage, the rankings now changed. Instead of showing several high quality content provider sites that are PR 5 and up sites in the SERP's. I now see my one affiliate link, and many lower PR 2, 3 and 4 sites taking the spots. Some are even the newest domains I recently started to promote these products or services.


Another SEO Friendly Affiliate System Problem Occurs

Now in Stage 2 with some Affiliate Programs I realize I'm losing money. This Affiliate System is domain specific. They will only pay me on clicks coming from MY domains. Clicks are now coming from Google. During Stage 1, while some of my affiliate links are ranking, I don't realize this isn't a good thing for some Affiliate Programs I'm promoting.




Stage 3. SEO Friendly Affiliate System. Problem 2.

During this stage the affiliate system has many links into their site. They are gaining PR and being ranked as more important. My affiliate links are generating less income. I start seeing at first the Affiliate Programs domains ranking right under my affiliate link in the SERP's. As this stage continues I see the Affiliate Programs Main Domain ranking in place of mine. It could be their main domain or their default landing page. (It depends on the affiliate program and their internal linking structure, which link I see taking my place).



This stage pretty much sucks. My income decreases. I'm no longer getting anything for my wonderful work. Also from the affiliate systems point of view, I'm getting fewer rankings in the SERP's.

Now at this stage I realize I need to take control back. I can either talk to the Affiliate Program about letting me customize my landing pages or I can start trying to block the affiliate link from being index.


Conclusion

Each SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems will have different problems. Affiliates and Affiliate Systems should review what they have seen or not seen. This way they can plan for these problems. I'm not saying they are bad. But I will value the Affiliate Programs that offer me Customized Landing Pages and NON SEO Friendly Links, so I can have some control over my own marketing methods.

Lastly I would like to thank Aaron Wall the writer of SEO Book for suggesting I create some images showing the flow the stages in this article. Thank you Aaron!
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Written by Tanya Martin from Over The Mark. Keep an eye out for more great articles and tips at her SEO Blog. Interested in having your linking methods evaluated or your affiliate system evaluated? Contact Debbie Bonventre at debbie@overthemark.com or 1.888.987.7861.