Affiliate link = backlink?

sequencehosting · #1 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 05:52 PM

Hello all,

I have a strange question. Im setting up an affiliate program for a website and im wondering if the affiliate link will count as a backlink for my site?

The link structure is this

mydomain.com/aff.php?aff=001

this then redirects to my homepage.

Thanks!

JacobGodwin · #2 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:01 PM

I can't really say. But Google and the other SE's are pretty smart these days. I believe their algorithms can understand a lot more than we give them credit for.

I personally don't think it would count, or websites like Amazon (a very robust and popular affiliate program) would have PR way, way, way above everyone else...even Google!

My suggestion is do whatever is best for your goals. Just set up the affiliate link as you normally would and don't even worry about whether it counts as a backlink or not.

Scott Cameron · #3 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:02 PM

Hey Sequencehosting,

Yes I Believe that an affiliate link like that (without the nofollow tag) would count as an incoming link. Although to provide any real benefit the page the link is coming from (where the affiliate places the link) needs to relevant and have some type of credibility.

But the short answer is Yes it would count as a backlink if left untouched by the affiliate.

"Aaron from Google and Nathan from Microsoft both agreed that good affiliate links would be counted by their engines"

Scott Cameron · #4 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:05 PM

Just to add; Search engines are always changing how they rate different links so it can change at any time. I would not rely on Affiliate links as a source of building backlinks.

Google might have already changed there algorithm to not count them but from what I have recently read they do still count.... for now

sequencehosting · #5 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:07 PM

Thanks for both of your replies. Your right it's not a big deal esspecially since I have no control over the ancor text. I was just curious.

Thanks!

sequencehosting · #6 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Cameron

Just to add; Search engines are always changing how they rate different links so it can change at any time. I would not rely on Affiliate links as a source of building backlinks.

Google might have already changed there algorithm to not count them but from what I have recently read they do still count.... for now

Yeah thats a good point. This may sound mad but the competition in my niche is so high im not going to get much if any traffic from search engines (not the site in my sig).

I have set up a blog along side to try and get some search engine traffic. Word of mouth and forums is the way to go I think.

Scott Cameron · #7 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:28 PM

If you are able to make good quality helpful videos for you niche then you could also bring in quite a lot of traffic from video hosting sites (like youtube).

Most the time people will focus all their effort in getting a high ranking in Search Engines and in the saturated niches it is extremely hard to get to the first few results in a search engine. So you can usually obtain more traffic will less effort by focusing on other means of building traffic other then search engines.

But I'm not sure if just word of mouth and forums will be enough.

I know that it can be a lot of work to make good quality videos that are very helpful to people in your niche but being a lot of work can have it's advantages. If there is heaps of work involved most people wont do it so you can one up the competition by doing that.

sequencehosting · #8 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Cameron

If you are able to make good quality helpful videos for you niche then you could also bring in quite a lot of traffic from video hosting sites (like youtube).

Most the time people will focus all their effort in getting a high ranking in Search Engines and in the saturated niches it is extremely hard to get to the first few results in a search engine. So you can usually obtain more traffic will less effort by focusing on other means of building traffic other then search engines.

But I'm not sure if just word of mouth and forums will be enough.

I know that it can be a lot of work to make good quality videos that are very helpful to people in your niche but being a lot of work can have it's advantages. If there is heaps of work involved most people wont do it so you can one up the competition by doing that.

That has crossed my mind a few times

I use Youtube for my skateboarding website and I get some good traffic everyday from Youtube. I am very tempted to create tutorials but before doing so I would feel happier knowing the info im giving is the best practise.

Yeah it won't my niche is web hoting if you type it in Google it shows more results than make money online. The best thing is recuring income so I do not need 1000s of visits a day to do well but instead form connections. Word of mouth is very powerfull in web hosting since people take choosing their host very seriously and it certainly should be important.

I agree im cerainly going to see how it goes. I have some idea's for videos now.

My site will be realesed in the next couple of days and I have some pretty amazing things set up on the site.

Scott Cameron · #9 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:42 PM

That sounds good, I look forward to checking it out onces it's done.

Good Luck

sequencehosting · #10 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Cameron

That sounds good, I look forward to checking it out onces it's done.

Good Luck

Thanks! I just tried to subscribe to your newsletter but got an error page.

"Notice:
Sorry, the account you tried to access was not found in our customer records. To notify the website owner of this message, push the "back" button on your web browser or check some of the selections below for more information."

I will check back tomorow.

Scott Cameron · #11 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sequencehosting

Thanks! I just tried to subscribe to your newsletter but got an error page.

"Notice:
Sorry, the account you tried to access was not found in our customer records. To notify the website owner of this message, push the "back" button on your web browser or check some of the selections below for more information."

I will check back tomorow.

Thanks so much for that, I played around with my lists in aweber the other day and didn't know that happened. It's all fixed now and you should be able to join, thanks again.

deserves a rep

sequencehosting · #12 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Cameron

Thanks so much for that, I played around with my lists in aweber the other day and didn't know that happened. It's all fixed now and you should be able to join, thanks again.

deserves a rep

Thanks for the rep man I now have 4 bars woo!

I have subed now. No problem at all.

shakir · #13 (**permalink**) 09-28-2009, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sequencehosting

Hello all,

I have a strange question. Im setting up an affiliate program for a website and im wondering if the affiliate link will count as a backlink for my site?

The link structure is this

mydomain.com/aff.php?aff=001

this then redirects to my homepage.

Thanks!

Sure if the link is placed as it is .. u will get some link juice from it.. But for each publisher diff URl like ?aff=001,?aff=002,?aff=003... So from from each site get BL to diff URL....

chaklyn · #14 (**permalink**) 03-18-2010, 11:39 PM

A backlink is a link found on someone else's website that points to your website. Getting many backlinks especially those of high page rank and relevant to your niche is good for search engine optimization. Most search engines use backlinks as their algorithm for ranking your web pages provided you obtained them naturally.

Thanks.
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