If your network comprises of thin exact match domain affiliate sites be afraid, be very afraid as Google is killing affiliate sites. Two major updates during Feb & May this year has seen affiliate sites hit like never before across many different niches. The attack on affiliate sites has been in progress for some time although it clearly looks like this year Google has stepped up the attacks. Over the past couple of years I have seen many affiliate sites hit. It started with those using scripts to scrape Ebay & Amazon data with Google simply targeting sites using well known scripts. What does amaze me about the latest sites to be hit is than many were using custom scripts. I believe the tweak to the long tail algo is also responsible for many affiliate sites being hit. There is no doubt that many affiliate sites simply targeting the same product titles (long tail key phrases) have been hit extremely hard.
Luckily for me I made the switch away from thin exact match domain sites in favour of building big brand type sites over 2 years ago. I will tell you that my quality brand sites have increased long tail traffic since the Feb & May Day Google updates. I have though seen a drop in rankings in some of my lower quality sites which if I’m honest deserve to lose rankings. Now here is my take on the latest updates although it is up to you how much you make on my comments.
It is clear that Google has been targeting affiliate sites by simply looking at well known product scripts many affiliates have been using. This started last year with the demise of those using scripts such as PHPBay. To me it seems clear that any affiliates using well known affiliate scripts in their sites should be worried. The same perhaps can also be said for those using well known affiliate templates. If your sites are using either of these then you can easily be identified as an affiliate site and so you are a potential target to be hit. Don’t be a bloody sheep! Make your sites unique!
Don’t fall in to the exact match domain trap! Many new affiliates simple over estimate search volume anyway, only generating a trickle of traffic for their actual domain. As I have said many times, a decent branded site crammed with quality content will have far more SERP power than a thin exact match domain site. Build a brand and build it big!
I also believe many types of links have now been devalued. Many affiliates waste time with links that have no value. I would rather have a handful of quality links than thousands of forum signature links, blog comment links and even link exchange links on weak pages. The truth of the matter is that decent authority sites can end up with powerful internal links that can easily outrank even exact match domains. Build a brand and build it big!
My next comment I know is controversial and will piss many off but let’s be honest. Google wants to provide its users with quality content. In regards to many affiliate sites this simply has not been happening. We all know in the past it has been far too easy to jump on the affiliate gravy train. With a decent bankroll you could simply buy a quality exact match domain, buy an affiliate theme, load a rake back script then you simply could get your cheque book out buy quality links. In time this would give you a decent ranking plus of course great revenue if you knew what you were doing.
I’m not saying Google has got it right yet, but I believe it is on the right track. The recent updates, plus what is going to come, will hit affiliates hard. Affiliates are going to have to adapt by building quality authority sites which in the long term will equate to better search results from Google.
