18 replies to this topic

[purplebear]

This is my first post here so am not sure this is the proper area to ask this question or not. I did make a search for no follow first and figured I wouldn't live long enough to read all of the posts so tried no follow+affiliate links and couldn't find anything. So, I apologize to all of you if this question has been asked already and any of you are about to scream at me cos I'm about to ask it again. I tried to find an answer but couldn't find one.

There has been a bit of a problem regarding some affiliate links from one of the networks for quite some time now appearing in search results in msn mostly, some in yahoo and not sure about google or others. Instead of the results showing the affiliate's site url like usual it shows the acutal affiliate link. (looks a bit weird ) If somebody clicks it they would go straight to the merchant site, never going to the affiliate site. The waaaaaay more computer smarty people have been trying to figure out a way to fix it but nobody seems able to. The network did what was suggested and it was suggested to put the no follow in our affiliate links.

I'm definitely not one of the computer smarty people. so I've been reading and reading about the no follow and still can't figure out if it's good or bad to use. Does anybody know if those affiliate links were ranking well for specific keywords (now they're showing as the weird looking result, tho) before the goofy links started showing, if no follow is put into those links, will they still rank for those keywords in the search results or will the search engines just ignore those links?? Guessing that even tho it's a weird looking link, a link would be better than no link.

The links appearing that way are supposed to be hurting us but am not sure completely how.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

[Jill]

Since you're talking about MSN and Yahoo where I don't think nofollow is paid attention to, it won't make a difference.

It sounds like perhaps those affiliate links are using 302 redirects instead of 301s perhaps?

[1dmf]

Not so according to Wiki Jill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow

[Jill]

Not so according to Wiki Jill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow

Ah well, if wikipedia says so, then it must be true

I haven't checked lately, but Yahoo had most definitely been showing nofollowed links as backward links to sites. To me, that indicates they don't actually "nofollow" them, at least not in the way Google does.

[purplebear]

Ah well, if wikipedia says so, then it must be true

I haven't checked lately, but Yahoo had most definitely been showing nofollowed links as backward links to sites. To me, that indicates they don't actually "nofollow" them, at least not in the way Google does.

Umm, I'm sorry but I'm not quite sure what the two of you have said. I may not have explained it too clearly, maybe. My links appear in all the search engines (just don't rank the same in all) but for some reason the links that appear in the results looking like affiliate links appear that way just in msn and sometimes in yahoo. They may in Google, just don't know. I should make it clear, too....these are not just my affiliate links. There are several merchants that for some reason it's their links so other affiliates are having this happen too. One of them said it has wiped out one of her sites appearing in the results. I don't even know for sure how many or which ones of mine are that way. Not all of them appear that way but I don't know why some do and some don't.

There's a very long thread at the largest affiliate forum about it. The question about the redirects has been asked and as far as I know all the affiliates in that thread have said they're not using them. Personally, I shouldn't fess up to this cos I'm really gonna look like a dummy lol I came here cos you guys (and ladies) are the experts on seo so I thought you might be able to help me. psssst.... I don't even know how to make a redirect or even what it is or how it works other than obviously it must redirect something, so they're definitely not on my site. Ummm is a redirect a good thing or a bad thing?

It seems like everybody has a different opinion on no follow so am not even sure if it's a good thing or bad thing to do. I don't want my links appearing the way they are on msn and yahoo but don't want to make a bad situation worse if using the no follow will make my pages not ranking for anything cos of it.

Even tho I don't quite understand your answers I really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

[Randy]

Welcome purplebear !

I'm still trying to understand exactly what you're saying. I think I have it right that you have a site and you're an affiliate for some other web site. Is this much right?

Let's try to break it down another way so that maybe I and others will grasp the enitre situation. A little example should do the trick.

Okay, so let's say I have a domain and it's RandysRandy.com (had to find one that wasn't already being used, and I'm sure our UK'ers will get a kick out of that one. )

You have a site that's PurpleBearsSite.com that sells stuff and has an affiliate program.

I join your affiliate program and slap up a page about your stuff. My page is located at RandysRandy.com/pb.html Of course I'd love to get this page ranking so that people will find it and click on my affiliate link, leading hopefully to your paying me because they bought something from you.

On this page I link over to your site with a link that points to PurpleBearsSite.com/index.php?aff=rr59829

Okay, so there we have our three urls.

Which one of those three url addresses is showing up in the search engines and causing problems? Or is there something else in the mix that I've missed, where maybe I don't link directly to your site by have to send things through an affiliate management company's domain first?

[purplebear]

Umm, I'm sorry but I'm not quite sure what the two of you have said. I may not have explained it too clearly, maybe. My links appear in all the search engines (just don't rank the same in all) but for some reason the links that appear in the results looking like affiliate links appear that way just in msn and sometimes in yahoo. They may in Google, just don't know. I should make it clear, too....these are not just my affiliate links. There are several merchants that for some reason it's their links so other affiliates are having this happen too. One of them said it has wiped out one of her sites appearing in the results. I don't even know for sure how many or which ones of mine are that way. Not all of them appear that way but I don't know why some do and some don't.

There's a very long thread at the largest affiliate forum about it. The question about the redirects has been asked and as far as I know all the affiliates in that thread have said they're not using them. Personally, I shouldn't fess up to this cos I'm really gonna look like a dummy lol I came here cos you guys (and ladies) are the experts on seo so I thought you might be able to help me. psssst.... I don't even know how to make a redirect or even what it is or how it works other than obviously it must redirect something, so they're definitely not on my site. Ummm is a redirect a good thing or a bad thing?

It seems like everybody has a different opinion on no follow so am not even sure if it's a good thing or bad thing to do. I don't want my links appearing the way they are on msn and yahoo but don't want to make a bad situation worse if using the no follow will make my pages not ranking for anything cos of it.

Even tho I don't quite understand your answers I really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

Thank you very much for the welcome
hmm I think you're close to understanding me:)
Yeap, actually have a fairly large site and a teeny little one that both have their links that this is happening to. I'm an affiliate for a whole lotta sites but only one of the networks have their links that this is happening to. (majority of the links on the sites are fine and I don't have no follow in their links, )but....some of the links for a few merchants from one network have the goofy links. (they're not really goofy.

You are correct. In your example I would have a site that's PurpleBearsSite.com but I personally don't have an affiliate program for my site nor do I sell anything actually from my site. I have mostly smaller banners that I get from the networks and some individual merchants, some product images, text links and mostly that word "content" lol May not be the best but I try and there's a lot of it.

So for your example my site would be what your site (RandysRandy.com/pb.html ) is. My PurpleBear site would have the affiliate links that I get from the affiliate network on its pages. I already somehow have been very fortunate that I do rank in the search engines for some keywords relevant to my sites(relevant to what I describe on pages of my site). (have tried to learn some seo and made my pages so they will hopefully rank well and in some cases do. ) Still have a lot to learn, tho.

When some nice person sees my result in the search listings normally they'd look at them, think to themselves....hmmmm now that looks like a nice site, I think I'll visit it.....click the search result link, arrive on my site and then hopefully I've done a good enough job describing what it was they were looking for, they'd click the link that would take them to that merchant's site where they could purchase that product.

PurpleBearsSite.com/index.php?aff=rr59829
would be the link that is showing up when some searches are made for keywords relating to some merchants that are in that one network.

the PurpleBearsSite.com part wouldn't be in the link, tho. The link for that network is instead. In the search results there's no mention of my site at all and a visitor clicking that link doesn't ever go to my site. Normally if the link appeared correctly they would. (which I've taken a lot of time to try to make be nice and appealing for them when they come to visit)

Yeap, there's no direct linking, it's affiliate management company's domain. (technically not my affiliate manager but the affiliate network's) I go there and get the links. Only additions I make are placing alt tags for images, width and height for images and target="new" to open in a window. (nope, window is a legitimate window, I don't use any tricks, no cookie stuffing or anything, everything I do is ethical....wouldn't even know how to do the not ethical stuff lol ) They're done correctly. Several of the really computer smarty affiliates are having this same problem. One's a moderator at a webmaster forum.

Msn (not sure this matters but checked at the forum and it's msn live) had evidently been told of the problem and did whatever they were to supposed to do. The amount of the links went from 3 million to 3 thousand but yahoo had 3 million of the links so the computer smarty affiliates said msn would start picking up those links in their indexing and so would other search engines.

The affiliate network involved did something with robots.txt and said the best solution to the problem was for affiliates to put the no follow in their links.

The links will track correctly if somebody I guess is curios enough to click one of the goofy links lol but they don't exactly look very appealing. The visitor also since they never visit my site wouldn't have the coupons I included for them. And...nope, I'm not one of the bad coupon sites doin any of the unethical stuff. I do everything cleanly, no tricks or anything.

I'm very sorry these posts are so long:( If you did understand me, I've probably gone and confused you now. lol Hope I made it easier to understand. Thank you again.

[Randy]

Gotcha.

So your actual page showing the product info isn't showing up in the SERPs for these searches. Neither the actual target site. Instead the link that routes thing the affiliate domain is the one that shows up.

Frankly, a nofollow probably isn't going to help the situation. All of the engines treat those differently and even Google will index those urls, regardless of whether someone uses nofollow or not.

The only real solution is the affliate management domain needs to exclude these "pages" that are really simply redirects from search engine indexing via robots.txt. And probably use the tools provided by the search engines to remove those urls from the index, since they're already in there. They'd also be wise to make sure their affiliate redirect pages deliver a proper 301 Moved Permanently status code, which I doubt they're doing. They're probably doing a scripted redirect without declaring a status code, so their server is defaulting to 302 Moved or 302 Found status.

Bottom line: There's not going to be much you can do to correct the situation. There's also not going to be much the merchant can do to correct the situation. This one falls pretty much onto the affliate program managers.

[purplebear]

Gotcha.

So your actual page showing the product info isn't showing up in the SERPs for these searches. Neither the actual target site. Instead the link that routes thing the affiliate domain is the one that shows up.

Frankly, a nofollow probably isn't going to help the situation. All of the engines treat those differently and even Google will index those urls, regardless of whether someone uses nofollow or not.

The only real solution is the affliate management domain needs to exclude these "pages" that are really simply redirects from search engine indexing via robots.txt. And probably use the tools provided by the search engines to remove those urls from the index, since they're already in there. They'd also be wise to make sure their affiliate redirect pages deliver a proper 301 Moved Permanently status code, which I doubt they're doing. They're probably doing a scripted redirect without declaring a status code, so their server is defaulting to 302 Moved or 302 Found status.

Bottom line: There's not going to be much you can do to correct the situation. There's also not going to be much the merchant can do to correct the situation. This one falls pretty much onto the affliate program managers.

sniff, sniff:( I was afraid once you understood what I was talking about you were gonna say that. The problem has been going on since last October and none of the computer smarties at the other forum had been able to figure out a solution either. Figured I'd just fess up to my dumminess on the subject and ask it here with the hope of possibly coming up with a solution. Ummm pssssst. I actually don't understand all your 301 and 302 talk lol but am gonna tell the one who's an affiliate and a moderator at the webmaster forum cos I know she will.

I really appreciate your taking the time trying to help me and having the patience to tolerate my long explanations, too. Also, for not actually making me feel like a dummy for asking it. I've been subscribed to Jill's newsletter for a while cos I really have been trying hard to learn but the idea of coming here to post has been awfully intimidating since I know you're all a bunch of computer smarties. (umm I keep using that term, I'm not bein disrespectful in any way or bein a wise guy, just my nickname I have for all of you who know so much relating to all of this stuff. )

Think I'll probably try to lurk around here for a while when I can get some time and maybe post a teeny bit. Thanks for making me feel welcome. Thanks very much again too for taking the time to answer my question.

[Randy]

The only dumb questions are those that are left unasked.

So don't feel intimidated in the least.

[1dmf]

lol - hey Randy , I think you need a cold shower

[Jill]

To sum up the problem in a nutshell, in case all Randy's ramblings are confusing...

The affiliate links are using 302 redirects instead of 301's which caused those links to get indexed. If you can have them changed to 301's your problem should be solved.

[chrishirst]

Is this -> Redirecting (Masking) Affiliate Links any help?

[purplebear]

Is this -> Redirecting (Masking) Affiliate Links any help?

Umm I think I understood what Randy was saying, but think I'm confused again now. lol

"The affiliate links are using 302 redirects instead of 301's which caused those links to get indexed. If you can have them changed to 301's your problem should be solved."

By having them changed to 301's....does that mean that the links would be listed in the results the way they should be (as the link for the site of the affiliate and not the actual affiliate link) or are you saying they wouldn't appear in the search results at all? Since they originally were in the search result ranking fairly well, wish they'd go back to bein listed that way.

Thank you chrishirst for that link. I did go and look at it, but to be honest it's waaay too much for my little non-techie brain. My major acomplishment has been to teach myself enough html to have been able to have made my site. (hubby gave me FrontPage so now it's in it but psssst still just go into the code and work in it. lol ) I appreciate the link, tho.

Kinda have a question since this 301 stuff has been mentioned. Think I listened to a podcast recently and it said to have a permanent 301 redirect for your site. Umm first have to do a little searching to find out what that is lol but do you agree with that?? Should I have a 301 redirect for my sites?

[Catz]

My major acomplishment has been to teach myself enough html to have been able to have made my site.

That is a great start! Learning HTML can make your life so much easier.
Once you start to work online more, you will find it can come in handy in places you never considered.

Most places you use online editors (similar to the one on this forum), there are situations where the page they show is not what you wanted and making changes in the editor does not work. You even come across this issue when posting listings in eBay, which is surprising, but their site is constantly changing and updating.

Understanding the HTML code behind the pages, you are able to go into the HTML coding section and make corrections directly to the code, which in turn makes the pages format properly.

Merchants who don't understand the code behind the pages are not able to do that and have to post their pages looking quite strange due to the formatting issues. You really have to double check those pages to make sure they are formatting the way you have it set before moving on.

hubby gave me FrontPage so now it's in it but psssst still just go into the code and work in it

You have the right idea.

Getting comfortable with HTML coding will make your life so much easier in the long run...and it can be a real time saver as well.

Edited by Jill, 31 March 2008 - 09:50 PM.