Marcia - 2:49 am on Dec 9, 2006 (gmt 0)

>>Does anyone have data or experience with this?

Will common sense do? Why would any affiliate in their right mind do something to help the merchant's site rank better than their own - thereby circumventing commissions by a process of natural selection.

I've got experience with some realistic observation, that's for sure. Some outfit pandering to merchants' greed for *free seo benefits" with backlinks while trying to hoodwink affiliates into thinking it would be good for them, was told the truth of the matter by savvy, eperienced affiliate marketers (and SEOs) so openly, persistently and accurately that they had to end up closing their forum down to suppress it.

As a matter of record, which is hard and verifiable data, many affiliate-friendly, ethical merchants, even ones with network links that don't give out backlink and PR benefit in the first place, are now by default putting rel="nofollow" into their network and datafeed links.

Added:

This isn't a new concept, there are plenty out there looking for PR and rankings benefit from affiliate links

[webmasterworld.com...]

FACT: Affiliate marketing on a commissioned basis and SEO/Link Development services are two completely different business models.

[edited by: Marcia at 2:57 am (utc) on Dec. 9, 2006]