worker - 2:51 pm on Sep 22, 2004 (gmt 0)

A client I consult for has had their company URL replaced in the G SERPS by an affiliate partner URL. Needless to say, they are unhappy that everytime someone finds them in Google, the affiliate partner is getting credit for that person.

The affiliate is running their link to the client through a click-management script, and the affiliate site has a VERY high 'rank' within G. At this point, my client is going to end the relationship with the affiliate if they do not change the way they are linking, even though they are a KEY partner.

They made this decision because of the last email reply from G on this issue, basically saying that both URL's (the client URL, and the affiliate URL) have the same content, so G is listing the one with the higher 'rank'.

I have to admit to being blown away by the reply from G, and I'm hoping it was from a low-level customer support person who was just wrong...although it would explain the existing behavior of G on this issue.

In this case the client's URL has been hijacked by another site with a higher 'rank', and G acknowledged it...and even explained it with a comment about the 'same content'.

They didn't address the fact that there is really only one page/site of content and that the affiliate is just re-directing.

I can't believe this is the way they will leave things, because it just doesn't make sense.