superclown2 - 11:46 am on Mar 8, 2012 (gmt 0)

@Sgt_Kickaxe: agreed, I've seen this and I've even seen affiliate sites move up to top positions whilst merchant sites they were delivering visitors too were devalued, because (IMO) the affiliates were delivering a better and, perhaps more important, very different visitor experience. This has happened for search terms where I know, from hard experience, that there is human inspection of the top sites. I believe that "me too" type sites will become progressively less valued in the future and unique ones will thrive, whether they are merchant or affiliate; I have no evidence for this, just a gut feeling. This doesn't of course apply to certain big brands which can still, at present, hold top spots as affiliates without offering anything of real value.