Does an affilliate link cause you to drop in the serps?

[kidder]

I put an affiliate link on a clean site - A CB link on 1 page, an orphan page and within 3 days the whole site just dropped out of site in the serps. I had good rankings for a couple of SEO terms that are now not even top 100. Seems very suspect.

[trakkerguy]

Were the terms that it dropped for competitive terms? Does it still rank for other, less competitive terms?

[kidder]

It ranks for it's domain name - combined with a competitive term like "seo" - But other terms without the domain name are just gone to at least place 100 from what I can see - It might be just one of those Google things but I thought I would mention the fact that I have added a CB hop link to see if anyone else has foud this. The site is only maybe 1 year old with a PR4 -

[tedster]

To add this link, did you create an orphan page?

[kidder]

Yeah Ted that is exactly what I did and then created some external links into it - Curious as to how this is going to cause a problem with the index page... Should I create a home page link to it perhaps? This is not an important domain to me but it might be a valuable lesson.

[tedster]

Sounds like you have a nice opportunity to test a few ideas - just make your changes slowly enough so that you have some chance of seeing cause and effect. With Google stirring the pot so very often these days that can be a challenge.

[victorP]

kidder-

I have had a very similar thing happen to me.

Before you made the change, how long were you listed on the first page(getting good traffic) before you saw the drop?

[kidder]

For almost as long as the site has been online so at least a year now - Very steady results. Then I added this hop link and it was like raising a sign saying shoot me.

So the question remains - Does Google flag and filter sites that run these high profile affilaite links or this is just coincidence.

[SEOPTI]

Google flags hop links from Commission Junction, they even mention it in their document "GSpam Recognition Guide for Raters ".

[kidder]

So they flag them and act on them? So they do the same for Click Bank it would appear? It's pretty harsh treatment if you apply that rule to an established site - but it's good information to have if your an seo / marketer.