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Does Google Follow Affiliate Links?

         

Webmeister

7:33 pm on Apr 24, 2007 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I'm sure this has been discussed around here before, but my programmer and I have been debating this lately and we can't seem to agree on it. He seems to think that Google will follow a link such as www.example.com/referral.asp?affiliateID=1234 and count it as a backlink for www.example.com, but I am not so sure that they will. I have recently been checking out my backlinks, and it does not seem as though Google is counting them as backlinks.

Is here a way to get Google to count affiliate links as backlinks?

Thanks!

steveb

5:13 am on Apr 25, 2007 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



A link to www.example.com/referral.asp?affiliateID=1234 is a link to www.example.com/referral.asp?affiliateID=1234.

Whitey

10:12 am on Apr 25, 2007 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I'll re confirm steveb's answer to help your decide what you will do.

[edited by: Whitey at 10:13 am (utc) on April 25, 2007]

Marcia

10:18 am on Apr 25, 2007 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



There have been instances where affiliate sites have displaced the sites of the merchants' sites they were promoting, in the SERPs. PR won't be passed, but confusion can result - maybe not at one engine, but possibly at another.

Instead of indies (some with the purpose of garnering PR), if links are run theough a reliable network for tracking, there's no PR passed for sure, but there's no confusion either.

oziman

11:33 am on Apr 25, 2007 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



It counts as a link - the best way, to get the most value of the link is like this:
set up your tracking software to accept the link as http://www.example.com/page?affiliateid=2222 or something. Have the script grab the id, place the cookie and then 301 redirect to http://www.example.com/page without the affiliate link.

That way you get the most value for the link.

[edited by: tedster at 4:34 pm (utc) on April 25, 2007]
[edit reason] switch to example.com - it will never be owned [/edit]