redirecting to partner website if referrer is google

is this allowed or is it cloaking?

[leifwessman]

Users want partner website, not mine. So I'm thinking of helping them directly to that website when referrer is google. Does this violate any rules?

I've seen another website doing the same thing, and he is still included in google.

Leif

[AthlonInside]

Absolutely agaist Google guidelines. Don't play with fire.

[rfgdxm1]

I'm not sure if I understand what you mean. If you redirected Googlebot on all pages to that partner website, this would mean that Googlebot would never index your content. This would mean you would essentially be booting yourself from Google; you wouldn't have to worry about what Google does at all.

[leifwessman]

I'm not redirecting googlebot. only the visitors that i get from google.

Leif

[leifwessman]

Absolutely agaist Google guidelines

Which one?

[rfgdxm1]

Why would only people who found your site with Google, as opposed to other visitors, want the partner website? In any case, what you are doing is a Google no-no.

[Shak]

from my limited technical knowledge, you are talking about "Cloaking" right?

In other words, a visitor arriving from Google serps, is redirected to "another" site instead of yours?

This would be cloaking, and is NOT advised (imo)

maybe some of the dark horses round here can tell us otherwise.

Shak

[leifwessman]

Ok. What if I don't used cloaking. What if I redirected every visitor to my partner using javascript. Would that also be a google no no?

[rfgdxm1]

Yes.

[leifwessman]

Why?

---

What if I have an alert box for everyone entering my website, asking if the user would like to be transfered to my partner? Would that be a google no-no also?

[FleaPit]

If it is way off topic compared to the description and title tags displayed in the serps then yeah, Google could boot you when it finds out! If it does exactly what it says on the tin and gives the user what they searched for then chances are it would pass... maybe! Remember, when it comes to things like this, there are no hard and fast rules. At the moment this is unlikely to trigger Google's algo alarm but if a human editor ever catches sight of it then it will depend on his or her take on the situation i.e. you could still get booted!

[leifwessman]

What if I, using javascript, is waiting for 3 seconds and then do a javascript redirect (for all visitors) - also a no-no?

[Shak]

Maybe I am missing something here.......

but if you are willing to go to ALL this trouble to dupe Google and the Visitor, would it not be far easier to DIRECT traffic where You actually want it to go without any "tricks"

Life is only as hard as you make it :)

Shak

[leifwessman]

I would say that 99.99% is expecting to find my partner, not me when they enter my website. The search results looks like it's my partner and the url also looks like my partner...

[leifwessman]

easier to DIRECT traffic where You actually want it to go without any "tricks"

I'm not sure of what you mean. I'm affiliated with my partner. My website is only there to get traffic to my partner. People has to enter my website or else I will not earn any money..

[Shak]

Ok, let me put it another way.

YOU are looking to DUPE the VISITOR and GOOGLE, to help you make £££ or $$$s.

Nothing wrong with that, as most of us doing this in 1 shape or another, just depends how discreet we are!

The tactics you are proposing in my opinion are NOT good, and will get you into serios trouble.

Shak

[FleaPit]

Aaah the penny drops!

[leifwessman]

The tactics you are proposing in my opinion are NOT good, and will get you into serios trouble

Ok. Then I'll leave it the way it is right now. No redirect - only a button saying "buy from partner". That way I think I'm not duping anyone.

My website is built for the search engines though. But I'm not cloaking or trying some hidden tricks. My title says "Partner.com Buy ..." so it looks as if I am my partner. The users think that they are surfing to my partner. But that doesn't violate any rules, does it?

Leif

[Shak]

The users think that they are surfing to my partner. But that doesn't violate any rules, does it?

Violates the biggest rule in my opinion "NOT being honest"

What you are proposing is quite common in certain areas such as "pharmaceuticals" and certain men/women of this board are absolute masters at this and make a lot of money doing so.

Whether they would openly come and share thier tricks, I very much doubt it.

Shak

[shaadi]

I've seen another website doing the same thing, and he is still included in google.

If he is your competitor maybe you would like to fill in a simple [url=http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html]report

[Powdork]

My website is only there to get traffic to my partner

Then Google wants to index your partner for the keywords you are getting results for. They want your site to show up in serps when someone searches for 'building traffic for mypartner'.

[leifwessman]

Violates the biggest rule in my opinion "NOT being honest

Why? I'm helping people to find what they want to find. They want to find my partner and I give them the path. If my website wouldn't exist then it would be more difficult for them.

Sure, I'm not telling the truth in my <title> but that HELPS the user. He thinks that he is going to my partner - and in fact he is. I'm only helping him to get to his target.

Leif

[Shak]

I'm only helping him to get to his target.

Kind Samaritans are rewarded well in Heaven.

This thread is going way off topic, and I may be partly to blame, so i shall bow out and leave you to it.

Shak

[makemetop]

>I'm not telling the truth..

So, why should search engines treat you as if you are? ;)

[Chris_R]

nevermind

[mack]

Seams to me it all comes down to affiliate marketing. What you should be doing is targeting the keywords to get the traffic to your site, give them all the info on your site that they need to make up their mind up then send them to the partner site with a "buy now" link.

What you need to remember is you are probably not the only affiliate operating for this merchant. You should be trying to attract as large a percentage of the traffic available as possible. But not by just acting as a doorway to the main site. Offer info to attract users to your site. The more you attract the more you make.

Mack.

No point just using your site as a machine to forward users as if it where a conveyor belt. Sure you might make a fast buck, but try for the long term. If you try and spoof google it is only a mater of time before your bubble bursts.

[MrSpeed]

To answer the original question. IMO this is not cloaking since you are sending back a 301/302 redirect header to the client and is easily detected by a search engine. This "trick" is as old as the web itself.

Cloaking serves up different content on the server side without redirects. It can be triggered by browser version/ UA/IP etc.

[mack]

It is still deceiving the user though.. and may well be in breach of the affiliate terms and conditions. Sounds to me like targeting a sites keywords then selling them back the traffic that was trying to get to them in the first place.

Mack.