Keywords in Affiliate IDs

Do the SEs ignore keywords in them?

[Angonasec]

Nice anorak question to kick off the new year.

Does anybody know whether SEs take into account affiliate IDs in keyword density assessment of a page?

I'm considering switching a current affiliate ID, which does contain a keyword, and I'm wondering if it will affect the page's ranking.

For example:

Said page has 40 affiliate product links each containing the ID: superiorwidget-50.
Will switching just the affiliate ID to superiormundane-50 cause the page's rank to fall for the widget keyword?

Hard facts preferred to speculation.

Ta!

BTW. I want to change the ID due to a security concern, not to influence ranking.

[Angonasec]

Anybody know?

[mona]

Hi, Angonasec. I don't know the answer, but I'll bump this post up where someone who does may see it. Also, not sure, but maybe this could help?
Keyword Density Analyzer [searchengineworld.com]

[otc_cmnn]

Google does look at the content of the URL string to determine ranking. I am not sure how much weight the put on a paramater as oppossed to a keyword being in a file name, but the answer is surely 'a little'.

i *speculate* that it is very little. if you rank well for widget and your affiliate ID is 'widget' then I wouldn't change it. But if you rank well for 'widget' (where widget is a competitive word) and you affiliate ID is 'superWIDGETman2012' - I'd change the ID without flinching.

But also be aware that google treats a page like
widgets.php?var=1
and
widgets.php?var=2
as two completely different pages for ranking purposes
So also keep in mind that changing you aff ID causing the page to be completely reindexed, costing you value you got from the age of the page.

Hope that helps....