hiding affiliate links from search engines?

**people-finding** · 07-04-2007, 02:31 PM

I'm putting some clickbank products on my website, how do I disguise the links so the search engines don't punish the site???

Thanks,
Andy

**SuperGoogle** · 07-04-2007, 02:59 PM

If you want to hide your affiliate links, you can have a link point to another website address like Blogger and have a huge link that says "click here to continue" on the Blogger site.

That way your affiliate link isn't on your site but on another!
Google nor the other search engines will punish you.

**stOx** · 07-04-2007, 05:46 PM

Google wont punish you for having affiliate links.

**chrishirst** · 07-04-2007, 06:14 PM

Lets get one thing out of the way first.

SE aren't going to "punish" your site for having affiliate links. You may find some pages get filtered out because you have a page that adds no value to the SEs index. You have to remember, you're not the only one with these offers/products that is using the same wording as 10,000 other pages.

**people-finding** · 07-05-2007, 07:06 AM

I've obviously changed the content of the adverts so it is my own wording. My site is doing really well though, and I'd hate for the search engines to downgrade it or rank the affiliate product above mine just because I have an affiliate link.

**Learning Newbie** · 07-05-2007, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by people-finding

I'm putting some clickbank products on my website, how do I disguise the links so the search engines don't punish the site???

You could try going to the airport, and when they ask you if your bags have been under your control the whole time, tell them "Yeah, but an Iranian guy gave me this box and asked me to hold it. Kinda ticks if you listen close."

Or, do some kind of web cast, and download gobs and gobs of kiddie porn.

Smoke crack at the police station.

Other people told you the truth, search engines won't punish you (or even care) for having affiliate links. But they will punish you for hiding links from them that you show your visitors.

The solution you came up with is kind of like a kid who doesn't want to show his parents his report card, so he sets the house on fire to get rid of his bad marks.

**ADAM Web Design** · 07-05-2007, 03:15 PM

If it's that big a deal, either rel="nofollow" or an ad tracking script will do the trick.

**ForrestCroce** · 07-05-2007, 03:53 PM

Think of it this way; if having a "buy from these guys" link on your page got you banned or dropped out of the search results, no one would have them, and affiliate marketing wouldn't exist.

A lot of pages seem to do their ads with client script ... pick a random number, than document.write a link to a banner image depending on the randomness. Or choose one using another method. You could try that.

But Newbie has a good point, and one that doesn't typically come from newbs, about how hiding this is going to do more harm than leaving it out in the open. What you're asking about is cloaking.