Googles Secret Guidelines On Thin Affiliates


Journalist Henk van Ess has caused a flurry of excitement on blogs and forums. In his blog he revealed that Google uses teams of humans all over the world to evaluate the accuracy of Google's search results.

These "international agents", who are paid $10 to $20 an hour, were recruited mainly through universities. They're paid to check search results at Google every day.

Don't be distracted by the debate over whether Google should be doing this.

Of course it should. It's just a form of quality control.

Google can use the evaluators' findings to tweak its algorithms and reduce search engine spam.

Spam Recognition Guide

What affiliates need to pay careful attention to is Google's "Spam Recognition Guide for Raters", which Henk revealed.

If you're a "thin affiliate," beware.

Although the report is a year old, about 80% of its contents are still being used by Google's evaluators, Henk says.

The confidential document gives us an unvarnished look at Google's attitude to affiliates.

If you're using any of the "manipulative techniques" Google describes, this report will probably encourage you to take a hard look at your website.

I hope you're not silly enough to be using hidden links or hidden text. Not surprisingly, Google teaches its "raters" how to detect them.

PPC revenue earners under fire

Are you creating pages without much content with the aim of collecting pay-per-click (PPC) revenue? Google's raters are taught to mark such pages as "Offensive", and gives examples.

Google secret guidelines spend some time discussing different ways in which some affiliates display results from pay-per-click search engines, so if you're doing that, you'll definitely want to study this report carefully.

Are you displaying ads disguised as search engine results? Google finds them offensive.

Are you adding a dmoz.org feed to your site with the aim of earning PPC revenue? That's "offensive", too.

Google says:

"We differentiate between affiliates that produce extra service, value, or content, and those that simply are duplicates of other sites, set up to boost traffic to other sites and earn a commission for it. The former ones are not Offensive and should be rated on the merits to the query. The latter ones are Offensive...

"Thin affiliate doorways are sites that usher people to a number of Affiliate programs, earning a commission for doing so, while providing little or no value-added content or service to the user. A site certainly has the right to try to earn income;

we're attempting to identify sites that do nothing but act as a commission-earning middleman."

Affiliate networks seen as warning signs

To Google, affiliate links such as qksrv.net, bfast.com and myaffiliateprogram.com - on the page or in redirects - "strongly suggest" that the site is a thin affiliate.

Are you using an affiliate datafeed? To Google, that's another warning sign.

However, if you offer a comparison of prices between different online merchants, you're OK, you're not a thin affiliate.

Google provides an incredibly tough guideline, which hundreds of thousands of affiliate sites fail to meet.

Google says:

"Do not call a page affiliate spam when an affiliation is only incidental to the message and purpose of a website. To determine whether participation in affiliate programs is central or incidental to the site's existence, ask yourself this question: Would this site remain a coherent whole if the pages leading to the affiliate (merchant) were taken away?"

That probably counts out most affiliate sites.

In summary, if you want to be friends with Google, make sure you provide extra value or content.

I've quoted only parts of the report. Any serious affiliate will want to study the whole thing carefully.

Note: A Google employee broke a non-disclosure agreement by revealing this report. I don't know how long it will stay online. You may want to do what I did - save a copy of it on your hard drive.

Now we know what Google really thinks of affiliates. You've been warned.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allan Gardyne has been earning a very good living from affiliate programs since 1998. Learn from an affiliate veteran. Get his FREE newsletter... http://www.AssociatePrograms.com.


More Resources

Making Money with Affiliate Programs - Part II
In this holiday season online shopping is hotter than ever! According to US Commerce Department online sales continue to grow with a robust 25-27 percent this year over 1992. Online holiday shopping at a rate of 10 percent is also considerably outpacing the 5.
The Lucrative Power of the Digital Era - Info Marketing
There are certain things we need in life that must be bought and replenished time after time - toothpaste, guitar strings, food (a personal shopping list of mine). Food goes off.
8 Reasons Why Affiliate Marketing is the Better Option
Many people are confused when they first become iterested in internet businesses, they find themselves asking what type of busisness is best for me?Well I can't answer this for you but I can certainly give you a few pointers in the right direction and my personal opinion. So here they are:1.
9 Steps to Success in Affiliate Marketing
1.Join an Affiliate Program: Join programs that interest you personally.
Is There Any Money On Over Saturated Markets?
Well that depends ultimately on you! Let me explain?I have tackled a few over-saturated markets that are just splattered everywhere on the internet and at first when I tried I pretty much failed miserably. You wanna know why?Because I was doing EXACTLY what every other bloody Tom, Dick and Harry was doing? I was trying to promote products that were already being marketed the exact same way everyone else did! I took the obvious trail that most others do!But of course I wasn't going to give up without a battle - I had to put my thinking cap on, I knew there had to be a way so I didn't give up! I got creative and looked for ways to promote these products that sell so well (Heck who doesn't want to sell a product that people jump at right?)Here is what I did? I started marketing these products tactfully in other niche's I had.
5 Tips If You Want To Be A Reseller
If you are planning to be a reseller for a product or many products, here are five great tips you can use for your own![1] A good way to source for quality products with great demand is to purchase a yearly (or even lifetime!) access to membership websites dedicated to resale rights. These membership sites offer products such as E-books, software, templates, and audio/video with resale rights.
Affiliate Revenue For Beginners
Affiliate programs can be a very powerful source of income for your website and many meaning the majority of websites on the net uses affiliate programs to generate revenue from there websites and many are making lots of cold hard cash. Here are the most common terms that you will encounter with affiliate programs-Cost Per Click (CPC) or Pay Per Click (PPC)-Cost per thousand (CPM)-Cost Per Action (CPA)-Cost Per Sale (CPS)Cost Per Click (CPC) or Pay Per Click (PPC)The cost per click-through; the fee charged every time a user clicks on a banner ad or HTML link.
Launching Your Affiliate Program Correctly
To any Internet Marketer these days an affiliate program is absolutely essential marketing method of achieving a decent e-growth. Allowing others to promote your products or services can be the most efficient way of selling your products as you only pay for successful results, whether these are leads, sales Or traffic.
Why Top-earning Affiliates Have Their Own Domains And Websites
Many affiliate programs usually provide special web pages for their affiliates. This is one of the reasons why it may appear very strange, at first, that most top affiliates and the high earners from affiliate programs will most certainly always have their own websites, complete with their own domains specifically for promoting a certain affiliate program that they are involved in.
Whats LinkShare, And Do I Need To Use It?
Online affiliate marketing is one of the most effective, cheapest and fastest ways to promote merchandise. With millions of people getting access to the Internet everyday, there's a great chance for a merchant to introduce his products and services to a wider market, thereby, maximizing his revenue.
Free traffic vs. Extra Revenue - Earning From PPC Search Engines
What are the Search Engines?A Search Engine is special database-driven web site designed to index and categorize internet addresses. Search Engines focus to help people to find information stored on the Web.
Leverage Your Way to Profits With Joint Ventures
You can't conduct business on the internet for very long without hearing the term "Joint Venture", but do you really understand them or how and why a Joint Venture works?In broad, simple terms -- a Joint Venture is partnering with others to create a win/win situation for everyone involved.But just what does that mean? How do you identify a good Joint Venture situation? How do you structure the partnership so that everyone wins? How do you approach a potential Joint Venture partner? There are tons of questions, and I'll try to answer them all.
Why Two-Tier Affiliate Programs are Best
When you join an affiliate program or start an affiliate program of your own, you have to decide whether it will be a single tier or two-tier affiliate program.With a single tier program you earn a commission on any sales you make and that is it.
Two Quick Ways to Make Your Copy of Merchants Data Feed Different From All Other Affiliates
Product data feeds are really popular among affiliates because they can help produce thousands of product pages quickly and easily. Such pages can be used to drive highly targeted search engine traffic looking specifically for those products.
Successful Free Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs are the latest money making tools available on the Internet. While there is definitely not a lack of options available, there is a lack of good options available.
Never Too Old
NEVER TO OLDMy great granddaughter said I was too old to learn to use a computer.The trouble with the younger generation is that, they think that just because you are getting old, you are also becoming stupid.
Tips For Marketing Your Affiliate Business
Not all Home Business Entrepreneurs are experienced enough to produce their own product, so most of us 'would-be-entrepreneurs' become affiliates, marketing someone else's products and opportunities. That is nothing to be ashamed of.
Three Critical Affiliate Marketing Tips For Higher Commissions!
Affiliate marketing is quickly becoming a very specialized form of online business. It seems that people all over the Internet are clamoring for more affiliate tips.
3 Tips To Succeed With Affiliate Programs
Dear friends, when it comes to promoting affiliate programs we all follow a certain defined process. We first go to google.
Heres Why Affiliate Marketing Is So Lucrative
There are people who think of the world as a dreary place simply because they do not find their existence charming enough to render them contented. There are those who wish that they have more than what they possess.

More Affiliate Revenue Information:

Related Articles

Attracting Good Affiliates
Good affiliates can be hard to get. There could be any number of reasons for this, but I am going to focus on what I believe is the one major problem that prevents someone from attracting good affiliates.
5 Ways to Promote Affiliate Programs
After having chosen several programs to join, you probably realize that customers won't knock on your door - you have to come to them. By promoting your affiliate programs successfully, you build your own success!So what should you do to promote your affiliate programs? Here are five methods which have succeeded for millions and can succeed for you, if you choose to follow the same steps as those millions before you!#1 Create your own marketing affiliate program materials.
How To Become A Data-Feed Super Affiliate
I am not going to describe what a product feed (or a data-feed) is. There is a lot of information out there about how to use one to build sites.
Affiliate Marketing - Ten Excellent Reasons Why You Should Do It
There are many opportunities to make money working on the Internet. Becoming an affiliate marketer is a great way of having your own online business.
Tracking Phone Sales Is Important To Your Affiliates
Today the majority of affiliates are looking for compensation when your customers call in their orders by phone. One of the first things they will look for when thinking about joining your affiliate program is to see if you have an order phone number on your site.
10 Sizzling Tips For Affiliates
1. Create an infopacked mini site.
Affiliate Marketing - A Quick Overview For Beginners
It's simply a kind of marketing in the internet where marketers sell products or services of certain merchants. Those Internet Marketers earn commissions on sales.
Promoting My Affiliate Programs--How?
Getting your website up, is really just the first phase of your journey to a career on the Internet. You must promote your website, your product or your service to the world.
Affiliate Program As It Should Be
Every off- or online business has a target of growing its market share. Under all other equal conditions the percent of the market, occupied by a company, means certain level of recognition, brand, exposure and, therefore, sales and income.
Basics of Affiliate Marketing
Whether you realize it or not, if you've been on the Internet today, you have encountered affiliate marketing. If you have ever "clicked thru" one site to order something from another, the first site probably received a portion of the sale.
Three Critical Affiliate Marketing Tips For Higher Commissions!
Affiliate marketing is quickly becoming a very specialized form of online business. It seems that people all over the Internet are clamoring for more affiliate tips.
Set Up Winning Web Page To Be Powerful Selling Tool - 5 Ways to Help Affiliate Problems
The Internet is powerful selling tool. Never before has been easier to start a business, be able to reach out to literally millions of potential customers and make your business succeed.
Do You Make These Mistakes With Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate Marketing is a very lucrative business online, especially where it concerns Affiliate Internet Marketing.Today I bring you some rare and everyday mistakes that are keeping you from making a killing with affiliate marketing.
Affiliate Marketing - The Comparison Model
The value of an affiliate is nil in a customer's mind - ok, so you've shown them where they can get a few products related to that niche, but there needs to be some sense in their mind that you have offered a genuine reason for choosing those particular affiliate partners. Are the chosen partners simply making you the most handsome commission? How do you turn a lifeless "I make money off you" affiliate link into an appreciated "These are the only products you want" recommendation?Some marketers scatter freebies around their newsletters, such as valuable advice, hoping to build positive relationships with potential paying customers, then spring the partner links on them.
Affiliate Marketing: Starting Out On The Internet
So you want to start your own business, and you want to start it without mortgaging your house and maxing out your credit cards. You've done the market research and you've concluded that by far the largest market place in the world is right there in front of you within the cyber world of the internet.
Internet Affiliate Business: 5 Ways to Grow It Organically
Growing your internet home business organically means there are similarities to organic farming. An organic farmer knows that if he develops healthy soil, he will have healthy plants.
Popup Killers - Not just killing that Popup but also your Revenue!
With the increased use of popups on sites - when you enter, when you leave, while you are there - Popup killers (orstoppers) are all the rage. Companies use Popup killers as a marketing tool forfrustrated webusers - they kill the Popup, the webuser usestheir service be it as an ISP or Toolbar.
Affiliate Programs - How to Pick the Solid Ones
This is very important, because your reputation is on stake here! Joining the wrong affiliate programs will only hurt your online business.First of all, it is almost impossible for you to collect adequate informations on those merchant companies.
The Google Adsense-Adwords Automatic Money Machine
Have you ever tried to make money through affiliate programs using Google Adwords? Then you know it's not easy. Some say that only 2-3 out of 10 affiliate Adwords campaigns will actually make a profit.
In Mourning for the Google Cash System
Do you remember when you could pick an affiliate program, hustle up a few hundred keywords toss it all into your Adwords account & wait for the commissions. No me neither! I was busy doing something else during those glory days.