Google and Affiliates Question

[jaca]

I just read a brief statement that Google now has a different policy of affiliates and you have to be careful if you have an affialation page (links).

I have looked for information on this but haven't found anything. Has anyone heard anything about this?

Also, I you have affiliate links that relate to your site are you going to be penalized by Google.

Confused .....(as I am just creating a new page and now don't what to do)?!

[minstrel]

Where did you read the brief statement, Jan?

[jaca]

Hi David,

I am on a network group. The moderator is working through the different stages of SEO. She just stated that there has been a change in policy with Google and that a website could be penalized for having an "affiliation page". I'm sorry I deleted off the email, but that was about all she said.

I have looked up information on Google and couldn't find anything.

I want to set up a page that has affiliation links that relate directly to my business. Do you think that this will hurt my site overall?

Sorry I can't provide any more information.

[minstrel]

Hmmm... I haven't heard anything to that effect... I'll see if I can find anything.

[jaca]

Thanks David,

I have worked very hard on optimizing my site and I have finally moved up the ranks. I sure don't want to do anything now to hurt my website.

I also think that if this is the case that it could have a huge effect on anyone who is uses affiliates. Remember I am not talking link farms, this is a case of affiliations that relate to my (your) business.

I will wait 'til I hear back from you before I make any addition on my site.

Thanks!

Jan

[cbp]

CONFUSION

These is a BIG difference between affiliates and affiliated sites

This confusion has come up in a number of forums and people have gone off with BIG misunderstandings.

An affiliate is when there is a business relationship (ie you get a payment when you direct someone to another site who buys something) - there is nothing wrong with this in Googles eye (unless there has been a policy change in the last 24hrs - I just got back from being in the bush)

An affiliated site is one on the same class IP address. This was defined in the patent Google got with the Hilltop algo - the word affiliation was used a lot in the documents. Google probably has a problem with this. Under the Hilltop thingy, links between affiliated sites (ie on the same class IP address) are likely to be ignored or devalued in the ranking formula (but maybe not the PR formula).

The moderator is working through the different stages of SEO. She just stated that there has been a change in policy with Google and that a website could be penalized for having an "affiliation page".

That moderator is being very irresponsible for spreading this and not getting it right - tell them so.

CBP

[jaca]

Thank you for the great explanation cbp.

Thought I don't quite understand what "same class IP address" means, I do understand that it is quite safe for me to put up an affiliates page.

Happy Sunday!

Jan

[cbp]

It pretty much means that the sites are hosted on the same server.

CBP

[edhan]

Originally Posted by cbp

CONFUSION

Under the Hilltop thingy, links between affiliated sites (ie on the same class IP address) are likely to be ignored or devalued in the ranking formula (but maybe not the PR formula).

CBP

Hi Cbp

As we are doing hosting for clients under our IP Address, does it means that their sites will be ignored or devalued as you have mentioned? Since their sites will be completely different from ours and not replicate, I do hope their ranking will not be affected otherwise they might move to other hosting services.

Edward Han

[cbp]

Sorry - my reply was not as complete as it could have been.

Here is what SEORank wrote about it:

How does Hilltop define affiliate sites?

*Affiliate sites are defines as follows –

Pages that originate from the same domain (www.ibm.com, www.ibm.com/us/, products.ibm.com, solutions.ibm.com etc.)

Pages that originate from the same domains but with different top level and second level suffixes (like www.ibm.com, www.ibm.co.uk, www.ibm.co.jp etc.)

Pages that originate from neighborhood IPs (first 3 common octet in the IP number like 66.165.238.xxx is common)

Pages that originate from affiliate of affiliates (if www.abc.com is hosted on the same IP octet as www.ibm.com, then www.abc.com is an affiliate of www.ibm.co.uk even if they are on a different IP series)

Source: http://www.seorank.com/analysis-of-h...-algorithm.htm

It does not mean that Google are actually doing this. But this was in the document that is related to the patent that Google got - so there is a good chance that they are.

CBP

[edhan]

Thanks for the link.

From what I read and understand, it will definitely be affecting my hosting service since the first 3 common octet will be similar. That means I will need to create all different IP addresses in order to be able to optimize their sites if Google implement that algo.

Edward Han

[cbp]

I wouldn't jump the gun yet and change it. It depends on what the purposes of the links between the sites are.

Here my best "interpretation" based on everything I have read and seen:
1. Excessive crosslinking bewteen sites on the same class IP address probably will get penalized.
2. Non-excessive crosslinking between sites on the same class IP address probably will not get penalized.
3. We do not know where "the line in the sand" is between excessive and not-excessive is
4. I do think that links between sites on the same class IP address will pass on PR and not penalized as far as PR goes.
5. If the Hilltop algo (or a version of it, eg maybe LocalRank or TopicSensitive PR), then links between sites on the same IP address are not penalized, but are just ignored in that part of the ranking formula.

Read the whole Hilltop analysis in that link above and see if it does fit your sites/problems - it may not be an issue.

CBP

[Mel]

Its good to remember that we don't know which, in what combination, or if any of the google patents have been actually included in the Current Google algo, but there is some evidence that an expert system seems to have been added, which IMO might be hilltop or a version of it. Evidence for this is seen in the sudden rise to prominence of directories, .gov and .edu pages.

But if they are using a different method of calculating PR, such as the LocalRank Patent or Topic Specific Page Rank, then those are only affecting the PR portion of the rankings.

LocalRank for instance simply modifies the existing relevancy ranking (which it calls oldrank) by selecting a subset of a group of results (100 has been suggested) and removing all links but one from the same Class C addresses before calculating a new ranking factor which is added to oldrank to get the new ranking. BUT and this is a big but, the forumula for adding these two together includes a multipying factor on both oldrank and localrank such that either could be dominant depending on what values are chosen.

I agree with CBP that the use of such patents should not be of concern to the average webmaster, but it may impact heavily on those who set up rings of sites on the same servers, those who host thier clients sites on the same server and interlink them for ranking purposes, etc.