Don’t Close Your Affiliate Program Just Because You Have Been Hit By Google Penalty

<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4sYW4BHeUnEL60-GPPLR9F5l2A9_5BkGB6fJl6m9CVxENZ5a2bV2tkckKozf4sB8AT2hKDTu2En_WBNwM9iMXr6j28CXIdloGqgQt70MzXTUp2a76dw6Sx3GoOGzE3-98PyzwropVnwo/s1600/Don%E2%80%99t+Close+Your+Affiliate+Program+Just+Because+You+Have+Been+Hit+By+Google+Penalty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4sYW4BHeUnEL60-GPPLR9F5l2A9_5BkGB6fJl6m9CVxENZ5a2bV2tkckKozf4sB8AT2hKDTu2En_WBNwM9iMXr6j28CXIdloGqgQt70MzXTUp2a76dw6Sx3GoOGzE3-98PyzwropVnwo/s1600/Don%E2%80%99t+Close+Your+Affiliate+Program+Just+Because+You+Have+Been+Hit+By+Google+Penalty.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">So your site has been hit by Google penalty. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to pull the plug on your affiliate program. Google launched several major algorithmic updates in the last few years. As a result of this, many websites that were practicing black hat SEO tactics got hit. Unfortunately, some good sites also suffered collateral damage and lost their rankings. </span></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since Google is the number one source of organic search traffic, webmasters panic when they realize that they have been hit by an algorithmic update. However, closing your affiliate program as soon as you see a drop in organic traffic doesn't help. In fact, for many sites hit by the Google penalty, their affiliate program may be their only lifeline. </span></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many webmasters who run affiliate programs got hit by recent Google Hummingbird updates. Needless to say, many of them are eager to wrap up their affiliate program. They suspect that they will get hit again if they don't close the program. They are also too busy trying to recover from the penalties that they have no time to work on their affiliate marketing efforts. </span></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Analyze your affiliate conversion rate<o:p></o:p></span></b></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you run an affiliate program and has been hit by a Google penalty, the first thing you need to do is to look at your affiliate conversion rate. If that remains steady, you need not worry. Affiliate traffic usually comes from your affiliate websites. Interestingly, this has hardly anything to do with a site’s search rankings. Even if your search rankings drop, your affiliate traffic will remain unaffected. On the flip side, if the affiliate sites that drive traffic to your site, too, have been hit by a Google penalty, you will probably see a drop in traffic. However, this is not something you can control. Unless you see a substantial drop in affiliate traffic or conversion rates, you have no reason to stop your affiliate program. </span></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Remove unnatural links<o:p></o:p></span></b></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Google's Hummingbird update is targeted at websites that use spammy link building practices. So if you have a large number of incoming links with exact match anchor text, you are likely to be hit. Other tactics that might invite a penalty are excessive use of keywords and duplicate content. If you see a substantial drop in search traffic you will need to analyze your link profile and remove as many unnatural links as you can. This could improve your search rankings. You must also try and remove all duplicate content on the site. </span></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">No-follow affiliate links<o:p></o:p></span></b></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Too many affiliate links on your site can harm your search rankings. So if you use affiliate links don't forget to no-follow or cloak them. This will protect you from a Hummingbird penalty. When you no-follow a link, you don't pass link juice to it. Generally speaking, all affiliate and sponsored links on your site should have a no-follow attribute to them. Affiliate links are essentially paid endorsements. By making them no-follow, you are adhering to Google Webmaster guidelines and saving yourself from Google's wrath. </span></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">So if you have been hit by a Google penalty, don't stop your affiliate program. Instead, spend more effort and time on getting more sales and traffic from affiliates. When your Google rankings drop, customers referred by your affiliates can compensate for any loss of organic search traffic and income.</span></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>

Don’t Close Your Affiliate Program Just Because You Have Been Hit By Google Penalty

So your site has been hit by Google penalty. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to pull the plug on your affiliate progra...

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