Yes, affiliate links are backlinks and they can work for or against you when it comes to SEO. This is because they are a link from one site to your website, and any link that points towards your website is technically a backlink. But not every backlink passes SEO value, and that is where the confusion occurs.
Affiliate Links Are Backlinks For SEO, But Bad Ones.
Example: A link from a search result in Google, like your website’s homepage showing up in Google for your brand name, is a backlink and will help with SEO. This is because it is a link from Google.com to your site. But this does not technically pass “authority” even though it is a backlink. I get into this in detail below.
Affiliate Links Are Backlinks For SEO, But Bad Ones.
This new post is a topic I’ve covered multiple times and is stemming from a fun conversation I had with ex-Google engineer Fili Wiese about affiliate links being used for SEO. He verified that while he was at Google working on the webspam team he personally gave, depending on the implementation, manual actions for ecommerce stores and service providers for using affiliate links to boost their SEO. Fili has fact checked this post (thank you Fili) so there’s more than just my word and experience on this.
Affiliate Links Are Backlinks For SEO, But Bad Ones.
As Fili mentioned in our conversation and as I’ve written about for years, Google is not against running an affiliate program, or participating in one to drive more traffic to your website. However, Google does not consider affiliate links as merit based, but affiliate links are commercial in nature and should be nofollowed or have the sponsored attribute added to links. Because they’re commercial in nature, not earned, they should not count for SEO and rankings.
Affiliate Links Are Backlinks For SEO, But Bad Ones.
There’s a lot I’m going to cover here, so use these links to jump to the section most relevant to your situation.
Affiliate Links Are Backlinks For SEO, But Bad Ones.
Background and Cause of Confusion
SEOs, tracking technologies, PR vendors, and…
Affiliate Links Are Backlinks For SEO, But Bad Ones.
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