It seems that pay-per-click (PPC) affiliate marketing just got a little more dangerous.

In an effort to increase the quality of  sites served up to customers clicking on its ads, yesterday Google lashed out at those affiliate marketers who direct link to vendors through AdWords or who use AdWords to link to their own “product review” pages that are nothing more than hyped-up sales copy with affiliate links to vendors’ web sites.

Many of these affiliate marketers have seen the Google “quality score” of their ads drop from 10 down to 1 overnight.  As a result of the lowered rating, their ads have suddenly stopped showing in the “sponsored links” on the right hand side of the Google search.

Many Google Affiliate Ads Have Stopped Showing Due to Low "Quality Score"

It’s easy to understand why Google would want to make these latest changes. Advertising revenue is Google’s lifeblood and if the majority of the ads served up are simply affiliates clamoring for sales and providing misleading information, the ads will eventually become a nuisance to Google’s customers who will learn not to click on them anymore.

So far, it seems that those affiliates who are using “cloaked” links have survived this latest assault but the grim reaper may be peering over their collective shoulders as well. No one knows for certain at this point, but it seems logical that Google would set its sights on them next.

For the time-being, here are some steps that affiliates can take to protect their businesses:

1. Always use link cloaking software to “cloak” affiliate links.

2. When direct linking to a vendor’s sales page, include other outgoing links to high authority sites (preferably related to the topic that your visitors are interested in) at the bottom of your page as well. Google interprets this as valuable and looks more favorably on sites that include them. (Don’t worry too much about losing traffic to other sites. Keep the links small and down low on the page to minimize clicks on them. And if your sales message is properly crafted it will be far more exciting than any of those other resources anyway!)

3. Better yet, take control of the relationship with the customer. Instead of using a sales page with an affiliate link on the bottom, use a squeeze page that requires your visitor to provide their name and email address in exchange for exciting information relating to their problem or awesome bonuses related to the product you are marketing. Then follow up with the affiliate offer (and others too!) by email.

4. Start building real content for the long term. The days of being able to slap together a quick affiliate sales page and throw up a Google PPC campaign may be numbered. One thing that will never go out of style though is well written, insightful information. Instead of driving your affiliate sales through direct linking and hyped up reviews, consider building a site that provides real content and helpful advice to the niche that you are marketing to. Instead of focusing on making an instant sale, build relationships, get people on your email list and add value to the product you are promoting. Once you have their trust, they will WANT to buy from you.

A lot of affiliate marketers don’t want to build content because they are looking to make fast money. Unfortunately, what makes a relatively quick buck one day is obsolete the next. On the other hand, good solid content that helps your visitors solve a problem NEVER goes out of style.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t capitalize on short term strategies.  But if you want to be around for the long haul, you’ll need to build a business with a solid foundation as well.  Google will love ya for it.
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