This, in my opinion, is the number 1 piece of advice I wish I had listened to at the start. Essentially do good work and respect the ethos of the internet.

There are many opportunities to cut corners – don’t do it. Do work that you are proud of and helps other people.

I aim to do more video blogs – it is quicker and in some cases better to get your point across.

What do you think?

Do you have any top tips for internet marketing? Want to ask a question? Have something you wish to say?

If so, comment below!

photo credit: Yodel Anecdotal

It is hard to say quite where these beliefs come from but it is fair to say that many people are exploiting this attitude in order to make a lot of money themselves.

There are so many training courses, auto website generators, traffic boosters, SEO tools, Auto Twitter tools etc. exploiting this attitude that it is hard to keep track. Generally their sales page promises instant results, gives examples of successful users and shows you how little time and effort it takes to execute.

Unfortunately these tools are almost always trying to outsmart the one company that you do not want to mess with – Google. The main aim is to try and exploit the free traffic you would get from being listed high in Google for a popular keyword.

No matter how many tools you try and how clever you think these ideas are, you will never outsmart Google in the long run. To avoid sending you to auto-generated websites, websites filled with advert or even websites with malicious intent Google use some of the most sophisticated technology in existence.

Note – at this point it is worth mentioning that some people operate their online business this way, knowing that they will not overcome Google permanently. They work on a scattergun approach and make money while they can constantly changing, throwing away websites and trying new methods. This method may well be successful but I have no experience in it and don’t believe it is worth the effort. I also don’t believe in tricking users is in any way worth monetary compensation.

Google uses many methods to fight spam in the search engine results. Naturally, they do not want to recommend bad websites and your trust is fundamental to their success – if you find bad websites at Google you will use another search engine. In this article we explore the “Thin Affiliate” label Google has defined, how it is determined, the consequences of being one and how to recover from it if you are.

So, what is a “Thin Affiliate” and how does it relate to tricking Google?

Essentially Google does not want to send people to sites that do not offer valuable content. “Thin Affiliate” is a label applied when Google thinks you have created a site that is completely focused on affiliate links (PPC ads, paid adverts, links to other merchants etc.) and doesn’t offer anything else of value.

A good example of this would be a script that creates a website from eBay listings. It is focused on a certain group of products (e.g. Car Exhausts) and provides several category pages (e.g. Exhausts for different models). Each page lists the current eBay auction results with links, earning the website owner money for every click and/or sale.

Google doesn’t like this because the website is not offering anything new to the user. This model can be easily replicated and if they don’t take action, Googles search engine results would be littered with this type of website, pushing genuine Car Exhaust sellers down the listings.

Another example would be a blog that reviews laptops. The reviews are automatically generated from a mixture of Amazon reviews, other merchant sites and related information. The result is a jumbled mess and the content may even be “spun” (a process of replacing words automatically in order to create unique content) which makes the content unreadable. Not only is the site not offering anything new but it is not of benefit to the visitor in any way.

Unfortunately, the idea of a “Thin Affiliate” site is not always so black and white. You might create a website with a few unique articles and pages with links to eBay the same as our above example. Does the unique content mean Google will not penalise your site? What is the line that we must not cross?

How is your site determined to be Thin Affiliate?

There are many automatic methods that Google employ to penalise sites. If you have duplicate content, poor quality content, an unresponsive site, too much advertising, you are using cloaking etc. then it is likely that Google will recognise this programatically (i.e. without any human intervention) and you will be penalised automatically.

Being a Thin Affiliate is somewhat open to interpretation and not so easy to recognise using automatic methods. However, you could be penalised automatically for reasons like the following:

• No Content – if you have nothing at all on your site except adverts you will be penalised
• Duplicate or poor content – It is possible to tell the quality of your content automatically and Google are very likely to use this technology. Content spinning, duplicate content and badly written content will get you penalised
• Turnkey Solutions – Using a script that is known to generate thin affiliate sites can get you an automatic penalty. These scripts have a “footprint” i.e. something that gives away your site is using a particular script (e.g. html markup, particular file names/locations etc.)
• User Behaviour – it is possible that Google monitors its users behaviour to see how they react to a site. e.g. if the majority of users click back to Google, then it is safe to assume the site doesn’t offer anything of value for that keyword

While these types of automatic methods are no doubt in place, it appears that a lot of manual reviewing is being done by Google in this area. That is an actual person is taking a look at your site and deciding wether to cut off the traffic from Google or not. This is extremely important to remember – it is easy to circumvent filters and stay within a boundary, but a manual reviewer can always see your site for what it is.

Most likely your site will be flagged for review based on automatic detection, like the above. For example, if a lot of users are returning to Google straight after visiting your site then your site is added to a review list. Someone will then manually visit your site and make a decision on its value – is it a Thin Affiliate site or does it actually offer something useful?

It is possible that your site can escape a manual review for a long time or possibly even indefinitely, especially if your site is well established. However it can be reviewed at any time for many reasons – a competitor reporting you, visitors reporting you, change in Googles algorithm etc. so don’t assume it will not happen to you.

With all this considered, determining wether your site is Thin Affiliate or not becomes quite simple. If you were to review your site without bias, would you consider it useful?

How can I avoid being labelled a Thin Affiliate?

Back in 2007 Shoemoney posted a video with essentially the message don’t make google look stupid. The point is simple – Google is bigger than you, smarter than you, has more resources than you and will catch you out if you try and trick them. Don’t make them look stupid by putting useless sites in their index. According to Jeremy, Google use this video internally to educate their staff and help them understand more about this issue.

The only true way to avoid being labelled a Thin Affiliate is to make your site good. Add great, compelling, unique content. Provide a useful service. Offer reviews, advice, tips or even just a good way to compare products. Whatever you do, make sure its useful to visitors and you are proud to put your name to it.

What penalties can I get?

Typically you will receive a -50 penalty, which means you will be listed 50 places lower than you would have done previously for search terms. You may still get traffic from extremely unique keywords but expect your traffic from Google virtually disappear.

From my experience you won’t get banned outright and remember that other search engines behave differently – you may still get good traffic from Yahoo and Bing especially. Google will never contact you to tell you whats happened, nor will they give you any information whatsoever if you ask them. They keep all of this 100% secret to protect their methods so we can only maker educated guesses on what has happened.

My conclusion is that Google will not remove your site completely from the search engines because it is too clear a sign that you have done something wrong. By issuing the -50 penalty, many people will just assume that they have not got enough links or popularity and will continue to try and promote their site. This is my speculation, but I believe Google are happy for people to waste time like this instead of working on another way to get bad sites to the top of the search listings.

A complete ban is not likely for a Thin Affiliate site – this is usually reserved for Black Hat techniques (e.g. cloaking, blog farms etc.) and sites that are frequently unavailable.

How do I recover from a penalty?

It is the same as with any penalty from Google – fix the problem and apply to have your site reconsidered via Google Webmaster Tools.

Essentially if you have received this penalty, you need to add value to your site. Google deals with a lot of affiliate sites and as such they are not high in their priority if you are contesting a penalty – you will likely get ignored. Therefore you need to overcompensate and turn your site into something that they must pay attention to. Getting attention and links from other high authority sites will help, although it may still take a couple of months for Google to get round to reviewing your changes.

Some people may consider it a write off and start again with a new site and domain. This might be a better option, depending on how much time and money you put into the original site.

The Conclusion

So we have looked at what Google defines as a Thin Affiliate site, how they spot it, how to avoid it and how to recover from it. Essentially I would recommend your philosophy is to create a great website. Initially don’t focus too much on what Google wants, conversion rates, the best affiliate networks etc. – simply create a great website that people want to visit, with great content and some innovative ideas. Create a website you are proud of and that you are happy to tell your friends about.

Do this and you will never have to worry about being a Thin Affiliate.

What do you think?

Have you any experience with being labelled a Thin Affiliate? Want some advice on your site? Have something you wish to say?

If so, comment below!

photo credit: db*photography

One of the most discussed Search Engine Optimisation topics is by far link building. This is partly down to a common belief by newcomers that it is the only thing to look at and partly that each website needs a different approach.

Many Link Building blog posts exist (check out this SEOMoz Link Building Article for a good start) although people are still asking and struggling with the topic.

In this article I am suggesting an alternative way to approach the subject if you have run out of ideas; take a good look at your website.

What does this mean? When I first entered SEO this was a topic I also struggled with link building. Eventually I began to realise that there was not one solution to link building for all the websites I managed – each one needed a different approach and different ideas. I soon modified my techniques to analyse the topic/company, the industry and most importantly the website itself.

My suggestion is basically to flip your mindset and the questions you are asking. Instead of “How can I find links to promote this site?”, try asking “How can I improve this site to get links?”. Instead of “What are my options for link building?”, think “What link building opportunities does the website allow?”.

This is all quite abstract and to help picture this for your website here are some real life examples:

Scenario – Affiliate Site

Typical Approach – Many affiliate sites are following the approach of find a niche, find an affiliate program, create a basic website and get visitors. At the point of link building the website owner might look at “quick fix” solutions such as blog commenting, mass directory submission, social bookmarking etc. and soon realise this won’t work (anymore). They then might possibly look at paid directories (who don’t tend to list affiliate sites), content for link exchanges (the higher quality sites won’t promote a thin affiliate site) and maybe paid links (again high quality sites won’t be interested and your risking the wrath of Google Matt).

Suggested Approach – The real issue here is nobody has a reason to recommend your site. You have created an affiliate site that is potentially thin on information and fat on methods for getting a sale, email address or whatever. Consider changing your approach to the website by primarily offering good information, community benefits or some other value. Improve your site design to ensure you are not dismissed as just another affiliate site (e.g. Get rid of that Associate-O-Matic default template or redesign that horrific one page sales letter). Offer a unique way to access whatever you are promoting (e.g. better filters, aggregated customer reviews, special offers) that really does help the user.

Once these changes have been made your link building opportunities open up – relationships with related websites, better success rates on paid directories, organic links and it will be easier to get better quality websites linking to you (paid, content exchange or just natural).

Scenario – Dry Industry

Typical Approach – You are promoting a website in an uninspiring industry such as a funeral director or a kitchen fitter. There are no big name blogs that you can arrange partnerships with and you seem to have hit a brick wall with ideas for getting links. You are also potentially struggling with finding ways to reach your potential customers.

Suggested Approach – By looking at the website itself you can brainstorm ideas for links and potential new angles at getting customers. Don’t forget that search engine traffic is not the only way to get visitors. For a funeral site an online obituary with simple and creative ways to link and contribute could be implemented – think Facebook applications, blog widgets or simply “tell a friend” functionality. For a Kitchen Fitter find a way to utilise the wealth of experience by forming a relationship with a high profile blog or website – provide regular content in exchange for links or simply run your own blog. Always look for ways to utilise inside information or experience (good quality articles, news on the latest products or technology, industry changes).

Scenario – Underperforming Community Website

Typical Approach – You are running a forum, social networking site or some other kind of website that requires user input to be successful. The visitors aren’t coming and you are stuck in a Chicken or Egg situation – you essentially need visitors to attract visitors. Traditional link building hasn’t brought the contributions you had hoped for and the site is dying a death.

Suggested Approach – Essentially the problem here is nothing to do with link building and requires a look at your website first. Above all don’t be afraid to accept if your idea/niche/approach isn’t working – that tribe about cats living with dogs might have seemed like a good idea at the time but is there enough interest for it to be feasible long term?

Firstly take the pressure off the community aspect of your site by expanding other areas – run a blog, add an articles section or find some other area of the site depending on your topic. Reduce the size of your forum or community site as necessary to avoid giving the empty impression. Reward loyal users by featuring them in your blog, giving them moderator abilities or perhaps involving them in bigger decisions surrounding the site. Investigate forming relationships with related websites and perhaps offer incentives to other communities for joining your site.

Final Note – in conclusion, the technique I am suggesting is analysing your website and approach to find or make room for link building opportunities. This is simply a change in mindset to the traditional idea of trying all the latest approaches that surface through forums and blogs.