URL or affiliate tracking links are counted as domain used

1. 48

   Claire Roachposted 10 years ago

   This is getting annoying now!!!
   Just how many affiliate links are you allowed per hub?  I don't want to spend half my life having to rectify perfectly acceptable hubs.
   This has two perfectly acceptable (imo) affiliate links that aren't making the article look trashy or anything and it keeps showing the violation skull and saying too many links.
   claireroach dot hubpages dot com/hub/An-advanced-guide-to-credit-scoring
   I spend half my life on here for little return, and hubpages make it so hard sometimes.

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   1. 71

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Affiliate links are limited to two per domain (assuming the domain isn't prohibited), but if you use multiple domains to promote the same site or affiliate, then that would count as well.
      Here is more information related to what can result in a Hub being moderated for being overly promotional.
      http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/publ … d_22732854

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      1. 48

         Claire Roachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Two per domain?  I don't get it?
         Does that mean two per article?

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         1. 71

            Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            From the Learning Center Article I linked above.
            
            Overly Promotional Rules:
            Your Hub can have a MAXIMUM of 2 links to any one domain. Links in the image source field in the Photo Capsule count toward this limit.
            
            A domain refers to the lowest level of a web address.
            yahoo dot com is a domain.
            For anything other than a verified source (wikipedia.org for example) you are limited to two links to that domain in each Hub.
            
            Amazon dot com is an affiliate domain, so you can link to it once or twice in a Hub, but a third time and that would automatically be considered overly promotional.
            http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/publ … d_22732854

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            1. 48

               Claire Roachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               So I can link to two separate domains?
               I could have two links to equifax or two to experian but not one to each?

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               1. 71

                  Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  So I can link to two separate domains?
                  Yes
                  I could have two links to equifax or two to experian but not one to each?
                  No
                  
                  For example, you can link to yahoo dot com twice and ebay dot com twice and amazon dot com all in the same Hub as each of these is a separate domain.
                  The limit is to less than 3 links per domain.

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               2. 71

                  Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I think the real issue is that you are not linking to each of these well known sites, but to an affiliate tracking site for both of them.
                  
                  If you link to the actual sites for Equifax and Experian you should be fine.
                  As it stands the links you are using are a bit deceptive to the reader as one would expect to click linked text for Equifax and it be a link to Equifax and not an intermediate link for a different affiliate tracking site.

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                  1. 48

                     Claire Roachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     But it does link straight to equifax....you're confusing me, can we pretend i'm 6? lol

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                     1. 71

                        Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        It does not link directly to Equifax.
                        It links to in intermediate site and then forwards to Equifax using a different affiliate link of some kind.
                        I would strongly recommend not using the affiliate link service you are using now.
                        If you hold your mouse over the link in your Hub you will see the actual URL (lower left status window in Firefox) that you entered in your Hub and not the one that site forwards the link to.
                        
                        The Experian link has the same issue.

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   2. 74

      Anna Marie Bowmanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You actually have four links. One to the info on the voter roll, one for a financial ombudsman, and two for credit reporting agencies.

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      1. 48

         Claire Roachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I have four links total but only two are affiliate links!

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   3. 84

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The essential rule is that you can have a maximum of two links to the same domain.   That applies to all links, whether they're affiliate or not.
      
      Where you can get caught out with affiliate links is that you're not linking direct to the merchant's domain.
      
      Say you want to link to three different domains, using your affiliate links.  However they all happen to use the same affiliate system, run by Affiliate Future.   All three affiliate links go to the Affiliate Future site first and are then redirected to the merchant's domain - that's how AF tracks your code.  So as far as HubPages is concerned, those three links are links to Affiliate Future, because that's the first place they go.
      
      The other possibility is that the affiliate manager in this case isn't "reputable".  HubPages say they will only allow links to "reputable" affiliate systems, but they won't publish a list.   ShareASale, Linkshare, Commission Junction, Amazon and eBay are all OK (I know because I've used them).  Clickbank isn't. I don't know about any of the others.

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      1. 48

         Claire Roachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Now, THAT'S an explanation!!!!
         Thank you x

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         1. 84

            psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            It is also the case that affiliate links are not allowed at all on some topics, and it would not surprise me if credit scores was one of them.

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2. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   Do you mean tracked affilate marketing links? (I do see some on that page)
   
   Note: "Other subjects have become saturated with low-quality Hubs published by affiliate marketers. In these topic areas, Hubs written must be of exceptional quality and can not contain affiliate links."
   
   Your hub may be on one of those "other subjects" where no affiliate links are allowed at all?

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   1. 48

      Claire Roachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Aren't ALL affiliate links, tracked? Confused

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      1. 84

         psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I mean a link that has a special code showing you should be credited for this link and quite possibly paid for it.
         
         Your link awin1.com link is not to Equifax or Experian, it just redirects there. And it includes an ID code linked specifically to you.
         
         Or at least I hope it is because whoever owns that code gets paid whenever the link you inserted is used.
         
         The odds are that Credit Records are an affiliate-bombed subject, and affiliate links for those services are now banned.

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         1. 48

            Claire Roachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Ahh right I totally get the latter part and in why that may be the reason they're getting flagged....but now I'm confused as heck about affiliate links.  I mean of course I get paid for them and of course they're tracked.....isn't that how every single affiliate link in the world works?

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            1. 84

               psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I was drawing a clear distinction between normal inks and affiliate links because the earlier comments are talking about the ("less than 3") rules that relate to all links.  There are extra rules about affiliate links that are what has caused your problem.

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3. 80

   Moon Daisyposted 10 years ago

   Hi Claire,
   It is a bit confusing isn't it?
   
   On http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/publ … _22732854, it says "Your Hub can have a MAXIMUM of 2 links to any one domain."  Which to me sounds like you're ok as long as you don't have more than two links to a domain, and it doesn't seem like you do.  So I don't think it's about the number of affiliate links, or about the number of amazon or ebay links, as you have enough words. 
   
   Looking at the two links you have to Experian and Equifax, I think it's more likely to be due to breaching one of these rules:
   
   "We prohibit links to the following...."
   *  "Affiliate or promotional sites in subject areas containing a high proportion of low quality or promotional content (for example, six pack abs, forex, acai berry, weight loss, etc.)"     or
   
   * "Sites that contain window confirmation boxes that interfere with site navigation (for example, when clicking the back or close buttons), or redirect users to unwanted websites".

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      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It is not related to prohibited links.
      You can see the explanation above.
      http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2526480

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   2. 48

      Claire Roachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad you agree daisy as I was feeling rather dopey.

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4. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 10 years ago

   Hey Claire, I hope you already figured it out, but in case you didn't, let me try to explain how your hub is running up against the two-per-domain rule .
   
   In your credit score hub you have these two affiliate links
   
   [affiliate links redacted by moderator]
   
   The domain of both of these links is awin1 dot com, some affiliate site you use.  Even though they redirect to Experian and Equifax, the domain as far as HP is concerned is awin1 dot com.  That's what you can't have more than two of.  Hope that provides some clarity.

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   1. 80

      Moon Daisyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hmm, I'm confused now!  The rule says that she shouldn't have "more than two" affiliate links from each domain.  But she has exactly two from this domain.  (ie. Not more than).
      
      So I'm not clear on how she is breaking this particular rule.   
      
      (If that's what you're saying.  Maybe I misunderstood!)

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      1. 0

         calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I assume she has edited the hub since the thread began, so maybe it is ok at this point.

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         1. 84

            psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Matthew has already explained that it is not the two links rule that is the problem, it is the redirecting affiliate link.

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5. 48

   Claire Roachposted 10 years ago

   Thanks for the help guys, I get it...kind of lol

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