Update:Do Amazon ads reduce google rankings, hit rates, other earnings

1. 53

   janderson99posted 13 years ago

   This has been debated before but I was wondering if anyone has updated information on this. Like many people I add several Amazon ads to my hubs but Amazon earnings are low, as I do not do sales-based hubs. Is there a negative aspect to doing this via a decrease in Google ranking for the hub or some overall penalty for the subdomain? What affect has the increased number of ads on hubs had on this? How does the ad placement effect rankings - put them at the bottom?

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   1. 61

      rlahaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I have also just started using Amazon, and would love to know the answer to these questions. Please keep me posted, and I will also keep checking back to see if anyone has answered these questions.  Thanks for the questions!

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   2. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Amazon ads will not affect your rankings. There was a rumour on HubPages that Google "didn't like" Amazon ads, but it's rot - there are lots of websites using Amazon ads without getting Panda slapped. 
      
      Personally, I won't use Amazon ads unless I can find a product that is VERY  closely related to the Hub.  And I make sure the Amazon ad is right next to the reference in the text.   Otherwise, I find people just won't buy.
      
      If you can only find products that are vaguely related, don't bother.  Remember, people have a choice of ways to leave your Hub. If they leave by clicking on an Amazon ad because it has a pretty picture, but they're not that interested, you've lost the opportunity for them to leave the Hub by clicking on an Adsense ad.

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      1. 53

         janderson99posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the reply.
         Hubpages has the 50 words per Amazon ad test, which implies that there is a negative effect. Not sure why this is applied, and whether it applies for higher word per ad rates.

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         1. 68

            lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            It isn't a negative effect. It just prevents you from overloading with ads.

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         2. 85

            Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            It's applied because, as Susana says, Google doesn't like excessive advertising of any kind.  There's nothing special about Amazon. In fact, you're just as likely to be penalized for excessive Adsense ads as for excessive Amazon ads.
            
            So as long as you're staying within HubPages' limits, and don't try to crowd all your Amazon ads "above the fold", you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

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   3. 99

      Susana Sposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think there's no answer to this that can be 100% relied on. It might or might not affect rankings depending on a wide range of factors. Have you read the google rating guidelines? One line in there is very pertinent "If a page only exists to make money, the page is spam". If google were to see too many of your pages as spam using that definition then it could affect your rankings.
      
      http://www.seomoz.org/blog/16-insights- … guidelines

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2. 77

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years ago

   My traffic and earnings slowly but steadily increase here.  I use amazon and ebay both on "most" hubs.
   
   That said, Marisa and Susana are the folks to listen to, and if you get a Sunforged agreeing with those two...only a fool or a super genius would ignore what was agreed to.

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