Affiliate links now banned on hubpages

1. 57

   michifusposted 12 years ago

   I have noticed that all of my hubs that contain affiliate links have now been marked as being in violation of the terms and conditions of hubpages.
   
   Hubpages must have forgotten to mention that affiliate links are now banned in the blog posts.
   
   Anyone else noticed this? - it has only just happened - i.e seconds ago.

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      michifusposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It only appears to be USA affiliates. The cynic in me thinks that it is just those in competition with Amazon.com

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      Susana Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I've just noticed skull and crossbone symbols on some of my hubs that weren't there before. My commission junction links are now not allowed, but others are still ok. Shame...the product I was promoting on those hubs was top quality and perfectly matched to the topic.

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      1. 57

         michifusposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Its my CJ links that have gone too. Shame, as I don't think that there was anything wrong with the links and they were certainly not on any of the banned topics. CJ must have offended Hubpages. There were a couple of hubs that were dealing with products that are not sold on Amazon. Ill be deleting those hubs from hubpages and I will put them up somewhere else

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      sean kinnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You know, I've been reading and try to comply with the overly promotional stuff for about 18 months, but just got a warning that I had a hub with 2 affiliate links, which was a violation of something. Can't seem to find a reference to "2 affiliate links being a no-no" anywhere. Wonder if their automated system is glitching? :-)

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      1. 57

         michifusposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         If you feel that your hub has been unfairly identified as in violation of the terms of use, write to team@hubpages.com. I did and my hub was republished.
         
         However affiliate links are banned on certain subjects, and CJ and clickbank are asking for trouble it would seem.
         
         Have a look at http://hubpages.com/faq/ points 18 and 20.

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      sean kinnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Might have found a possible solution. Don't want to post links up here and get banned, but if you Google my HubPages (e.g., "hubpages sean kinn apo fpo dpo") - I have 4 Hubs covering Computers, Shoes, and Books that I think conform to HubPage rules. They all have a mix of Linkshare, CJ, and Amazon affiliate links, and although I received a number of warnings while building the pages - they seem to be doing OK right now. One warning was because I had more than 2 links to one affiliate marketing site, but I think it was actually a confusing warning about the general rule "no more than 2 links to ANY site." I also had to completely delete one shoe store hub because it received at least 3 warnings for various over-promotional things (e.g., key word stuffing, although it wasn't intentional on my part). I guess the trick is persistence and experimentation, aye. :-) Feel to contact me direct for the 4 specific links, although you can also find them by Googling as noted above.

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      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You don't need a solution, really. You just have to follow the rules. They're the same for affiliate links as for any other link, i.e.:
         
         - no more than 2 links to the same domain (i.e. same affiliate network)
         - links must be related to your topic.
         - Clickbank links are prohibited.
         
         So you can easily have links in your Hub to Linkshare, CJ and Google Affiliaties all in the same Hub, provided you don't have more than two to each of them, and provided the product you're advertising is relevant to the subject of your Hub.  Simple.

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   Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

   Some affiliate links are banned, some are not. Unfortunately, there is no list that I am aware of.

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   Will Apseposted 12 years ago

   If amazon links are ever banned, I will doomed.

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4. 57

   michifusposted 12 years ago

   Im annoyed that Hubpages unpublished one of my hubs for breaching their terms and conditions, when for 18 months there has been no problem. It would have been more appropriate to put out a message in the T&C's, forums or a blog post saying that CJ links are no longer allowed. But I guess its their site, they can do what they want and make changes whenever they wish without telling anyone. At least they didn't unpublish all 14 of my hubs with a single CJ link in them.

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      Fred Smedleyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Is it just CJ links? Anyone got Clickbank links or any other kind of affiliate links that have been banned? Was on the verge of adding some affiliate links to my hubs but now not so sure.

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      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Using Clickbank will get you banned.  It's definitely prohibited.  CJ links are OK, but as Michifus says, they may be best avoided as they can cause trouble sometimes.  ShareASale, Affiliate Future, Linkshare, Google Affiliates are all OK.

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5. 57

   michifusposted 12 years ago

   it was a breach in the terms and conditions - it was fine (i think) at the time of release, but terms and conditions on Hubpages are often updated and older hubs may need to be changed - as I have had to do. Took a couple of hours, so I hope it will be re-accepted, but in the meantime its been down for 4 days
   
   Oh well, its new and improved and much better now so that's a good thing. As for affiliate links, read the terms and conditions for hubs as these can be deemed as being overpromotional or commercial - its all in there, i must have missed it.

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   Will Apseposted 12 years ago

   All affiliate links are problematic. You need a well aged site with plenty of good content and good links-in as cover for your wicked lust to make money.
   
   If this was not the case, Google search would be swamped by pages written to sell whatever, as it was in the past. The good burghers would not sleep well.
   
   So if you to want to make money by the affiliate route you need to learn the rules and avoid the pitfalls.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Frightening people away from using affiliate links is simply scare-mongering and totally unjustified.
      
      I agree, if you create a spammy site full of nothing but affiliate links, you will be in trouble with Google.
      
      But there are plenty of websites which have one or two affiliate banners in their sidebar or in their text, who suffer no ill effects.
      
      If you write a long, quality Hub with good information, one or two affiliate links to a quality product will do you no harm at all. 
      
      If you think otherwise, then please provide some evidence.

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7. 57

   michifusposted 12 years ago

   A wicked lust to make money is a bit harsh. You seem to use Amazon links on your hubs Will, and these are affiliate links. You wicked greedy man!
   
   Writing online for many people is something that is done for enjoyment; however I do not believe there is anything wicked or wrong about trying to earn a living as a writer, or just making a bit of money on the side. Using affiliate links (including amazon and ebay) to do that is perfectly acceptable in my book.
   
   Of course, affiliate links need to be used in moderation; hubpages and the search engines will be quick to discredit any website that uses them inappropriately or in excess, but as Marisa points out there is nothing inherently wrong with using them.
   
   regarding hubpages - after spending a good amount of time recently looking at the T&C's etc - I was a bit annoyed at losing my CJ links initially -  I cant find anything that suggests that affiliate links are banned. Just that care needs to be taken when using them. For a start they need to be relevant to the hub. Certain affiliate links are not allowed, and some may trigger a warning.
   
   I had a hub unpublished which contained an affiliate link, and I thought that it was the reason why it was unpublished (that's what the warning email cited after all) - however I have since found out that this was not the case, and the affiliate link triggered a warning but I had made some 'errors' which caused it to be automatically unpublished. Had it just been the link the hub would only have got a red skull, and I would have been able to correct the problem.
   
   I would say that if you choose to use affiliate links in addition to Hubpages amazon or ebay capsules, you need to be careful and have a good reason for doing so. It could be viewed as too commercial; and using more than one affiliate link to the same website in one hub is asking for a trouble. Short hubs with affiliate links look spammy, and maybe they justify the wicked money lust to which you refer.
   
   ...unfortunately I cant change the name of this forum post - I missed off the question mark and it looks like a statement! oops

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