1. #1
    DanielCoe is an unknown quantity at this point Home is where I hang my @
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    My Bedroom
    Posts
    408
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Affiliate Redirected Products in Google Base

    Hi,

    I think I have mentioned this before, but it really annoys me when affiliates get their products into Google Base intentionally (old Froogle).

    Sometimes Google does put links into base without us knowing which is great. But I have found there are lots of sites with urls of .cn (China) which just redirect to merchants such as Play.com, Littlewoods and many others. This is against Google Base listing policy.

    Have a look here at the various examples:

    voice control dalek - Google Product Search

    What does everyone else think?

  2. #2
    cyates is an unknown quantity at this point Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    582
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    i personally say fair play ..

    i never thought about it but isnt that what affiliate marketing is all about and why some are making more than others ...

    i would never have thought of that ... good idea i think

    can you copy the paragraph where it says its against their terms ?

    too lazy to go searching myself

  3. #3
    drivetowin Driving to win
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    If I'm not at home, I'm in hospital
    Posts
    7,399
    Thanks
    7
    Thanked 14 Times in 9 Posts
    From the Google Base t's and c's

    Posting is not permitted for the promotion of affiliate sites or products sold through an affiliate marketing relationship. This includes item pages that are made up primarily of advertisements, or pages where advisements obstruct the view of the item.

    __________

    Just report the offending sites to Google and they will be removed pretty quickly.
    Never argue with idiots. They just drag you down to their level and then beat you with their experience.

    If ignorance is bliss then some of the people I know must be orgasmic.

  4. #4
    cyates is an unknown quantity at this point Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    582
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    ahh yeah they do seem to make it extremely easy to read lol

    ok cool .. i think its a good way of promoting products though ( not that im going to use google lol )

  5. #5
    John Jupp is an unknown quantity at this point The New 'Arfur Daley
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Kent UK
    Posts
    3,249
    Thanks
    94
    Thanked 96 Times in 70 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by DanielCoe View Post
    Hi,

    I think I have mentioned this before, but it really annoys me when affiliates get their products into Google Base intentionally (old Froogle).

    Sometimes Google does put links into base without us knowing which is great. But I have found there are lots of sites with urls of .cn (China) which just redirect to merchants such as Play.com, Littlewoods and many others. This is against Google Base listing policy.

    Have a look here at the various examples:

    voice control dalek - Google Product Search

    What does everyone else think?
    They don't. Didn't you notice the time delayed redirect? It goes to a landing page and then redirects. Nothing rule breaking there. However didn't know about the snippet concerning affiliate marketing relationships. Even that is ambiguous as we as affiliates don't SELL anything.
    John Gilbert-Jupp, Finalist A4U Awards 2010
    Publishers Choice - Affiliate Manager In-House Or At An Agency

  6. #6
    cyates is an unknown quantity at this point Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    582
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    ahh well spotted john.. didnt notice that myself ...

    agree nothing wrong with that and may now consider testing a few see what happens

  7. #7
    drivetowin Driving to win
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    If I'm not at home, I'm in hospital
    Posts
    7,399
    Thanks
    7
    Thanked 14 Times in 9 Posts
    It's still rule breaking as they are affiliate links - redirected immediately or with a delay.
    Never argue with idiots. They just drag you down to their level and then beat you with their experience.

    If ignorance is bliss then some of the people I know must be orgasmic.

  8. #8
    Travel Pixel Travel Squared
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Cambridge
    Posts
    706
    Thanks
    96
    Thanked 43 Times in 27 Posts
    obviously against the google base t&c's. Desperation stakes if you are prepared to try and hoodwink google by using redirects on there.
    Affiliate Citizen
    Holiday Reviews & Travel Deals || Travel Merchants: Please contact me if you have special offers or codes

  9. #9
    chs
    chs is offline
    chs is an unknown quantity at this point Now then
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Newcastle Upon Tyne
    Posts
    257
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by cyates View Post
    i personally say fair play ..

    i never thought about it but isnt that what affiliate marketing is all about and why some are making more than others ...

    i would never have thought of that ... good idea i think

    can you copy the paragraph where it says its against their terms ?

    too lazy to go searching myself
    This is not ethical in my opinion as it breaches Google's T&C's and it was this kind of spamming that prompted Newitts to remove their product feed. Networks usually clamp down on reported affiliates for this and ask them to remove their links

  10. #10
    Gjmacd is an unknown quantity at this point Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    2
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    I got nailed for this. I had a bunch of products in Google Base and was removed. My domain that I had these links going to was "Disapproved" and I'm now no longer able to submit a data-feed with my affiliate links to Google Base.

    Here's the problem with this.

    #1. The TOS and conditions are brand new. Google recently added "language" that says you can't do this. When I looked into doing this, there was NO terms violation. In October or November, they added the language. Did I know this was wrong? No, actually, when I did this, I thought "wow, this is going to be great, it'll drive concerted traffic to my site for my affiliates, and I'll get a much higher chance of success." I really did think this was OK. But I realize, thats moot now.

    #2. They are not being fair about the rules because there are BIG players doing the same thing that are still in Google Base.

    #3. A keen SEM / SEO person will note what Google has done in the last 120 days with Google Base products. If one notes that the prior to Google Base, Froogle was really a JUST a product search engine, and nothing more. Google Base has grown into a HUGE player because of two main reasons. The first, they are adding product links to Google Base in the Natural Search results, RIGHT AT THE TOP of the search engine result pages. That means, if you've got a product that someone searches for in "normal Google", and you're doing your job in Google Base by optimizing your products, you have a very, very good chance of showing up in that list. Remember, AdWords and Natural Search aside, your listings will show -- for free.

    I have a HUGE problem with removing people form Google Base based on Affiliate linking and redirecting if they do not have "fair rules" for everyone. Case and point in a couple examples...

    - Ebay. How is it that Ebay can post feeds to Google Base for products on Auction in Google Base, but small players like me can't push affiliate links in? Ebay makes money on a listing fee, and when someone purchased the product (note: they have Buy Now, not all of Ebay is auctions), they make a percentage of the sale.

    - Shop.com. This is a company that is very similiar to Amazon in that you put your products into their site, they process the order and take a percentage. Since they are doing the checkout and credit card capture, I have no problem with them being in Google Base -- they are the merchant. However, I've seen links that redirect back to the merchant on products they are feeding into Google Base, the merchant in Google Base will say, "Shop.com", you'll click on it, and it'll go back to Shop.com, put up an Ajax dialog that says, "Redirecting to Merchant", and boom, you're on that merchants page.

    - Other CSE's. I've seen other CSE's (Shopping.com, PriceRunner) in Google Base. To me thats just as bad, if not worse than pushing in affiliate links.

    My final thoughts on this.

    I'm very concerned Google has become far too powerful in the e-commerce space. They already control 80% the search traffic and now it appears they are bringing out products and services that allow for merchants and e-commerce operators to promote their products and services "within" Google. Things like Google Base and other "Beta" and Lab tools are only created to further promote Google as THE source for all things Internet.
    That's all well and good, but this is killing the small player. If only the big companies can afford clicks with AdWords, or be allowed to market in Google Base, it will create a system of the "haves" and "have not's", and this is exactly whats happening.

    I fully realize that Google is about "quality" information and I actually have NO PROBLEM with them scrubbing their data and making sure people are not "spamming" their services as in the case with affiliate re-directing and Google Base. However, you can't claim that its fair right now when you have clear examples of violations to their TOS by players who have a far bigger bank account than people like me.

    My take on this is that if you're spending big money in AdWords, you will not be touched in Google Base, no matter what you do.


    Since I spend ZERO in AdWords, I was removed. Even though on some of my feeds, they were not affiliate links and were for products and services that only I sell from my site.

    The other problem here is the concept of Google Base and what its responsibility is to the consumer market. Is can't be "free" and continue to be based on rules that are jaded by the customer's bank account and how much they spend with other services. Its really collusion to have a service be labeled "free" and then remove people from the service who are not paying you for another service you offer. It smacks of a "class action" suit in the making.

    Further more, someone earlier in this post said, "I say fair play..." I can't agree more. First off, you have to think about a couple points here:

    1. If you have links that redirect someone and the product is sold to the person who clicks on that link, what does it really matter? I had a 60% hit ratio from Google, which means 60% of the people who clicked on my links and were brought to my affiliate PURCHASED. How is this "bad" for Google Base, the merchant and the affiliate. I would agree that removing all redirecting links would be better for the "quality" of Google Base, but the point is finding the "best price, product, service". How can you start making distinctions based on someone else making money off redirecting them to a merchant? There's a reason that person clicked on that link vs. another one... This rule is broken and should be amended or clarified.

    2. Affiliates who get mad at this sort of "gray" area of promotion into their affiliate campaigns are fooling themselves. They are not only benefiting by getting the sale, they are benefiting by getting the customer. One would argue (if you were an affiliate), "I already have Google Base feeds to my products, why do I want to compete with my partners and have to pay them?" This is such a load of crap. What do you care if you get the sale and the customer. The only "competitor" you should be concerned about is the competitor that can take your sale or customer from you. Customer aquisitions are critical to e-commerce success, and everyone knows that if you gain a customer (new one), the likely hood that they will re-order from you and not your competitor is HUGE. It shouldn't matter that you paid an affiliate to aquire that customer or how that affiliate got that customer to you. If you're worried about that, you should get out of the business.

    3. Any merchant who has affiliate programs and markets in Google Base, AdWords, Overture, and all the other CSE's are competing with ALL their affiliate partners. If you've done any of this for a while, you know that once your affiliate marketing is buzzing along, its very possible that you'll be in AdSense, or some other network "competing" with your affiliate partner at some level for the "click". With that in mind, I see Google's rule about this to be wrong.

    Thats it for now.

  11. #11
    Hero is an unknown quantity at this point Hero's Avatar Super Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    London
    Posts
    2,185
    Thanks
    49
    Thanked 97 Times in 64 Posts
    what google base do not allow, and which had been disallowed from its previous version (it's not new), is affiliate links sending the traffic directly to the merchant. However, GB is happy for affiliates to list products from their pages, send the traffic to their site and then those customers to be sent on to the relevant merchant. Those listings are treated as any other advertiser and there is no problem loading those up.
    Hero Grigoraki
    Client Services Director
    Webgains.com

  12. #12
    drivetowin Driving to win
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    If I'm not at home, I'm in hospital
    Posts
    7,399
    Thanks
    7
    Thanked 14 Times in 9 Posts
    Sorry Hero but you are wrong on that one - from Google's terms and conditions:

    Posting is not permitted for the promotion of affiliate sites or products sold through an affiliate marketing relationship. This includes item pages that are made up primarily of advertisements, or pages where advisements obstruct the view of the item.
    Never argue with idiots. They just drag you down to their level and then beat you with their experience.

    If ignorance is bliss then some of the people I know must be orgasmic.

  13. #13
    John Jupp is an unknown quantity at this point The New 'Arfur Daley
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Kent UK
    Posts
    3,249
    Thanks
    94
    Thanked 96 Times in 70 Posts
    Google Base Help Center - Google Base Program Policies

    Your URLs must link directly to the webpages that contain information about your items. We do not allow links that redirect. An affiliate's datafeed contains information about the product. That's why description content is supplied.

    Posting is not permitted for content borrowed from other websites. You must own the content you submit, or you must be submitting on behalf of the content owner. We are submitting on behalf of the content owner. They gave affiliates the product information in the form of a "spreadsheet" or datafeed.

    We do not permit duplicate posted content, or the promotion of mirrored sites or products. Posting using automated software programs or "robots" is not permitted. Now THAT is possibly where there is a problem.

    Google Base Help Center - Google Base Terms of Service

    impersonate another person or entity, or falsify or delete any author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the origin or source of software or other material; So DONT say you are the merchant.

    So where does it say affiates may not post cos I can't find it?
    John Gilbert-Jupp, Finalist A4U Awards 2010
    Publishers Choice - Affiliate Manager In-House Or At An Agency

  14. #14
    Hero is an unknown quantity at this point Hero's Avatar Super Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    London
    Posts
    2,185
    Thanks
    49
    Thanked 97 Times in 64 Posts
    Keith, I am very well familiar with what Google state on their pages. I am also very well aware of what they have directly stated to affiliates I work with who list their sites on the directory, and they have been told that listing their pages is absolutely fine.
    Hero Grigoraki
    Client Services Director
    Webgains.com

  15. #15
    drivetowin Driving to win
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    If I'm not at home, I'm in hospital
    Posts
    7,399
    Thanks
    7
    Thanked 14 Times in 9 Posts
    Fair enough Hero, I was only going by what they publish on this page:

    Google Base - Programme Policies

    If that doesn't apply then great...........wagons roll.........
    Never argue with idiots. They just drag you down to their level and then beat you with their experience.

    If ignorance is bliss then some of the people I know must be orgasmic.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

     

Similar Threads

  1. Euroffice Newsletter Oct 07 - Double Commission Offer
    By Jon@euroffice in forum Paid On Results
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-10-07, 04:01 PM
  2. Euroffice August Affiliate Newsletter
    By Jon@euroffice in forum Paid On Results
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-08-07, 06:36 PM
  3. euroffice - May affiliate newsletter
    By euroffice2 in forum Network / Merchant Incentives & Promotions
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 11-05-07, 03:10 PM
  4. 7 Easy Ways To Double Your Profits With Affiliate Programms
    By nicodaniel in forum Independent Programs
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 12-07-06, 04:48 PM
  5. Bristol a4u get2Gether - Who's Who - Attendee List
    By Matthew Wood in forum Affiliate Marketing Events
    Replies: 25
    Last Post: 24-02-06, 11:50 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.5.0 RC2