Help me with a serious Google problem!

kier · 06-09-07

Hi all,

I've currently got a problem with a merchant's natural rankings in Google. What has happened is that somehow Google has messed up and every search phrase that they rank for naturally now leads through an affiliate's link rather than going straight to their site. Naturally the merchant is less than happy about this and wants to get it resolved. His SEO company of course have implied that this has been done deliberately. Knowing the affiliate in question quite well there is no way this is the case, its obviously some problem with Google indexing his site.

Can anyone advise me on how to sort this out? Cheers

Qui Gon Jinn · 06-09-07

Fair play to the affiliate. I've seen this happen to benefit us (very rarely) & it wasn't deliberate .... & other colleagues too.

Whether it was or wasn't good luck to them.

Some merchants make the mistake of thinking they have rights on natural search in search engines & more foolishly think they get 100% click thru rates from natural search.

If this merchant is complaining, in my book, it sounds like they begrudge paying commissions if they are giving you a hard time over it.

If there is a way, I would like to know too.

drivetowin · 06-09-07

Tell the merchant to employ a better SEO company.

I agree with Paul, whether the affiliate has done it deliberately or not is irrelevant - we are all after top position in the search engines - some of us are better than merchants at SEO....

No one has a god given right to be No1 in Google for any search term - it's all about tactics and knowledge.

Barry · 06-09-07

Yeah had it happen to me a few times getting an af link in the listings. There is no way you can change it unless you change the response code on your redirects I would have thought or try complaining to google with the 'satisfied with your results' button.

I can see why the merchant is a bit peeved though for sure. Cant imagine what a pain in the butt it is having employed a company to do do SEO for them and then an affiliate manages to rank higher than them with a redirect...... I can also see that the SEO company must be crapping themselves to come up with the 'blag' that it must be deliberate.

I am afraid that most of us here live under the dictator 'google'. There really is nowt you can do other than wait and google will settle down eventually.

Starnge you mention it but I have seen alot of AW links getting listed lately, I think google has its little moments but eventually sorts itself out.

kier · 06-09-07

Hi Keith,

No one has the right to any rankings its true. I'm not saying here that the affiliate's own site is outranking the merchant's. What's happened is that any search term that the merchant ranks for now has the affiliate's link as the destination URL rather than the merchant's own URL. Somehow Google has decided that the affiliates URL is the actual site and the merchant's is a duplicate or something like that. I'm sure you can appreciate that's very different from an affiliate simply getting their own rankings which are higher than the merchant's.

loquax · 06-09-07

Quote:

Can anyone advise me on how to sort this out? Cheers

Tell the merchant that these things happen once in a while, it's not anyone's fault nor is it in your opinion (if you believe it to be so) deliberate. Occasionally Google does something odd but like Barry says it's often quickly rectified.

Then tell them to sack their SEO company and use the money to build up relationships with their affiliates who are obviously doing a better job.

Jason

loquax · 06-09-07

Quote:

Somehow Google has decided that the affiliates URL is the actual site and the merchant's is a duplicate or something like that

But that does happen - I've seen our links pop up in Google - don't ask me how or why, but they do. Doesn't last long though.

Perhaps the merchant could use the opportunity to forge a stronger relationship with the "naughty" affiliate so that when things go back to normal they can work together and/or perhaps come to some arrangement that's mutually beneficial.

Oh and still sack the SEO company

Jason

D-Mac · 06-09-07

It sounds like you're saying that the affiliate's links have somehow replaced the merchant's links in the Google index, and that all click through still lead directly to the merchant (via Webgains)

It sounds like some kind of funny 302 hijack issue, either intentional, or probably non-intentional.

Do you have direct contact with the affiliate? If so, I would try to agree with them that their sales for that merchant are reduced to 0% commission or whatever is reasonable, and wait for Google to sort it out at the next update. You should probably do a search for 302 on google and see if there are any fixes out there other than waiting.

Qui Gon Jinn · 06-09-07

Also why isn't your merchant more concerned about irrelevant advertising where Ebay & Ask are bidding on the clients name & URL?

There is their priority.

P.S.No way should the affiliates commissions be reduced to zero or reversed. Otherwise this would be another T&C networks will allow a merchant to squeeze in.

Frostie · 06-09-07

Understandably pretty grim if you're the merchant. As has already been said, give it a few days and you will probably find that it sorts itself out.... and yes sack the SEO company and maybe employ the affiliate?

D-Mac · 06-09-07

QGJ, to be fair to the merchant, this isn't in the same league as ebay & ask bidding on brand names. Google errors like this could financially cripple a merchant, and in this instance they are not at the mercy of just Google, but also Webgains and the affiliate.

It's a situation that can and should be resolved at no financial loss to the merchant. It's a Google bug, not a nice loophole for affiliates.

Barry · 06-09-07

Are the urls in google webgains (eg product feeds) ones or has it listed the 'local' cookie tracking thats sometimes implemented through webgains? ie http:// www.themerchant .com?source=webgains&siteid=theid

Barry · 06-09-07

I do agree with D-Mac though just to add.

Its not something I would like if I was a merchant - and it is a 'mistake' that needs to be rectified in favour of the merchant IMO

drivetowin · 06-09-07

Hi Kier
Sorry, I misunderstood your original post.

It does sound like there is some sort of redirect going on.

Qui Gon Jinn · 06-09-07

The merchant is getting sales & paying on CPA, that shouldn't cripple them, especially not if short term.

If commissions are reversed, whether the individual affiliate agrees or not, this could open up pandora's box to what affiliates can & cannot do on seo or natural listings, whether in their control or not.

Google is Google like any other search engine, whether we agree or disagree we just have to accept some things that are thrown up.

Ebay & Ask are unethically detracting potential sales away, worse imho.