Google Products and longtail traffic

**SimonR** · 16-04-10

I'm a fairly new affiliate and I'm launching my first retail site (my other is financial services) so it's my first attempt to sell goods.

I was hoping to get some quick success through targeting longtail keywords, but have noticed that Google Products seems to be effectively performing the affiliate role and is at the top of the SERPs.

Is this a big (and growing) problem for affiliates? Are there any strategies to get around it?

**dc000000** · 16-04-10

They are not installing a cookie on the visitors PC so there are bigger problems than this for you worry about. That said, the business is always changing and you need to change with it - product listings are not going to earn anyone much money these days simply because every man and his dog are already doing it.

**Sikhar** · 17-04-10

affiliate marketing is good option to increase site's sale on the web and always choose more than 2 or 3 ways to earn money on the web. If you are selling goods and providing good services to your users then automatically you will be out of compete your competitors.

**SimonR** · 17-04-10

Originally Posted by dc000000

They are not installing a cookie on the visitors PC so there are bigger problems than this for you worry about. That said, the business is always changing and you need to change with it - product listings are not going to earn anyone much money these days simply because every man and his dog are already doing it.

Mmm sounds ominous. So, are you saying that google is not allowing cookies to be used as a way to track affiliate sales? Can you point me to a post that tells me more about this please

**dc000000** · 17-04-10

Originally Posted by SimonR

Mmm sounds ominous. So, are you saying that google is not allowing cookies to be used as a way to track affiliate sales? Can you point me to a post that tells me more about this please

No I'm not saying that.
You were worried that Google product listings would make it difficult for a product focused affiliate to make money because they will often be higher than you in the listings.
I said that Google's product listings are not affiliate listings so do not create a tracking cookie or over-write one which has already been set. That indeed would be a major problem.
Google product listings are not a big problem. Your biggest problem with product sites is the hundreds of other affiliate sites who will over-write your cookie - often in a very unfair way. This is your biggest problem - not Google.

Hope that's a bit clearer?

**SimonR** · 18-04-10

Originally Posted by dc000000

No I'm not saying that.
You were worried that Google product listings would make it difficult for a product focused affiliate to make money because they will often be higher than you in the listings.
I said that Google's product listings are not affiliate listings so do not create a tracking cookie or over-write one which has already been set. That indeed would be a major problem.
Google product listings are not a big problem. Your biggest problem with product sites is the hundreds of other affiliate sites who will over-write your cookie - often in a very unfair way. This is your biggest problem - not Google.

Hope that's a bit clearer?

Yeah, thanks for the clarification. I'm currently targetting a niche and focusing on providing meaningful, unique content. Whilst I'm competing with generalist shopping sites I'm hoping my dedicated content will win the day. Fingers crossed...