Amazon Affiliate Link Values

[Robdps]

I'm fairly new to the whole SEO and link building scene so I'm trying to get a handle of high value, low value, and negative value links.  For example, I had a discussion with my boss on the idea of affiliating our e-commerce site with Amazon.   From a business standpoint, it'd probably increase sales. However, I was wondering if  those links would have value for search engines?

Thanks

[AdamThompson]

Any links from Amazon.com to your website would likely be nofollow, and so would have little or no impact on SEO.

[StephanieChang]

Hi Robert,

Google has traditionally not passed value on links from affiliate programs - the reason being that the site is receiving financial incentives for including those links on the page.

However, Paddy Moogan wrote an SEO blog post on SEOmoz on how to optimize your affiliate program to get some links that will create some SEO value.  The link to the blog post is: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/getting-seo-value-from-your-affiliate-links

His suggestions include:

1. Use of a Dedicated Landing Page for Big Affiliates

2. Affiliates Linking to the Right Page

3. Help Affiliates Make Their Content More Valuable

4. Add More Value to Widgets and IFrames That Affiliates Use

Hopefully this was helpful- If you have any specific questions, please ask away!

Best,

Stephanie