Seeking out different avenues....Affiliate Programs

[WebRiverGroup]

Our company is seeking out different avenues.

Our company is seeking out new avenues for growth. We are interested in Affiliate Programs and want to know how Google views this. We do not want our SERP to decease and feel it is important to keep any negative implications away from our site and our company.

Does anyone have experience in Affiliate Programs and if so did it negatively effect your site?

Our company is an e-commerce site that sell aftermarket products for trucks, SUVs, Jeeps, Motorcycles, ATV, and more.

Thank you

[Asher]

Google doesn't mind affiliate marketing as long as it is not spam and provides the answer to a search query.  The only way I can see that this will hurt you is if you end up with spam linking to the specific pages that you will be doing your affiliate marketing for.

If you want to associate your affiliate marketing with your website then add landing pages within the site for your affiliate programs.

If you want to limit your exposure then I recommend you do these affiliate programs on different URLs and build them up from scratch while still maintaining your brand within the website.

But please understand, the affiliate marketing will not hurt you unless you spam yourself with SEO practices while doing affiliate marketing.  I hope that answers your question.

[Everett]

Are you looking to offer an affiliate program for your products, or to join other affiliate programs to sell products from other companies and get paid a commission? I have provided an answer for either situation...

Having an affiliate program for your products (i.e. becoming a merchant) should not hurt your rankings. There are many options to get started, including open-source, custom-built and affiliate network programs like Commission Junction, Share-a-Sale and Linkshare.

Joining affiliate programs as an affiliate shouldn't harm rankings in and of itself, but this all depends on what you do, as Jason described below.