Google Slapping Review Sites
It all started here: http://www.perrymarshall.com/product-review-google-slap/
I got word from several affiliate marketers that Google dropped the hammer today on affiliate review pages. Many pages went from quality scores of 10 —> 1 overnight.
And these were NOT skinny sites, rather well build out, consistently updated blogs with good navigation above the fold, xml site maps, high click through, hyper-relevant keyword mapping, low bounce rates, long average time on page … everything else Google loves.
When we analyzed which pages survived, and we take it in combination with other information, it seems pretty clear they’ve added code which screens for affiliate links on the landing pages.
Then spread:
http://www.profitsentinel.net/blog/google-affiliate-marketing-adsense-adwords-and-alternatives
http://www.leofogarty.com/affiliate-marketing/google-slap-affiliate-review-sites.html
http://www.johncow.com/google-adwords-slap-on-review-sites/
etc.
The more I delve into product review sites, the more I love them! A network of 20+ product review-sites could easily generate a quarter of a million dollars a year with organic traffic – a nice passive income stream!
Although there is a lot of speculation about content quality, Google’s algorithm cannot tell whether content-quality is good or bad, that’s why it relies on inbound links. But, it can tell if an article is laden with affiliate links and can also follow cloaked links too! I think it’s inevitable that Google will slap review sites with content loaded with affiliate links in its organic search pages.
A solution? Instead of using a link-cloaker which Google can follow, use a Search Engine Link Cloaker. A Search Engine Link Cloaker can turn affiliate links into authority links, which may lead to a better position in the SERPs 
. But, where do you get one of these elusive Search Engine Link Cloakers from? From here of course; it will be released as WP plugin in the next post – but WPBlackhat members get it first.
I saw discussions also here
blog.seorevolution.com/2009/07/27/google-slap-of-affiliate-review-sites and there affilorama.com/blog/google-slap . This is just buzz and speculation.
I highly doubt you can get 250,000 of passive income out of 20 review sites, even before the google slap, and even if you cookie stuff them.
@Edward: I said 20+ (25/30/35 whatever)… I’ve been studying review sites for a while now and have built some of my own – they are magic when done well! Goto http://flippa.com/ and search for affiliate review sites, you’ll find MANY generating $500 to over $1000 a month, now times this by 20+ and you’ll see the potential!
I believe if you combine good product-review sites with a very aggressive SEO strategy, you can be heading towards that figure, as passive income, within 6 to 12 months.
My review sites are ppc atm but they are html subpages with a WP front-end. I anly use WP for quality but I suppose that I could attempt to SEO optimize those sites as well.
Aren’t the Fed’s getting involved in “review” sites to crack down as well?
Is there any indicator of how many aff links a page / site needs to get slapped? There must be all kinds of “legitimate” content which is monetized through aff schemes (everyone’s gotta pay the bills somehow, even the people making “really useful” sites) – just cos a page has an aff link on it, doesn’t mean it’s “low content quality”.
Apart from SE link cloaking, wondering if having less affiliate links per page would help – bigger sites with more review content and bigger product images.
This is by far the worst Google slap I have ever seen. It’s not just review sites getting shut down. All affliate marketers are getting baned and even some legit brick and mortar business.
I mean seriuosly, WTF? They have literally shut down thousand of people sole source of income. Do no evil my ass, they need a new moto, IMO