SEO for Affiliate Bloggers: Deep Linking
A huge part of blogging is generating traffic. Otherwise, you don’t have any readers, and then it’s kind of like you’re writing emails to yourself, and that just makes you kind of creepy 
One the interesting things about generating traffic as a blogger, though, is that blogs are very SEO friendly. This means that long after you publish a post, it’ll generate organic traffic. As an affiliate blogger, then, you have an opportunity to make commissions on sales that you refer long after you write about them. In fact, longtail traffic is probably the largest opportunity that affiliate bloggers have to make money.
Last week I posted about how categorizing your affiliate content is important to reap the benefits of longtail traffic. This way, when users search for product reviews months (or years) down the line, they have a better chance of finding your reviews, and you can make a commission on any sale that results from their interest and your content. Another way to enhance the search engine visibility of your content is through deep and internal linking.
Deep & Internal Linking
Now, every time you mention a product, you have two linking possibilities: (1) you can use an affiliate link and possibly make a commission on anyone that clicks on it, or (2) you can link back to a previous review and build the authority of that previous content.
Basically, you face a trade-off: do you stack up on affiliate links and hope to convert current readers, or do you link back to previous content and increase the search ranking of an older post?
Well, consider how you’re mentioning the product. If it’s one of the post’s main points or items, then use an affiliate link. However, it’s just a passing mention of the product, then link back to a post that features the product and contains an affiliate link itself. The anchor text you use to link back to an older post will help boost its search ranking, and that will give it traction over time. In turn, that older post has a better chance attracting organic traffic and then converting some of it into sales.
Similarly, if the newer post also features the product, you’ll probably have an opportunity to use the product’s name more than once. So the first time you do so, use an affiliate link, and the second time you mention the product, link back to a previous post. That way, you cover all you bases.
Six Links of Separation
Internal linking is like building a your net or web out of your blog. The more links you have tying your content together, the stronger your web is: with each post it grows larger, and with each link it gets stronger. Build it large enough, and you catch a lot of traffic. Build it strong enough, and you’ll be able to refer that traffic down just the right sales funnel, and make a commission in the process.
Written by CT Moore from NVIPosted on November 6th, 2008 and filed under Blogging, Making Money
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15 Responses to “SEO for Affiliate Bloggers: Deep Linking”
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These are all great tips! I too try to decide if the “mention” is a mere mention or the main focus before I decide where to link it to. Using good anchor text is very important as well. I love the way you wording it that I’m basically building my own web … that visual will stick with me and will really help me think through my strategies. Question: where in the post/article should you start linking? If it’s about widgets and you use the word widget in your opening sentence is that too soon to link? Should you save that for towards the end or conclusion? Also, how many times (or density) should you link in the article? Thanks again! *SmiLes* Suzanne
For me it is all about sending the user on a path with the goal being to either contact or buy. think about where they are on their path should they want more information or is it time to show them the route to buy
For me link building and what not is the main focus of my work on blogs. No traffic compares to organic search engine traffic, and I think that goes for all kinds of blogs. So building links is the key to success.
i agree i think link building is very importatn for all bloggers no matter your niche or what kind of blog you run.
gran turismo 5
I have tried 3 different affiliate networks, and never gotten a commission check. I guess I’ll have to try it again someday, but it is so time consuming to set up the links, and check to see which ones are performing. For me, it has been way easier to just develop web pages that draw traffic and place Google Adsense on the page. I don’t ever have to update the Google ads. I also tried an Amazon book ad on a page that was dedicated to the subject of that book. The page gets traffic, but has not sold one book in 6 months.
Very good post CT. I think that you’re right. By linking to your affiliate reviews or info pages then you should increase search engine traffic to it over time.
Also, you are still keeping the visitors on your blog and sending them to a page with the affiliate url. I suspect that some sales will be lost in this process but surely not a great deal (would be difficult to test).
@Money Making Ideas ~ Suzanne,
I’m glad you liked the building your own web analogy. Personally, I link as soon as possible. Also, I only link to a page once per post. There are a number of reasons I do it this way, and they have to do with both Google and the reader. If I’m linking both a product page and a previous post, however, I link the product page first and the previous post second. However, if I have a widget or image of the item, I might throw it in at the end as another link to the product page.
@Gina, the best affiliate blogging success is likely to come from a blog whose main purpose is to build a community around niche content and not just sell people stuff. Once you have their trust as a worthy source of info, you can recommend products, and potentially refer sales. However, if you abuse that trust, you’ll be finished. As an affiliate blogger, you should always be a blogger first, and an affiliate second.
To find a place where we can put the deep links is not so easy. Most of the blogger don’t allow the deep links.
Useful post as link building is very important.
@Gina I have a book review site that has a regular following as well as visitors from google and I don’t think I’ve ever sold a book through an amazon link despite the fact that people actually post in the comments that they’d like to read them following my review. I too have had more success with amazon than affiliates – though when the affiliate sales do come you make much more $$ in one hit. It’s frustrating!
Great tips…I was wondering though, how much does linking to an older post increase its authority? I know self linking is weight less, but how much less. I find it hard to decided between affiliate link or deep linking post because I don’t have a concrete idea on how much each item it worth.
I like getting the reader on the affiliate page as soon as I can, because I figure they will still be in the buying mood they were in when first jumped on the internet.
Great tips. It all depends on the content of the post and how you want your readers to follow! Great detail!
@Levi Blackman,
Well, the value of deep/internal linking goes back to my “web” analogy. It’s not going to really push the page rank of that pages, but it’s another reminder to Google that (1) the page exists, and (2) what the page is about — via anchor text.
As for which page to link, as I suggested in my post, link to the affiliate page first — unless, of course, you don’t think that the user is going to be in a buying mood when they see that link.
Great tip.You teach that how to follow your blog.And We can’t find place to put our blog easily.Great details too…
Great article, i’m really enjoying reading it, keep posting SEO article!