Mobile & Impact on Affiliate Links

Published: Mon, 04/13/15

Still working through your sites to make them mobile-friendly?  I'll answer some common questions that may come in handy.

While we're at it, let's talk about affiliate links and how mobile will impact what we do with those little money makers of ours!
Mobile Q & A
If you're not technically savvy, this change that Google is rolling out next week might have you freaking out.  Rule #1 - we don't freak out.  ;)  We conquer!

First, if you haven't already, read the tips I've already shared in my last email:  Critical Mobile Tips

Second, here are answers to some common questions that I've seen:

Q:  Why does Google Webmaster Tools still show I have issues?

A:  You may have run through every page of your site and are still seeing issues with mobility in your Google Webmaster Tools reports.  The Mobile Usability data in the Search Traffic subsection of your GWT dashboard shows you how many pages have which kinds of usability issues.

However, this report lags your changes.  It's not current.  It reflects the last time Google checked your site and that may have been before you made your recent changes.  I changed a 110+ page site on April 2nd and didn't see the information in GWT start to change until April 4th and then only a few pages dropped off the issues list.

A few more dropped several days later, and so on.  Today, the report still shows 12 pages with issues but as long a the number is going down I know they're getting picked up in their own, good time. 

You can always click on each issue to see the list of site URLs for each issue.  Click on each URL and you'll be given an option to run a current test that will tell you if there's really an issue to resolve or not.  It will also show the last time Google looked at that page so you can see if it tested before or after your changes were made.

Q:  If I've already using a responsive theme do I need to do anything else? 

A:  Probably not but remember that plugins that create content for your site by way of short codes or links or text most often apply their own CSS style sheet to that content and the CSS for the plugin may not be responsive.  Make sure to test any pages that include any content created by plugins.  If they're not responsive, go to the plugin creator support page and see if they've posted a solution.

Q:  Google PageSpeed Insights says I have problems but the Google Mobile Test tool says I'm fine.

A:  These two tools serve different purposes.  The first one gives you recommendations for making your site faster and divides those recommendations into site speed for mobile and site speed for desktop.  Don't confuse those issues with being mobile-friendly.

However, at the bottom of the mobile results in the Google PageSpeed Insights tool you'll see a User Experience score.  That's the one piece of this tool that can help you improve your mobile usability.  You might have a low page speed score for a page and yet have a very high user experience score.  All that means is that you might have to work on site speed (which can be another ranking factor, by the way) but at least things are in pretty good shape for how mobile users will be able to interact with your page on smaller screens. 

What About Affiliate Links?

There's no current information that says affiliate links are going to be handled any differently in the ranking algorithm for mobile search results than they are for desktop search results but there are other things we MUST consider because of the sheer volume of traffic that comes from mobile devices these days..

First, most of us have experience now viewing websites on a smart phone or tablet.  Things look different.  You might see much less content per screen view than you would on a nice, wide desktop.

The chances for your affiliate links to be missed could be increased and, yet, many of us are afraid to add more affiliate links in our content because we know that also negatively impacts rankings. 

It's a challenge. 

There are two things you need to do here and you might even have to test the two.

The first is to test different positioning for your affiliate links.  Try different buttons, test out Amazon's new mobile popover ad (see the Mobile Education center in the sidebar of your Amazon dashboard), or try new colors and font sizes for text links.

The second solution is not for everyone but it is a PERFECT fit with some strategies: 


Elf Links is a WordPress plugin that uses javascript to insert affiliate links into your content.

The benefit? Google bots can't read the javascript as an affiliate link so you can put more links into your content without suffering lower rankings by having affiliate links in your post. 

I recently spoke with Brian Kindsvater (WarriorForum attorney and the creator of Elf Links) and had a chance to go through how these work and how he uses them on his Amazon sites.  It's easy to use, works with all kinds of links, he's included a program to incorporate your Amazon and eBay tracking IDs, and in this latest version he's taken yet an extra step to keep Google from seeing these as affiliate links. 

I'm a firm believe that affiliate links do play a big role in the Google ranking algorithm when it comes to us affiliates. 

I've seen several articles that prove this, I've seen live case studies where someone removed all affiliate links and saw their rankings improve significantly, and I can see on some of my own content where the number of affiliate links in a post has had an impact on my own rankings. 

At times, I have reduced the affiliate links in a post to see the post rise in Google.  The problem is that when there are fewer links there can also be fewer sales so you have to do more work to get the links to really stand out and get someone to see them and click on them.  If you put your affiliate link at the bottom of a post and someone makes up their mind to buy the product half way through your post, you're going to miss out on the sale. 

However, I also believe that Google wouldn't approve of hiding affiliate links.  That's why I say this solution is not for everyone (and offer you alternatives to test other placements instead).  Right now, Google doesn't hold these kinds of links against a site but who knows if they'd do so in the future? 

I would not use this method on a site where I rely almost exclusively on Google for traffic unless I was completely fine with something happening to that site in the future and having to rebuild. 

Instead, this is the kind of tool you should use when you are using other traffic sources like Pinterest with my PinFabulous strategy, or those ecommerce store builders like AzonAuthority (a gorgeous Amazon store builder theme) where you MUST have a plan for unique content and traffic in order to really make them work.  Using Elf Links for the affiliate links in those sites is going to give you one more advantage against competing sites.  

You could even use Elf Links as a test without losing income.  Replace all of your affiliate links with javascript links and see what happens to your rankings over the course of a few weeks.  If you see improvements in your rankings you'll know your use of affiliate links is having an impact but you won't lose out on sales from traffic during the test.  Then you can figure out how to deal with those affiliate links long term.

Remember, too, that tools don't have to be an all or nothing solution.  Hiding your affiliate links just before Christmas shopping starts to get a boost in rankings and then removing Elf Links and going back to regular links could be an interesting business strategy. 

So, while you're in making changes to your site anyway to prepare for the mobile-friendly change, consider how best to handle your affiliate links! 

Sincerely,

Erica Stone
erica@extremereviewer.com