From my experience i think Google doesn't mind amazon affiliate links that much. But if you promote CJ or other affiliate links in your article I have noticed that such articles dont rank high on Google, however had you try to build backlinks to them
I currently have one page (not the home page) with just amazon links, and my content pages link to that page. I'm now thinking I should spread them out throughout the content pages of the site.
You will get better conversions doing this. Put links where it is relevant, not just on a page full of ads.
Absolutely. This hurts off-page seo. What you can do is link redirection, link cloaking, and find more backlinks pointing to your site.
I add amazon affiliate links in some of my blogpost, and so far is no problem. The problem is the link is not so effective to get traffic.
Affiliate links can be a problem. Matt Cutts advises that they be run through a redirect script that is blocked in the robots.txt file or simply add the nofollow attribute to each link. I always use a redirect script. Most of the time, the larger problem with Amazon affiliate marketing is when the content from the Amazon site is used. That is guaranteed to get slapped by the duplicate content filters. Write unique content and block the affiliate links and you should not have a problem. It is also OK to use the Amazon JavaScript widgets.
MC is a sack full of fart, a Halloween pumpkin! If he crosses my path I'd bitch slap him silly and then press him about the rabbits! MC does chemo. because he is tired of shaving his f....ing head man. Don't you be paying much attention to MC. People, do the opposite MC says and you'll do just fine. Don't be listening to anybody's take on this matter and test for yourself. Quit following the crowds. I have a ton of sites doing exactly the opposite MC and self appointed SEM gurus out there preach and they are doing just fine. You can have a number but not the whole combination key to G.'s algo. Every site's situation is different!