Is there any SEO benefit from hiding affiliate links? Or to say it right, is there any negative SEO effect from having redirecting affiliate links from CJ and others? I would appreciate answer from someone who KNOWS, not just guessing. Thanx.
In some cases, it's actually beneficial to point out that they are affiliate links. If you're marketing to people who know what an affiliate link is, they might not want to click because they'll think you're trying to 'trick' them into clicking it. But if you put (aff link) behind it, then they know that you're not trying to pull the wool over their eyes. Does that make sense? If you're not marketing to affiliate link savvy people, then it shouldn't matter. It hasn't seemed to make a difference for me anyway.
But it may result in the loss of a sale when the user thinks that he's clicking an affiliate link. So i feel a need of link cloaker. Could anyone guide me too in this aspect?
Agree with you, however when hide the links is not possible, just adding a piece of code to the pages's body do the trick to avoid people seeing they are about to click on an affiliate link, i.e. body OnMouseOver="window.status=''; return true" OnMouseOut="window.status=''; return true"
The FTC are looking to change the law to ensure that all affiliate links are reported. (link to an article on my site - not an (aff) though ) My personal view is that if someone recommends something to me and I trust their opinions, I don't care if it's an affiliate link or not. With regard to cloaking, there's an article on DP about this here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=117842
The majority of my affiliate links are actually redirects. This helps me track them better, but I don't use it to trick anyone.