For the past few weeks i've been ranking well for some good keywords on a specific page of my website. I decided to make the most of this by adding some affiliate links, nothing over the top just some text and a few banners. All was well until a few days ago i swapped out the direct affiliate links in favour of linking to a php file that would then redirect the user to the affiliate website. I used cart.php?order=1 etc as the actual link. Now since making those changes the page has been completely buried in the google results and is nowhere to be seen? Is this just a coincidence cos i've read of many who mask or redirect affiliate links. (I've since added the cart.php file to my robors.txt file, do i have a chance of re-inclusion anytime soon?)
It might have nothing to do with the link you have added as being affiliate links, but it might be because the text used within the link itself, and any visible text you have used, which is causing your keyword density to be too high, thus lowering the search engine results. Did you re-optimize the site after you made the changes?
Sharing the url might help to give you some more detials. Of course if google thinks you have done somthing to fool google, they will take action. If you think your site is banned, you can correct the mistake and request for reinclusion.
No im not banned, the domain still ranks great for its keywords, it's just that perticular page has dropped completely in the SERPS. Perhaps the KW density was too high... i've since swapped out the masked urls for the affiliate code urls as i dont really wanna risk getting the domain trashed.
Yeah that wouldnt affect your rankings, you will probably go back up again in a few days especially if it's a newish site, I see new sites going up and down constantly!