I wrote this back on April 2nd and submitted it for review on Search Engine Land the same day. (searchengineland.com/direct-linking-affiliates-nuisance-or-real-problem) A few days later that they hadn’t posted it, but I wanted to wait and see. Well after six months, I still have strong feelings about Lori’s comments and thought you might like to read them.

The affiliates who are active in your programs are not the enemy! If you feel they ARE, then you shouldn’t be running an affiliate program. It’s time we start thinking about affiliates as performance based partners, and not evil step-children. I agree that some are unethical, but we are in control of our affiliate programs and the marketers we approved!

You hold the power, not them!

Lori you based this article around “direct linking” when in fact the issue you have discussed is Keyword or Click Poaching. The actual path from the PPC ad to the merchant site is irrelevant. The issue is affiliates poaching the click from the merchant. Direct linking isn’t the problem, and actually will have a higher conversion rate than pushing the consumer through an affiliate run landing page or site.

While search marketing is part of most affiliate marketer’s strategies, it’s inherently different from the normal practice of adding creative to a high traffic site. This means the program terms for search engine marketing need to be clear to avoid a conflict of interest, and your issues above. Affiliate program managers will still need to audit search results and enforce these terms of use.

If you look at affiliates as performance partners it should be clear how to guide them in growing your business, and avoid the negative results of Click Poaching outlined above. Here are recommendations on guiding search marketing affiliates:

1) Search Engine Restrictions - Most in-house search teams, or outsourced agencies, will only run PPC ads on the top 3 search engines. Sometime they will toss in Ask and Miva for good measure. There are over two dozen other PPC search engines and networks that provide steady traffic and solid conversion rates. These smaller networks generally take too much time to manage effectively.

Wouldn’t it be great if someone was willing to run your offers here, and only get paid if the ads brought in business? Well, that’s affiliate marketing! You just have to be willing to communicate and enforce with affiliates that they are not allowed to run ads on the search engines where you advertise. Keep in mind that some affiliates are very good at PPC, and it may actually be cheaper to have them running campaigns.

2) Trademark & Keyword Restrictions - Whether your running PPC ads or not you probably have a set of branded and product related keywords that drive traffic to your site. This could be through paid ads, but is most likely organic rankings. Some affiliates if not watched, or guided by program terms, will take this opportunity to cash in. Generally consumers will click the first result they see. If you allow affiliates to bid on these trademark terms and protected keywords, they will receive the click, and resulting commission.

Tell your affiliates what keywords are off limits and use audit software to enforce it. Don’t waste your time calculating lost ROI and spending weeks analyzing data. If you let an affiliate place an ad where you currently have exposure, it’s a conflict of interest and will cost you money. If you don’t have a presence, let them loose (regardless of keyword) and gain new exposure for your products and services.

3) Ad Copy (Optional) - Sometimes affiliates will copy your information in their ads to improve click through rates. Again reach out and guide them. If you don’t want ads to say official site or use your URL as the display, tell them so. Provide alternatives for ad copy, and give them non-compete keywords. If it’s a conflict of interest and competes with your listings, paid or organic, don’t allow it. But if they are providing visibility in a place where you have none, embrace it.

Take this simple example:

Say you’re not currently advertising in 7Search, due to low traffic as well as budget constraints, and your site isn’t ranking in their “organic” listings.

Your program terms state that affiliates aren’t allowed to bid on trademarks keywords. Worried about being removed from your program, they stop running ads. However, your competitors are running ads on these keywords. If you let affiliates run ads here, where you have no real visibility, they would actually be stealing the click from your competitor without any effort on your part!

This is a win-win situation!

Please take a step back and work with your affiliates to create a program that’s mutually beneficial. Identify your top performers and get their input. I have seen clients fire their PPC agencies because good affiliates were more profitable.

Remember you have control and the issue is Click Poaching, not “direct linking”. Direct Linking generally leads to better conversions and more money in your pocket!