The Amazon Affiliate Slap – Death To Amazon Direct Linking
I just got an email from Amazon.com a little while ago saying the following:
We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you’re not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.
As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.
If you are an affiliate this should be a warning sign if you are doing any long term direct linking campaigns. If you aren’t creating your own landing pages you are in danger from seeing your campaigns go dry. Not from just the vendors themselves analyzing where their affiliates are competing directly with them but also from other affiliates with tools like Google Cash Detective that can easily spot your campaigns and come in to compete with you.
It will be interesting to see the response of the affiliate community as I know of a few people who teach direct linking to Amazon specifically. If this is a major chunk of your business, you have 3 weeks to change your business model.
Here are some reactions, so far, across the web. Check Aaron Wall’s perspective in particular:
- Attention Amazon Associates – No More Direct Linking Via Paid …
- Amazon Associates Program Bans Paid Search Traffic
- Amazon Cans PPC Affiliates : SEO Book.com
- just got an email at 5:01 this morning from the powers that be at Amazon.com letting their associates know that as of May 1, 2009 they will no longer allow direct linking from paid search ads.
- If you’ve been direct linking without having your own authority sites or landing pages, it will just be a matter of time before big merchants like Amazon bans direct linking. Now Amazon has got this started, I wonder which merchant will …
- Amazon.com announced they are scaling back their associates program in North America by disallowing direct linking from paid search results.
Comments
Thanks for the heads up Fred, you would think they would have did this awhile ago. I really don’t use amazon for direct linking anyway, and glad direct linking wasn’t how I got things done, one change can break you down.
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