A long time issue with those who ponder using affiliates is whether paying for affiliate links will rob them of link juice with the search engines. If the affiliate links make use of tracking codes or redirection, will search engines count these as much as "real" links?
SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems from Greg Boser is a great tutorial on how affiliate links work in various flavors and how to get the ones that will help you with search engines (short answer, use 301 redirection), assuming your affiliates buy into the idea. As Greg explains, giving you the link juice means they might be less likely to show up themselves.
Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forum thread, Affiliate URLs - 301s vs 302s.
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