How many affiliate links can you have on a website before it starts to hurt your SEO

Having the right balance of affiliate links on a website can go a long way in helping it rank better. However, too many affiliate links can actually hurt your SEO. This is because Google prefers websites with neutral content and balanced link distribution as a sign of trustworthiness.

This article looks at how many affiliates links you can have on your website before it starts to hurt your SEO, and the different strategies you can use to reduce that number.

What is a safe number of affiliate links for SEO?

There is no set number of affiliate links that are considered safe for SEO. This is because SEO is not an exact science, and what works for one site might not work for another.
However, there are certain guidelines that can be followed to reduce the negative impact of affiliate links on SEO.

• Small to medium-sized websites - Having fewer than three affiliate links is a good idea for small to medium-sized websites. If you have too many affiliate links, it might cause your website to rank lower in the SERPs.
• Large websites - For large websites, the number of affiliate links you can have is not as important as their placement. Large websites should have affiliate links in the footer and in the sidebar.
• Having too many footer links - Footer links are seen as less important than links in the body of the article, so having too many footer links can be harmful to your SEO.
• Having too many sidebar links - Sidebar links, on the other hand, are generally seen as less important than footer links. Having too many sidebar links can also be harmful to your SEO.

How many affiliate links can you have before it hurts your SEO?

Having too many affiliate links on a single website is a surefire way to hurt your SEO, but there is no exact number that you should stay below.

Having too many links can reduce the amount of time visitors spend on your site. This can lower your bounce rate, but Google can view this as a sign of spam. Having too many links can also make your site look spammy to Google’s visual bots, which can also hurt your SEO.

Having too many affiliate links on a single website is like putting all of your eggs in one basket. If this method of monetization suddenly stops working, you can lose a lot of money. You can mitigate this risk by ensuring that you have other sources of income, so you can keep your site running if affiliate links suddenly stop working.

Using footer ads

Footer ads are a simple way to reduce the amount of affiliate links on your website. However, they are less effective than other types of ads. Footer ads are a type of ad that is placed at the bottom of an article. When a reader clicks on the ad, they are taken to an external website where they can sign up for a service or make a purchase.

A good way to integrate these ads is to put them in the footer of your articles. This is because the footer is generally the last part of a visitor’s journey on your site. You can choose to either have static ads or rotating ads in your footer.

Using contextual ad blocks

Contextual ad blocks are advertisement that are placed near the content on your site. These ads blend in with the rest of your content, making them much less intrusive.

However, these ads are sold directly to advertisers, so you have no control over the products that are being promoted. These ads can be placed in the sidebar, above your content, or in a separate section at the bottom of your page.

Using ad-free pages with only affiliate links

Another way to reduce the number of affiliate links on a website is to create ad-free pages with only affiliate links. You can use these pages to promote products that can be beneficial to your readers.

You can create pages such as “Best SEO Tools” or “Best WordPress Plugins”, and then put only affiliate links to products that you have used and would recommend. These pages can also be a great place to put your affiliate links, so they are not interrupting your content.

You can also have these pages link back to your main article, which can help improve your SEO. Creating these pages can be time-consuming, so you should only do it for products that you actually recommend.

Affiliate links can be a great way to monetize your website, but they can also hurt your SEO if they are not used correctly. Having too many affiliate links can negatively impact your SEO, but there are ways to mitigate this. You can use footer ads, contextual ad blocks, or create ad-free pages with only affiliate links to reduce the amount of affiliate links on your site.

However, you should not avoid affiliate links completely. Having the right balance of affiliate links can help improve your SEO.