In Part 1 of my discussion on using the TurboSquid affiliate system, I talked about some of the basics involved in getting started with the program. With Part 2, I’d like to discuss the SEO benefits that you can reap from using affiliate links.
Every time you link to one of your products or search result pages, you’re helping your search engine ranking for that page. Google and the other search engines like links – link to your product, and Google moves that page up when someone searches on keywords that your page contains. TurboSquid gets a LOT of traffic and business from customers who search for 3D products on Google. If you’ve got pages that are ranking highly with Google, you could be capturing a bigger slice of that business.
Using Keywords in Text Links
If you’re creating a link with a string of copy, consider carefully what that copy will say. Instead of just saying See my work at TurboSquid, try something like See my 3D models (if you’re linking to all of your assets) or 3D House Model at TurboSquid (if you’re linking to a specific product). The words you choose are very important! Adding relevant keywords to the link copy will help the search engines understand what you’re linking to. RELEVANT keywords are the key – include things like the file format (“3ds models…, “Maya models…”, etc.) and descriptive product terms (“house”, “red car”, “marine solider”, etc.).
Using Alt Tags on Images
If you’re using an image as an affiliate link (a shot of one of your products, for example), it’s helpful to set up relevant alt tags. Like the keywords in text links, these help the search engine understand what your links are pointing at. As an example, let’s say I’m linking to a house model, and I’m going to use one of the banners on the Marketing Materials page – https://www.turbosquid.com/Images/turbosquid/Guild/mm-banner-full-general.gif. I would need to add something like “alt=3D House Model at TurboSquid” after the code for the image. The customer sees this image:
And the underlying link looks like (note the text in bold):
<a href=”https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/MySampleHouse/999999?referral=ThePza”><img src=https://www.turbosquid.com/Images/turbosquid/Guild/mm-banner-full-general.gif alt=3D House Model at TurboSquid”/></a>
We’ve got example links for you to look at on the Marketing Materials page.
Pointing Multiple Links at a Page
The more relevant pages that you’ve got linking to a page, the better it’s going to perform with a search engine. Again, don’t try and cheat the SEO system by putting 100 links to the same product on 1 page. Instead, look for natural ways to link to your pages. Put links on your social network pages like Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace and Youtube. Send out your links via Twitter, e-mail/forum signatures, blog posts, and more. Even if these aren’t bringing you in direct affiliate revenue, they will help Google see your pages as relevant.