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Test one buying guide or comparison page against what Google documents about reviews, sponsored links and thin affiliate content, and mark the gaps to fix.
An affiliate page is a page that earns a commission when a reader follows a link and buys. Typical examples are “best running shoes” lists, comparison tables and buying guides. A review page is one that helps people decide between products by assessing them.
Google publishes advice for review pages, advice on marking paid links, and a spam policy on thin affiliation. This guide turns those three documents into a checklist you can run on one page.
Google says reviews often use affiliate links and that publishers who do so should read its position on affiliate programs. That position, in its spam policies, says affiliate pages can be thin when product descriptions and reviews are copied from the merchant without original content or added value, and that good affiliate sites add value through meaningful content or features. Google also says not every site in an affiliate programme is a thin affiliate. Checking a page against the documents shows where it stands on each point; it does not predict rankings.
Choose a single page, for example your best-sellers list. Write down every recommendation it makes, such as “best overall” or “best for beginners”.
You will know it worked when You have a list of recommendations, one per line, for that page.
Open the merchant’s product page for each item. Google defines thin affiliation as product descriptions and reviews copied directly from the original merchant without any original content or added value (spam policies). Mark anything on your page that matches the merchant’s wording.
You will know it worked when Each product is marked as original wording, partly copied or copied.
Google’s review guidance asks for evidence of your own experience, such as visuals, audio or links, and for quantitative measurements. For each product, note whether the page shows photographs from use, measured figures or test results.
You will know it worked when Each product has a yes or no for first-hand evidence and for measurements.
The guidance says that when you recommend something as best overall or best for a purpose, you should include why, with first-hand supporting evidence. Beside each recommendation from step 1, write the reason the page gives. Also note whether the page mentions drawbacks and who each product suits.
You will know it worked when Every recommendation has a stated reason, or is marked as having none.
Google asks that ranked lists contain enough useful content to stand on their own, even if you also write separate in-depth reviews. Read the page without clicking anything. Would a reader learn enough to choose?
You will know it worked when You can say in one sentence what a reader learns from this page alone.
In the page source, search for rel= near your affiliate links. Google says links that are advertisements or paid placements should carry rel="sponsored", and that nofollow is still acceptable though sponsored is preferred (Qualify your outbound links).
You will know it worked when Each affiliate link is recorded as sponsored, nofollow or unmarked.
Google describes thin affiliate sites as often cookie-cutter sites or templates with the same or similar content replicated within a site or across domains or languages. Check whether you publish near-identical pages, or whether the same text is supplied to many affiliates by a network.
You will know it worked when You know whether any page is a near-copy of another, on your site or others.
List the gaps in order: copied text, missing evidence, unexplained rankings, unmarked links. Fix the copied text and unmarked links first, then add the evidence and reasons you can genuinely support. Do not invent testing you have not done.
You will know it worked when You have a short list of changes with one named owner for each.
Tell us about the site and how its pages are produced. You will get a reply from Dean, not a sales sequence.
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