Member Avatar for ep2002

Hi there,

Well, I learned something new today :)

I just recently started my affiliate program about a year ago, & since I don't have an experienced affiliate manager, I am learning slowly rather than quickly.

Anyway, I just recently noticed that one of my affiliates had their domain pointing to my site & I got upset, b/c I never gave him him permission to do that.

At first I was using the words "copy", which he was focusing on to avoid taking responsibility for what he was doing & then I realized he wasn't really "copying" my site per say, but I still feel it is unethical, certainly lazy, if not a violation of copyright laws.

Then someone pointed out that maybe Google or other SEs could penalize me b/c his domain is actually forwarded to my site & then the affiliate URL is cloaked.

Does anyone have the answer to this as to whether Google would penalize and/or whether he is actually in violation of copyright laws?

I'd love to hear from another company where this happened to their affiliate program & what they did.

Thank you


Michelle

  • 2 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 103 Views
  • 6 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by ep2002

Dani AI

Generated

A short, practical plan that follows what described and the helpful nudge from : treat this as two parallel problems — what search engines see (technical/canonical signals) and how to stop or remediate abuse (affiliate policy and domain remedies).

First, confirm exactly how the affiliate is sending traffic. Run a quick header check to see whether the affiliate is redirecting, proxying, or using a masked/frame setup:

curl -I http://their-domain.example
curl -sL -D - http://their-domain.example | head -n 30

If the affiliate’s hostname stays in the address bar while your content serves, that is masked/framed or proxied; if you see 301/302 status codes, it’s a server redirect. Actions differ by case: enforce a single canonical hostname on your site (canonical link tags and server-side 301s for non-primary hosts) and make sure your pages consistently point to your preferred URL so crawlers consolidate signals (consolidate duplicate URLs, ). Also review cloaking rules so the affiliate’s setup doesn’t trigger manual action (cloaking guidelines).

On the program and legal side: update affiliate terms to forbid masked forwarding, require use of tracked links, and spell out consequences for violations (suspension/termination). For a registered typo/variant domain used to impersonate the brand, document the abuse, check WHOIS/registrar, and consider a provider/registrar or UDRP complaint if it’s squatting or impersonation (see WIPO’s UDRP overview: ). Finally, proactively register obvious typo variants for key pages and set up a short monitoring routine (weekly curl checks or a small crawler) for top affiliates so future issues are caught quickly.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for stymiee

You may receive a duplicate content penalty by them forwarding their domain to your site.

Since they did it without your permission you should ask them to remove it immediately. If not, use the DMCA to have their site taken down.

Member Avatar for ep2002

Thank you, but another MB has been helping me already & the guy took it down.

Now he's registered my domain name w/ an "s" in it <sigh>

exoticspublishing instead of mine which is exoticpublishing


Michelle

You may receive a duplicate content penalty by them forwarding their domain to your site.

Since they did it without your permission you should ask them to remove it immediately. If not, use the DMCA to have their site taken down.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.