In what ways would an affiliate site be okay with Google?

[bizzer]

I know Google has slammed affiliate sites hard. But affiliate marketing can be a real business and had an idea for one, but I would like to know if ALL affiliate sites are looked at as evil in Google's eyes, or if it's just those with thin and duplicate content in the product descriptions.

I know they want brands to come up ahead of affiliates of that brand, and that makes sense.  If I sold Acme Widgets products, Acme Widgets itself should come up ahead of my site.  But what if the site sold widgets in general, with the term widgets not a branded keyword? If all product descriptions are unique and well-written content, on a site that is  high quality, would it still be downgraded by Google just because there are affilate links in it?

I guess overall the question could be boiled down to, are affiliate sites hit because they have horrible content or because they have links to affiliate programs in them?

[EGOL]

.....since "real" ecommerce sites don't run ads as well?

Sure they do.  Haven't you seen ads on amazon.com?  They are called "product ads from external websites" (look low on the page on right side).   Ebay has lots of ads.  Hayneedle stores have ads (look at bottom of page).

I run ads on my ecommerce sites and block ads from direct competitors.  I vary their position depending upon how much I want to throttle my sales.

....I have a site now on precious metals which is high-content, low amount of adsense...

Adsense does better for me with precious metals content than affiliate links.  But, then it will depend upon the type of content that you have.  Some topics inspire shopping more than others.  Of, course the PM sites will gladly buy links from you.... but I am not a seller.

I was thinking I might choose one metals broker affiliate link (like a Goldbank or someone) and place it in the sidebar. Would that small change screw up my rankings?

Probably not... if you nofollow the link.

And, "a site with a shopping cart operated by the affiliate program" I'm not clear on this. Why is that?

It makes you look like a retailer instead of an affiliate.

[bizzer]

You said, "build a content site with a store, a content site with affiliate links instead of ads" Yes, I'm thinking I'd have many times greater pages with content versus product pages, and the product pages would have long, original content on them. You also said, "affiliate links instead of ads" So, having both ads and affiliate links indicates that I'm not that serious I suppose, since "real" ecommerce sites don't run ads as well? Interesting, this is unrelated to the site I asked the question about, but I have a site now on precious metals, which is high-content, low amount of adsense. I was thinking I might choose one metals broker affiliate link (like a Goldbank or someone) and place it in the sidebar. Would that small change screw up my rankings? And, "a site with a shopping cart operated by the affiliate program" I'm not clear on this. Why is that?

[EGOL]

Affiliate sites get hit mainly because they are usually just signposts for someone else.

If you want to survive as an affiliate build a content site with a store, a content site with affiliate links instead of ads, or a site with a shopping cart operated by the affiliate program.

[RebekahMay]

Affiliate sites are hard to rank because a great number of them are thin pages, scraped content and basically provide little value.

Affiliate sites in the pills, porn or casino niches will also be a lot more difficult to rank... but if you are opening up an affiliate site outside of those niches, and concentrating on providing useful content, then it should be just as difficult as any other site - depending on the competitive landscape.