Block Referrals from Search Engines

Search engine referrals in affiliate programs often signal a problem: affiliates bidding on your brand keywords with paid ads and collecting commissions on traffic you would have received anyway. Blocking search engine referrals helps you prevent this practice and protect your marketing budget.

The PPC Arbitrage Problem

PPC arbitrage happens when affiliates:

1. Run paid ads on Google, Bing, or other search engines
2. Bid on your brand name or product keywords
3. Direct that traffic through their affiliate link
4. Earn commissions on customers who were already searching for you

This practice costs you twice - you pay the affiliate commission AND lose the direct relationship with customers who intended to buy from you directly.

How to Block Search Engine Referrals

1. Navigate to your Affiliate Program Settings
2. Scroll to Tracking Settings
3. Find Block Search Engines and toggle the switch to On
4. Select which search engines to block:
   • Google
   • Bing
   • DuckDuckGo
   • Yahoo
   • Yandex
   • Baidu
5. Save your changes

How Detection Works

When a visitor arrives via an affiliate link, Affonso checks the referrer URL. If the traffic originated from a blocked search engine, the referral is not tracked.

The visitor can still complete their purchase - they just won't be attributed to any affiliate.

When to Use This Feature

Block all search engines if:

• You want to prevent all PPC arbitrage attempts
• Your program focuses on content marketing and social promotion
• You run your own paid search campaigns and don't want overlap

Block selectively if:

• You want to allow organic search referrals (note: this is harder to distinguish)
• Some affiliates have explicit permission to run paid campaigns
• You're testing the impact before full implementation

Distinguishing Organic vs Paid Search

Blocking search engine referrals affects both organic and paid search traffic from those engines. If an affiliate ranks organically for relevant keywords, those referrals would also be blocked.

If you want to allow organic search but block paid ads, consider:

• Manually reviewing referral sources for ad patterns
• Working with affiliates to document their promotion methods
• Using domain blocking for specific ad landing pages

Communicate Your Policy

Most affiliate programs prohibit PPC bidding on brand terms. Make sure your policy is clear:

1. State in your affiliate terms that paid search on brand keywords is prohibited
2. Explain that search engine referrals are not tracked
3. Suggest alternative promotion methods like content marketing or social sharing

Best Practices

Enable early: Prevent PPC arbitrage from becoming a habit among your affiliates.

Monitor your ads: Check if competitors or affiliates are bidding on your brand keywords using tools like SEMrush or SpyFu.

Reward legitimate efforts: Make sure affiliates understand they'll earn more by focusing on genuine content and promotion.

Concerned about affiliate PPC activity? Contact support for strategies to protect your brand keywords.