Bridge page anti-pattern

Summary:

"Bridge" page is essentially the page that links straight to affiliate link without providing any additional value. It's directly named by Google AdWords policy

Name of the pattern:

Bridge page

When NOT to use the pattern:

Whenever you care about search engine rank or the cost of PPC campaign pointing to this page.

How to use the pattern:

Google does not disclose much about what "bridge" page is beyond the definition they give, but consensus is that you can avoid a page treated as the bridge page if it provides additional value, for example, offers an additional bonus, or provides a large comparison table of different options.

Attribution:

Google

Related patterns:

Affiliate marketing, SEO, PPC

Related anti-patterns:

Mirror pages

Details and comments:

This anti-pattern primary examples are cloaked links (page that does not really exists, but rather redirects to the affiliate sales offer), reviews pages (short text plus affiliate link), and fake blogs (essentially, the same review pages written from a fiction personage who allegedly writes on that blog). The last one also attracts latest FTC attention with potential of investigation.

It seems to be still ok to use cloaked links in your texts as long as they provide extra value, as well as full-fledged review sites where multiple products are compared side by side with additional information.