Shop Codes has been struggling in the Google rankings in recent weeks, so I’ve been working hard updating and fine tuning the pages so they’re optimised for the search engines and include fresh content.

The result has been paying off and I’m slowly seeing some positive results. Not only are the pages being indexed but in some cases they are the number one result for some keywords.

One of those is “m&s voucher codes”. It may appear to be an obscure keyword but to a site like mine it is the bread and butter. Google takes the visitor direct to the Marks and Spencer page on my site and then I deliver a voucher code for that shop. There’s lots of combinations of keywords that I’d like to be present on Google for, ie “marks and spencer codes” or “m&s vouchers” – but the way I’ve been ‘dropped’ by them, I’ll accept anything at the moment to be on the first page. To be the top result just shows I am gradually doing the right thing and is even better.

Before I get too excited though, Marks and Spencer have announced they are closing their affiliate scheme for a number of weeks. They’ve partnered with Amazon since 2005 and Amazon will soon be launching a new M&S site.

So, I can leave the page as is and the links to M&S will probably break at some point or I can just link direct to the site without the affiliate tracking code. The latter option seems like the best option to me as I’m then keeping my site visitors happy.