With the rise of faster broadband and online payments, gambling has rapidly spread throughout the online world. Simple, quick and accessible, more people than ever can participate in sports betting tournaments without leaving the comfort of their homes. Anyone with a Paypal or bank account can play, making it easy to be in with a chance of winning big money.
From poker and slot machines to roulette, blackjack and baccarat, there are lots of different types of gambling games available online. Despite the individual differences between these games, their websites all have one thing in common—they can be monetised through affiliation.Â
Gambling website affiliations
Typical online marketing platforms like AdSense and social media ads have terms of use which restrict the type of content that can be advertised. Alongside piracy, this includes gambling. As such, affiliate programmes have become the most popular marketing strategy used by the online gambling industry.
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to promote an online casino business. This involves promoting a brand, product, or website through advertisements placed on affiliate websites. When a visitor clicks on the advertising banner or backlink, they are then redirected to the casino’s website.
The commission on gambling sites is one of the highest around, earning up to 20 euros for each conversion. In comparison, it would take thousands of page views and clicks to earn the same amount with AdSense or AdBrite.
SEO for gambling websites
To make the most of this lucrative opportunity, gambling website affiliates need to make sure their website stands out from the competition. One of the best ways of doing this is through SEO, or search engine optimisation. This is a long-term marketing strategy that enhances your website so that it ranks higher for the most relevant search results. This generates a steady flow of organic traffic from quality leads who are genuinely interested in your products or services.
In general, most people will only look at the first page of results when searching on Google. As such, site ranking should be an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy, boosting your website’s visibility. If your affiliate website ranks higher, you’ll get more visitors and increase the odds of people clicking on your advertisement or backlink. That means more conversions and therefore more commission.
Since other marketing channels restrict gambling content, affiliate websites are essential in terms of visibility and traffic for online casinos. Because of this, they are growing in popularity resulting in fierce competition. But by using white hat SEO tactics, you can rise through the ranks, gain exposure and increase your flow of organic traffic.
From keywords and engaging content to publishing reviews, read on to find out how you can maintain a good ranking for relevant search results.
SEO tips for more traffic
Creating a website is easy, but the hardest part will be overcoming the competition and getting it to rank well. Gambling websites are highly competitive, but by putting together an SEO strategy, you can boost your exposure and build up a steady flow of organic traffic. The three core pillars of SEO are relevancy, authority and user experience, and here’s how you can build each one.
1. Keyword optimisation for relevancy
Your first step should be to research the keywords that will bring the most traffic to your gambling site. This keyword research can be carried out using specialist software and Google Analytics. The difficulty with keywords for online gambling companies is that the industry and terminology used are constantly evolving. This means that the most searched-for keywords and phrases will often change.
To get your website ranking for the most relevant searches, you will need to research your keywords regularly. This is essential if you want to stay in demand and ahead of the competition. These keywords then need to be woven throughout your website content in a way that is both natural and effective.
During the early days of SEO, companies used to cram multiple keywords onto their websites wherever they could. However, this lowered the user experience as the results were often irrelevant and difficult to read. As such, Google’s algorithms now penalise sites that use keyword stuffing. This will lower your rank or even remove it from the results altogether.
Instead, aim to optimise your pages, blog posts, alt tags and meta descriptions with just one or two focus keywords. This will help you avoid stuffing in too many broader keywords and keep your content relevant.
This might seem counter-intuitive at first, as how could limiting your keywords extend your reach? However, since each page has its own opportunity to rank, targeting specific long-tail keywords will actually give you multiple opportunities to appear in different searches. It will also help you appear in more relevant search results, so the traffic you do gain will deliver higher quality leads.
Once you have your keywords, you also need to publish engaging content regularly through blog posts, articles, videos and interviews. A lot of content gets published online nowadays, but not all of it is relevant. As such, you should focus on delivering quality over quantity. Then by posting fresh content, you can let Google know that your website is up to date and provides current information.
2. Use backlinks for authority
In SEO, the importance of a page in relation to a search query is referred to as authority. If you have authority, then you are perceived as a trusted leader within your industry and will rank higher. Search engines like Google measure authority using a variety of different signals. The main breakthrough that propelled Google to prominence in such a short time was its use of weblink analysis as a ranking criterion.
Keeping up with Google’s constantly changing page ranking algorithms can feel like catching fog. Just when you think you know what the search engine overlords are looking for, they change their strict criteria. Thankfully, there are a few tried-and-tested methods for improving your SEO and overall Google quality score, one of which is high-authority backlinks.
Backlinks are where another website mentions your own and includes a hyperlink to send visitors your way. These are the equivalent of LinkedIn endorsements in the SEO realm, and when a high-ranking site links to yours, they are essentially validating your website. This shows Google that your content is relevant, authoritative and trustworthy, giving your rank a boost.
Another tactic for building authority is to showcase reviews, which are a major asset for gambling sites in terms of SEO and conversions. Google’s algorithm rewards websites that feature positive user reviews, helping you secure a better rank over your competitors. Publishing user opinions also gives your visitors confidence in your services, helping build trust among humans and robots alike.
3. Website structure for user experience
Finally, you will want to consider the actual structure of your website. When producing search results, web crawlers look through your pages to determine what your content is about. If they are unable to access all the information due to dead links and poor structure, this will lead to a lower ranking.
One way to improve crawlability is by link building and also using internal links. For example, when you create a new blog post, you could link this back to previous posts, different services or even your contact page. This not only guides visitors around your website, but also shows Google how all your content is connected and relevant to each other.
Updating your content regularly also encourages web crawlers to visit more often, helping them crawl through your site much quicker. However, take care to avoid posting duplicate content. This is information that appears in multiple places with different URLs. Although Google does not officially apply a penalty for duplicate content, it will filter out any identical information. This effectively makes your content redundant, resulting in a lower ranking for your web pages.
Final thoughts
Creating an effective SEO strategy is key to attracting more traffic and potential customers, especially within the betting industry where other marketing strategies are restricted. When used effectively, SEO can help your casino or affiliate website maintain a high ranking for relevant searches.
Some of the most popular white hat tactics used include keyword research, engaging content, backlinks and reviews. But remember that these are long-term strategies, so you also need to be committed to your plan in order to be successful and increase your visibility.
The potential rewards you could gain from a strong SEO strategy are high and definitely worth the effort. If you need help refining your strategy, then consider working with a professional SEO agency. With an in-depth understanding of Google’s algorithms, they will enhance your content and website structure in a way that helps you rise through the ranks.