Online casinos represent a billion dollar industry with many stock listed iGaming operators intensifying competition and forcing casino brands to leave no stone unturned. Although already massive, there is still lots of potential for growth which is why competition is fierce and isn't expected to step down in the next few years. Operated as fully online businesses, most marketing activities are disputed on the internet which is why SEO has become essential to make a gambling site stand out. With online marketing as the driving force behind a casino's success on the internet a specific niche of SEO has arised: Casino SEO.
Casino SEO is the ongoing activity of boosting the rankings of online casinos in search engines such as Google. Derived from SEO, it comes with industry-specific challenges related to competition, regulations and online casino products and services. Known for its fierce competition, thousands of online gambling sites fight for the same share of the cake.
With persistence and following the right approach, chances to reach the target audience are increased, making it possible to compete in a digital landscape. In this simplified guide to Casino SEO, provided by KiwiGambler, we'll talk you through the basics so you can start shaping your online marketing strategy.
Casino SEO vs. Traditional SEO
When it comes to the success of an online business, it is important to get the most of its online presence which is essential to fellow SEO best practices. Broadly speaking, these are the same as in SEO activities for other online businesses and include:
- Keyword research.
- On-page optimisation.
- URL optimisation.
- Content optimisation.
- Link building.
- Image attributes.
- Web security.
- Design optimisation.
- Textual optimisation.
- Page speed.
- Snippets.
Continuously sticking to a wide list of SEO tactics will enhance the visibility and consequently the ranking potential of a website, including gambling sites. The best SEO practices can be applied to gambling as well, although small differences need to be taken into account. For instance, some casino websites want to rank on their own name + the title of a popular slot game leading to an industry specific keyword of [casino name + Book of Dead]. Also, the trust factor plays a more important role in online gambling than in other industries whilst “how to play [casino game] guides” are a way to attract the crowds. Unlike most industries, online casinos also hand out bonuses and promotions as a way to set themselves apart from the competition. These bonuses need to be marketed as well.
Another industry specific characteristic is that a lot of international gambling platforms enjoy sizable marketing budgets as many of them are stock-listed. This means that they are willing to spend more money on online marketing than in most other industries. This provides marketers with lots of chances and flexibility although it is expected in return that their strategy continuously follows the best practices and doesn't let go of competition. Refining and updating the SEO strategy is therefore particularly important in this niche.
SEO Tips for Casinos
Just like in other industries, proper SEO is the result of how two stages follow each other and work together as soon as the base is taken care of. These two stages are referred to as on page and off page SEO which are both based on the keyword plan. Let's dive into this, starting with the key word strategy.
Building The Core: Keywords
Every online business estimates its potential based on the most important keywords in the industry. This doesn't mean, however, that the most searched keywords are always the main target as potential stands for the probability a company can score well on that particular keyword depending on competition and budget. Setting your most important (and thus realistic) keywords forms the starting point and allows you to develop your strategy. The main idea is to adapt your content to the keywords you find important and not the other way around (thus adapting the keywords to the already existing content).
On-page Optimisation
This brings us to on-page optimisation as this is the proper base of one's business. This step is rather extensive and involves the optimisation of the complete structure which stretches from the overall look and feel, pages, textual content, titles, descriptions, meta descriptions, images, loading speed and overall content. This is the foundation on which you should start any optimisation work. A lot of the way the website structure is filled in, based on the keywords, but web security, page speed and web design are obviously loose performance metrics that need to be followed, independent of the industry one works in.
Off-page SEO
External optimisation is just as important as on-page optimisation as your brand needs to build both exposure and authority. This can be described as the process of building a network of high quality links that serve as references to your website. These are important as the more high quality links refer to your platform, the more indicators Google receives that you're an authority in your industry, elevating your rankings. Off-page SEO can be conducted via an offsite marketing mix consisting of content distribution, social media marketing, and link building. Off-page optimisation is a process that is focussed on mid term to long term results and requires a high amount of attention, dedication and budget.
Final Thoughts
Building online casinos doesn't stop when the website is launched as the target audience needs to be convinced that your website is the betting platform they're looking for. As you need to reach this audience via the internet, proper SEO is crucial. With the online casino industry representing billions of dollars in revenue every year, traditional SEO has evolved into a casino specific type of SEO in recent years. The main idea of Casino SEO is the same as for SEO in other industries: the online business needs to get the most of its online potential. This is pursued via a combination of both on-page and off-page SEO.
Our simplified guide to Casino SEO therefore does what its name suggests: it provides you with a basic overview of SEO activities for online casinos. We've gone through the basics and we advise all of our readers to investigate the details of each step. Every step should always take into account that it all starts with the keywords which are sketched based on its potential which is directly related to both competition and one's budget. Every online casino marketer needs to be aware of the fact that Casino SEO is an ongoing process that is focussed on mid term to long term results. Persistence is the key in this dynamic and ever changing industry that is known for its fierce competition.
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