TRAFFIC
ENGAGEMENT AND
BLACK HAT SEO
NICK GARNER recently took a break from SEO while he focused on building the product, UX and
brand for his Oshi bitcoin casino. Here he shares some insights, tips and tricks around ranking that have
evolved out of this year-long process.
FOR THOSE OF YOU who may not
know my story, I started my igaming
journey as SEO manager for Betfair and
then became head of search for Unibet, then
I set up my own igaming SEO marketing
agency 90 Digital and now I have an online
bitcoin casino called Oshi.
I took a year-long holiday from SEO
to concentrate on building up my casino.
We decided to focus on product, i.e. the
customer experience and brand, instead
of just going out and marketing ‘another’
casino.
So why not hit SEO from the start?
Engagement. That’s why. If you’ve ever
read anything from me about SEO over the
last three years, I’ve always said the same
thing:
● ● Be relevant and engaging to the people
who can make you money
● ● Make your site Google-friendly
● ● Get PageRank
● ● If the inflow of PageRank is powerful
enough and your site is ‘Google-friendly’,
Google will rank you on some competitive
phrases… and the real test begins.
● ● If your site gets the necessary
engagement, i.e. click-through rate, Google
will keep you ranking.
The way I always describe it is that it’s
like being given an audition. If you pass
this, great, you’re on stage. However, If you
fail the audition, it’s much harder to get
re-auditioned.
That’s why in my experience, sites which
have failed their audition are really difficult
to re-rank, whereas fresh websites, which
have no history to speak of, often rank
much more easily.
What’s the dynamic here? Simply,
Google is becoming much more of a
meritocracy. In other words sites that people
want rank more than ever before better than
the sites marketers want to have ranked.
As a user, this is a great thing. We trust
Google more than ever and this is proven
by the Edelman Trust Barometer, which
revealed in 2015 that Google is the most
trusted source of news globally.
Google is now more trusted than the
mainstream media, which includes TV,
newspapers and radio. Google of course
loves this, because it means AdWords
receives the radiated trust from the organic
search results.
From my point of view, I realised that
the SEO game was on when we started to
rank just outside the top first page results
for a bunch of phrases, despite having
undertaken no active SEO efforts.
You might be thinking, “That’s great Nick
but I want tools tips and tricks”. Okay then!
I’ve talked about engagement, so let’s
talk about what’s engaging?
This is a huge question that I’ve thought
about. A lot. In gambling, especially
casino, what is an engaging casino
brand? Casinos all look the same, so if
engagement is the key driver to rankings
then why would one casino rank more
than another? The short answer is brand
and first-reaction experience.
Obviously, a lot of those reading this are
affiliates, so let’s talk about you. Broadly, as
I see it there are two groups of affiliates:
● ● Truth givers
● ● List providers
Truth givers
I use the term ‘truth’ pretty loosely, because
as we all know the number one operator is
the one which makes the affiliate the most
money in the long term (excluding CPAs of
course). Ironically, the operators which make
the most money are also the ones which look
after their customers the best. Nice.
Being a truth giver is tough, time-
consuming and ultimately expensive. This
is where you become an expert in the
subject, build up a body of social proof,
i.e. customer reviews of casinos, and
generally come across as very credible.
Great examples of truth givers are of
course Casinomeister, Latestcasinobonuses,
AskGamblers and ThePogg.
These sites became brands in their own
right, and AskGamblers is probably one
of those strongest of these brands. Google
recognises the power of that domain and
users have grown to trust it enough so
AskGamblers ranks across huge keyword
territories.
So, as an aspiring truth giver, which
keyphrases should I be looking to rank for?
The answer is
‘[operator] reviews’/‘casino reviews’/
anything where you are looking for
somebody to trust and help you make a
qualitative judgement on your behalf.
If you’re a noob affiliate, I suggest being
a truth giver would be a tough path to
follow unless you can find a niche in which
you have a lot of expertise. The Internet
loves niches. I know a guy who made a
load of money on ‘fruit machines’ (aka
slots). But some people still call slots fruit
machines, therefore it’s a keyword niche.
Once upon a time ‘PayPal casino’ was also
a niche.
My point is if you want to compete as a
trust giver, be engaging relative to the key
word you rank for.
List providers
Lists are much more straightforward. There
are keyword neighbourhoods where people
just want a list of bonuses.
Why is a list of bonuses engaging?
Because it answers questions users might
iGB Affiliate Issue 62 APR/MAY 2017
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