iGB Affiliate 65 Oct/Nov | Page 7

CONTENTS Events calendar 04 News 06 An untapped potential for affi liates 09 Spring-clean your site and its content for a ranking boost 13 Ensure that Penguin picks you 19 For this issue, we couldn’t really lead with anything other than Sky Bet’s shock closure of its affi liate programme. The operator’s rationale clearly extends beyond the cited compliance risks associated with managing the acquisition and marketing activities of its affi liates amid a tightening regulatory climate. However Bet365 and Paddy Power Betfair’s subsequent implementation of respective “zero tolerance” and “one strike” policies towards their affi liates did fl ag this as a common area of concern for businesses increasingly under fi re from regulators and the mainstream media in the UK. One challenger brand has now even restricted affi liates from using its name in mailouts without prior written consent. Their actions have to date stopped short of that taken by Sky Bet however, which despite the Leeds-based operator’s powerful brand association and relationship with Sky Sports, Oshi’s Nick Garner believes will kill its visibility from non-branded organic search via its affi liate network, with signifi cant consequences (see p35). Time will tell how accurate Nick’s data and predictions prove, but the former global search head for Unibet presents a compelling case that any principals at operators considering following Sky Bet’s lead would be well advised to read fi rst. Nick is also one of our expert contributors speaking at this year’s Berlin Affi liate Conference – look out for the info boxes at the end of articles in this issue for details of when and where to catch them. Black hat attacks — how to pre-empt (or recover from) them 22 Five tips for next-generation link earning 26 When SEO met AI 30 Don’t do it! Why Sky Bet’s affi liate programme closure is a big mistake 35 Licensing isn’t the answer to ‘cowboy’ affi liate problem 41 Now is the time to appreciate daily fantasy sports again 44 Four content strategies for building authority and trust with Millennials 47 Exporting sports 51 Reinforcing marketing strategies with a human touch 52 The affi liate view in 2017 55 Game changers: can new variants ‘bring the love’ back to poker? 59 The 10 biggest myths about bitcoin and gambling 63 Don’t put your shirt on it 67 Selling the dream: lottery providers cash in on jackpots 71 Evolution of live casino: from niche product to mainstream success 75 Data centre, including EU regulation, H2 dashboards 79 See you in Berlin! Stephen Carter, Editor http://on.fb.me/1CGEIgk @igbaffi liate www.igbaffi liate.com Editorial director: Stephen Carter [email protected] Publishing director: Richard Linn [email protected] Managing director: Alex Pratt [email protected] Designer: Simon Brake Production manager: Craig Young [email protected] Sales director: James King [email protected] Sales manager: James Harrison [email protected] Senior account manager: Luke Webb FREE SUBSCRIPTION email: [email protected] [email protected] Account manager: Jack Hill [email protected] and correspondents are their own. Editorial opinions expressed Printed in the UK by: Pensord Press, www.pensord.co.uk Published by: iGaming Business Ltd, Bedford House, 69-79 Fulham High Street, London SW6 3JW, UK T: [phone] F: [phone] www.igamingbusiness.com © iGaming Business 2017. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission, except for permitted fair dealing under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. Application for permission for use of copyright material including permission to reproduce extracts in other published works shall be made to the publishers. Full acknowledgement of author, publisher and source must be given. iGaming Business Affi liate Magazine is published by iGaming Business Ltd, Bedford House, 69-79 Fulham High Street, London SW6 3JW, UK. The views expressed by contributors in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Publisher. The Publisher does not accept responsibility for advertising content. Cover image: istockphoto.com. ISSN 2041-6954. iGB Affi liate Issue 65 OCT/NOV 2017 3