There are a few reasons why igaming SEO can be expensive. Firstly it requires a lot of time and effort: SEO involves many activities, including keyword research, content creation, technical optimisation, and link building.
In addition, SEO professionals will invest a significant amount in software and services that will help them undertake audits and help identify issues on often vast websites, which can have a few hundred or tens of thousands of pages. Roughly speaking, the points detailed below explain the costs.
It requires specialised skills: SEO requires a combination of technical, creative, and analytical skills. Finding someone with the right combination of skills can be challenging, and SEO professionals with a high level of expertise often command higher fees for their services.
SEO has a high ROI: Despite the cost, SEO can be a very effective marketing strategy with a high return on investment (ROI). When done correctly, SEO can drive a significant amount of targeted traffic to a website, leading to increased sales and revenue.
Competition for top rankings: Depending on the industry and target keywords, competition in search engine results can be fierce, and this is particularly true of iGaming. This can make achieving high rankings more difficult and expensive, as it may require more time and effort to outrank competing websites.
Which specialist skills are needed for SEO?
- Technical skills: SEO involves making changes to a website’s code and structure to improve its visibility and accessibility to search engines. This requires a good understanding of HTML, CSS, and other programming languages, as well as an understanding of how search engines crawl and index websites. It’s important to remember that casinos and sportsbooks do not follow a typical structure compared to eCommerce websites and, as such, require specialist knowledge of the industry and the various platforms used in the gambling industry.
- Creative skills: SEO also involves creating and promoting high-quality content that is relevant and valuable to users. This requires a combination of writing skills and understanding the needs and interests of the target audience. Creating content for iGaming is a specialism as you have to understand the mechanics of games or betting events and sports and the varying compliance issues in terms of what can be included within any content piece.
- Analytical skills: SEO professionals need to be able to analyse and interpret data from various sources, including search engine rankings, website traffic, and conversion rates. They also need to be able to use tools like Google Analytics to track and measure the effectiveness of their SEO efforts. With gambling, this can become more complex as monitoring a single session often needs to occur across several sites and servers. Sometimes it’s not easy to get useful and valuable data, although this area has significantly improved.
- Marketing skills: SEO is a form of digital marketing, so SEO professionals must understand marketing principles and strategies well. This includes understanding how to promote a website and its content effectively and measuring and optimising SEO campaigns’ performance. Ultimately this comes down to registrations, FTDs, deposit values and the cost per acquisition (CPAs) of new users.
Overall, SEO requires a range of skills. SEO professionals must stay continuously up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices, as search algorithms and user behaviour are constantly evolving.
High return on investment
SEO can deliver a high return on investment (ROI) because it is a highly effective way to drive targeted traffic to a website. When done correctly, SEO can help a website rank higher in search engine results for various keywords. From broad, highly searched keywords such as online casino to longer-tail, more specific keywords such as play Eye of Horus Megaways slot, leading to increased visibility and more qualified traffic to the website.
One of the main benefits of SEO is that it can attract users actively searching for slots, casino games or sporting events and betting guides. This means that the traffic generated from SEO is more likely to be interested in what the website offers, which can increase the likelihood of conversions (such as registrations and FTDs).
In addition, SEO can have a long-term impact on a website’s traffic and rankings, as it helps to build the authority and credibility of the website over time. This can lead to a sustained increase in traffic and revenue for the business.
Overall, the ROI of SEO can vary depending on several factors, such as competitiveness, the quality of the website, the site’s content, and the effectiveness of the SEO strategy. However, when done correctly, SEO can be highly effective and cost-efficient in driving targeted traffic and generating leads or sales for a business.
Competition in gambling SEO
The iGaming and gambling industry is highly competitive in terms of SEO, as many websites are vying for top rankings in search results for popular keywords. This is because the industry is highly lucrative, and ranking highly in search results can significantly increase traffic and revenue for a website.
To compete effectively in the iGaming industry, it’s important to have a well-designed and user-friendly website that provides valuable and relevant information to users. It’s also important to have high-quality and unique content optimised for both users and search engines and to engage in link-building activities to improve the authority and credibility of the website.
In addition, it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices, as well as the constantly evolving algorithms of search engines. Researching all of the latest changes helps ensure that the website is optimised for the most relevant and valuable keywords and that it is meeting the needs of users and search engines.
Overall, competing in the iGaming and gambling industry in terms of SEO can be challenging, but achieving success with a well-planned and executed SEO strategy is possible.
Why is gambling SEO complex?
There are some additional factors that you need to consider with gambling SEO when compared to other industries.
Legal restrictions play a significant part: The gambling industry is heavily regulated. There may be legal restrictions on the type of content published and the methods used to promote gambling websites. This can make it more challenging to create and promote content that is both effective and compliant with legal requirements.
As we mentioned earlier, it is highly competitive. The gambling industry is lucrative, and many websites compete for top search results rankings for popular keywords. This can make achieving high rankings and driving targeted traffic to a website more difficult, but generally means, it can take longer to gain visibility that can deliver a return.
The ever-changing search engine algorithm is constantly evolving, and it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest iteration and best practices to optimise a website for search engines. This can be challenging, as it requires a deep understanding of how search engines work and how to optimise a website for them.
Technical optimisations: Gambling websites often have complex architectures and usually require technical optimisations to improve their visibility and accessibility to search engines. This can be a time-consuming and technical process that requires specialised skills and expertise.
Casino SEO can be complex due to its various legal, competitive, and technical challenges. Gambling websites need a well-planned and executed SEO strategy to compete effectively in the industry and drive targeted traffic to the website.
If you find a good igaming SEO agency that can deliver, then the pay-offs in terms of return on investment can be significant.
