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12 Month of iGaming: A Landscape Analysis

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12 Month of iGaming: A Landscape Analysis
Reading Time: 5 minutes

 

Given the recent circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the gaming and betting industry has seen a huge influx of traffic and attention from consumers, new and old, that are now settling into home-based ways of working.

For the savvy gaming companies that have been making improvements to their sites over the last 12 months, now is a time to thrive. Leaders in this area have used this time to take advantage of scope to attract new customers with innovative marketing tactics, fantastic offers, and an energetic brand. For others however, the next months will likely be a struggle unless they take the necessary steps to amp up their efforts.

In uncertain times, player acquisition remains a vital priority and those who have invested time, energy, money and expertise into this area will likely reap the rewards 10-fold. Given the relevance, we’ve conducted a substantial analysis of the top 50 organic keywords in the UK for the four main sectors of iGaming – Slots, Roulette, Casino, and Poker – to better understand the sites that have seen the biggest improvements over the last 12 months, how they’ve done it, and what their next steps are likely to be over the coming months.

Additionally, through conducting an in-depth situational analysis of the current landscape we are able to better understand the activity that has been rewarded by Google over the last 12 months, while better differentiating between successful strategies and those that will likely deliver underwhelming results.

 

Slots

 

The websites that have seen the biggest swing in overall organic visibility over the last 12 months have been increasing their games library but more importantly; increasing the crawlable copy of game pages.

For slot sites that are usually quite Javascript heavy, ensuring all copy is clear and crawlable gives search engines something to work with at first pass and can improve performance long term.

Leading the pack, Admiral Casino has a larger than average amount of text on its game pages and is clearly reaping the rewards with significant uplifts in traffic Y/Y straight into game URLs.

 

It should also be mentioned that all of these sites were active with link building and typically saw a lead time of about 6 months between starting to build links and seeing serious gains in organic visibility.

Once these improvements began, however, the growth seen in the first six months was again repeated in the subsequent 3 months.

 

Roulette

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest 12-month swings in the Roulette sector has been for sites that have kept a tight focus on the Roulette topic area and supported commercial pages with informational content to grow awareness of their brands.

Leading sites such as Liveroulette.com and 888casino.com can be praised for the informative content and extensive guides targeted towards both first-time depositors and seasoned players.

In addition, leaders in this market must ensure they consider the user journey and are present throughout the conversion funnel, not just at the high-volume terms close to conversion. Focusing on terms such as “how to play” and exploratory informational queries is crucial to nailing that focused topical relevance.

Finally, it is important to note that these are established domains with sizable link profiles with the quality of the most recent links becoming the key differentiating factor. Newcomers looking to succeed in this sector must be both aggressive and smart with their link building strategies to ensure they’re in a position to compete as quickly as possible. Do not be afraid to break the mould with your PR to generate buzz and links that will get the site off to a great start.

Casino

 

 

PinkCasino.co.uk has seen a significant level of visibility growth over the last 12 months due to an increase in the number of landing pages on the site but more importantly the copy on game pages has had an overhaul.

Historically, one of the biggest technical challenges in the gaming space is the use of JavaScript and search engines inability to render the content. Useful HTML based web copy has worked as well for Pink Casino, as it has Admiral Casino, previously mentioned. The site is also benefiting from improved internal linking and a streamlining of the site structure.

Some of the domains on this list have also had expired domains with link equity redirected into them. Whilst this can sometimes be used as an effective tactic, it is important to remember that it can also raise flags with Google and should be used sparingly.

Poker

 

 

As with Roulette, focus and relevance are key in the Poker rankings. How to play type content and guides perform incredibly well when paired with effective internal and external link strategy.

Partypoker.com has this area nailed down and so it is no surprise to see them growing over 230% in 12 months.

Cardchat.com has also put a significant level of effort into producing content and guides and as a result are visible for nearly twice the number of keywords as pokerstars.com according to SEMrush data. The next step for them, and sites in similar predicaments, is to improve their visibility through good quality link acquisition.

 

In Conclusion

The gaming and betting markets continue to be one of the most competitive and varied SERPS to operative in.

From our analysis, we see a significant shift from black hat tactics to informative content and PR-led campaigns, which for many sites, is the driving factor behind and increase in strong coverage, brand awareness and long-term rankings.

The future of iGaming is looking quite bright and as the current surge in traffic continues, it is no doubt that current timings favour acquisition. For those looking to capitalise and increase their conversion rates, keep in mind that increased traffic lends itself incredibly well to different forms of testing. Now is a great time to catch and convert as many of those new visits as you can with short test cycles.

From the analysis conducted, the key takeaways for competing in iGaming SERPs in 2020 are as follows:

  • Sites that are spending the time and money on creating well written, informative, and user-friendly content are currently reaping the rewards.
  • Rather than focusing solely on the high-volume terms, it is crucial for sites in the noted sectors to ensure they’re considering the full user journey and conversion funnel.
  • Links remain important but the quality will always trump quantity over time.

With over 13 years of experience in the iGaming and Betting industry, the Blueclaw team are always happy to talk search. For a more focused analysis, or to discuss anything mentioned above, please feel free to get in touch with one of our experts.

 

Author: Andrew Parker, Performance Director at Blueclaw Media Ltd

Contact: [email protected]

 

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Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal

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Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
Reading Time: 3 minutes

 

With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.

 

When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.

One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.

Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.

As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.

First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.

On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.

Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.

When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.

Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.

Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.

I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.

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Industry News

Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal

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In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform

Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.

The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.

Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.

The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.

EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.

Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.

This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).

Juha KauppinenCEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.

“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”

Brad CummingsCEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”

 

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Industry News

Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0

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The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.

More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.

The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.

Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.

The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.

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