The Constantly Changing World of Search

IGB Amsterdam Affiliate Conference 2017

The Constantly Changing World of Search

Introduction to Blueclaw

What I’ll be talking about - the Constantly Changing World of Search

Content Marketing, Link-Earning and Off-Site SEO

On-site Performance, Engagement and Interaction

Mobile, App and Voice Search

Summary + (gentle) questions

Search Content Marketing

PPCPR & Social

A few of our clients

Partners and Awards

Content Marketing for Link Earning and Off-Site SEO

“The objective is not to make

your links appear natural.

The objective is that your links

are natural.”

— Matt Cutts, former Head of Web Spam at Google

• SEO used to be about optimising your on-page content, and having an off-page strategy that resulted in inbound links.

• SEO is currently about optimising your on-page content, and having an off-page strategy that results in inbound links.

The difference is what we mean these days by optimising and strategy.

The State of iGaming SEO

Search engines are becoming ever-more effective at spotting (and delivering penalties to) ‘over-optimised’ sites with a dubious, unnatural link profile.

That’s a big deal for planning your own site content, but it’s also a big deal for the websites that you might want to link to you.

They have to safeguard their own SEO and link profile and so are fussy about who they link to.

So. It’s harder to get quality links – especially in iGaming.

The future of search in iGaming will be very different for companies that can successfully build a strong off-site SEO strategy, and those that won’t.

The Problem with SEO

Content Marketing For iGaming SEO

Winning quality coverage (and impactful links) requires an incentive for publishers and site owners.

The best incentive is objectively great content that makes readers rate the site more.

Content with a hook that is interesting but immediately understood is valued across pretty much all industries.

The iGaming SEO landscape in future will be split between those who understand this –and succeed – and those who don’t…and lose.

Content Marketing Process

Content

Identify

ListenLearn

Engage Compose

Establish opportunities through listening and exploring these

Create content that appeals either to the influencer or the trend

Identify key influencers, keywords and trendsetters in the social sphere

Evaluate on what content works well and appropriate timings

Target the content to influencers – social media users, bloggers and journalists

Case Example FA Cup Giant Killers

This content was developed on a vanity URL and then redirected to pass the associated power over to the clients domain. Here are some example links:

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/revealed-league-two-side-biggest-185956237.html

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/cardiff-vs-fulham-live-score-9583332?service=responsive

http://www.swanseacity.net/news/article/2016-17/swans-are-up-for-the-cup-3505022.aspx

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-news-transfer-rumours-live-12407986

www.netbet.com/multicultural-championship

This project was developed on the clients domain, this is due to the client being a recognised brand. Link examples below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/06/09/euro-2016-one-in-three-players-could-play-for-another-country/

http://www.90min.com/posts/3302199-migrant-crisis-we-ll-be-backing-an-england-squad-where-over-half-could-represent-another-nation

http://www.rts.ch/info/sciences-tech/reperages-web/7791217-la-suisse-deuxieme-equipe-la-plus-multiculturelle-de-l-euro-2016.html

https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/geopolitique/geopolitique-09-juin-2016

The future of iGaming search will see more of what we call collaborative SEO.

That means working with partners, industry experts, websites and publications to increase performance.

• If you’re an operator, you’ll be working even more closely with affiliates to help improve their SEO performance and create win-win outcomes. Collateral, consultancy, hands-on help – the best affiliates deserve your time and investment.

• To earn links and coverage, a greater emphasis will be placed on working with media outlets and responding to their needs in order to secure coverage, and the relationships that lead to a strong and natural link profile.

There is another, very important group that iGaming companies will have to work closely with – players themselves…

Collaborative Off-Site SEO

Engagement and Interaction

In future, quality over quantity won’t just be a cliché.

Search engines are in in the business of giving the right answers to users.

High bounce rates, lack of engagement and indications that visitors aren’t actually using your site all indicate that your site is the wrong answer – no matter how many links point to you.

Your site’s pages must offer the best user experience and be easy to understandand use. Visitors should be able to take action easily:

• Does the page answer the user’s question?

• Can the page be shared easily?

• Is the call to action clear?

• Does the page end the search?

Engagement and Interaction

Topical

Authority

Usage Data (CTR,

Traffic, etc)

User Data &

Personalisation

UX (Speed, Mobile-

Friendly, etc)

Topic Modeling /

Hummingbird

Content Quality

Signals

Social Signals (Direct

& Indirect)

Moz: Which SEO Signals Are On the Rise?

Trust & Spam

Signals

Myth Busting

“Bouncing traffic doesn’t read my content”

• Bounce rate = Traffic that only visited 1 page

• Bouncing Traffic can be 2 sec, or 20 mins

• Bouncing traffic just didn’t convert

“Google analytics measures all time on every page”

“Average time on Page is an accurate reflection of all traffic hitting a page”

Misunderstood Metrics – Bounce Rates

Google can’t measure the time a user spent looking at the last page of their visit

This is because their recording is based on a click to the next page

This affects bouncing pages, because Google has no idea when they left.

What does Google measure?

The Long Click, Site and Content Quality (Panda) Link Patterns - Social Engagement, Links to Content…

“As users migrate to mobile,

page load time is perhaps the

most important

metric we have.

If you can’t load pages

fast enough, you can’t compete.

Consumer expectations in a

mobile-led world are extreme.

— Howard Mittman, Condé Nast

Impact of a 1 Second Delay in Load Speed:

•8.3% Increase in bounce rate

•3.5% Decrease in conversion rate

•9.4% Decrease in page views

•38% of smartphone users have screamed at, cursed at, or thrown their phones when pages take too long to load

•Google says 2.4 seconds is the optimum load time for a site to encourage engagement and reduce bounce rates.

For SEO and simply to maximise on-site conversions, iGaming search marketers must factor in engagement, speed and performance.

Mobile, App and Voice Search

Mobile searches already outnumber desktop and tablet searches, and by 2020, 20% of mobile searches will be voice searches, according to Comscore.

That’s a lot of searches. iGaming companies need to act now to take advantage of how voice and mobile search differs.

There are 2 trillion Google searches each year

Mobile Engagement and User Intent

I-want-to-know moments

• 66% of smartphone users turn to their phones to look up something they saw in a TV commercial

• 66% of smartphone users turn to their phones to look up something they saw in a TV commercial

I-want-to-do Moments

• 100M+ hours of “how-to” content have been watched on YouTube so far this year I-want-to-buy Moments

• 91% of smartphone users turn to their phones for ideas while doing a task

I-want-to-go moments

• 2X increase in “near me” search interest in the past year

• 82% of smartphone users use a search engine when looking for a local business

I-want-to-buy moments

• 29% increase in mobile conversion rates in the past year

• 82% of smartphone users consult their phones while in a store deciding what to buy

iGaming companies need to be where players are, anticipate their needs and react to capitalise on opportunity. A huge part of that is making life easy and seamless for potential players.

#brightonseo

Anticipate Player Questions

Players search in different ways via voice. Rather than typing in a few keywords, they use natural language to ask real questions. You need to know

what those questions are.

Show you Know The Answers

Use sentences in your on-site content that include the full question and answer, precisely to maximise your chances of turning up in voice search

results, and featured snippets in the SERPS.

Consider the structure of your answer, and look into how content is picked up by featured snippets.

Optimising for Voice Search in iGaming

“While user numbers can be

hard to pin down, research

shows that two out of five

mobile users already use their

phones to place some sort of

bet, with mobile betting

predicted to exceed 40% of all

online wagering by 2018.”

— Julie Anderson, VegasMaster

Gaming App Optimisation

• Make sure app names are short, keyword-focused easy to remember and less than 25 characters long

•Optimise all icons, screenshots and video for search engines, as well as app store visitors.

•Use detailed, keyword-focused but human descriptions of your app and make sure it is linked to from your main site.

•Translate app store content into all of your target languages to maximise reach

Summary

The Future of Search: Integrated SEO

Technical, on-site excellence as standard for user experience, voice, mobile and more

A content marketing and PR-driven approach to collaborative SEO

An integrated and data-driven approach to search – quality over quantity

Technical

ContentKeywords

LandingPagesRankings

ROI

Links

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Q + A

Want to talk more? Visit our SEO Clinic at F11