5 Advanced SEO Techiniques for the Online Gambling Sector Webmaster

Akshay Hallur of 99Signals.com talks advanced SEO strategies.

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On-page SEO is not what it used to be years ago. The old-school on-page SEO hacks like keyword stuffing and content swapping are not as effective as they used to be, the author notes.

The 5 advanced on-page SEO strategies include topical relevance, semantic SEO, content breadth and depth, linking and searcher task accomplishment.

For topical relevance, Hallur suggest that if one were to rank well for “paleo weight loss diet”, they should also rank well for "Paleo weight loss recipes" and "Paleo weight loss food".

Why?

Because Google ranks you for the topic of the paleo diet for weight loss vs the individual keywords, where people abuse the algorithm, he says.

This concept can be applied to the online gambling sector, which we dare say is much more competitive.

An example might be along the lines of "online bingo scam sites".  In theory, one should also rank well for the terms "bitcoin scams in online bingo" and "online bingo scams from these countries".

Hallur also provides a useful example for semantic SEO along with some great website tools.

If you're target keyword is “Travel headphones”, the LSI keywords would be:

Headphones for traveling
Headphones for airplanes
Headphones for planes
Headphones for air travel
Headphones for flight
Headphones for flying

For the online gambling SEO pro, the target keyword might be "Online blackjack bonuses" and the LSI keywords would be:

Blackjack Bonuses in Face Up 21 Online
Blackjack Bonuses in Double Twist Online

The breadth of content is a given.  Discuss your subject matter in detail and offer case studies, examples and quotes whereever possible.

Hallur also emphasizes internal linking as a key SEO strategy.

Yoast SEO explains the rationale behind the importance of internal links within your website.

Google crawls websites by following links, internal and external, using a bot called Google bot. This bot arrives at the homepage of a website, starts to render the page and follows the first link. By following links Google can work out the relationship between the various pages, posts and other content. This way Google finds out which pages on your site cover similar subject matter.

Yoast SEO also explains the concept of Link Value:

In addition to understanding the relationship between content, Google divides link value between all links on a web page. Often, the homepage of a website has the greatest link value because it has the most backlinks. That link value will be shared between all the links found on that homepage. The link value passed to the following page will be divided between the links on that page, and so on.

Therefore, your newest blog posts will get more link value if you link to them from the homepage, instead of only on the category page. And Google will find new posts quicker if they’re linked to from the homepage.

Search intent is getting users to act. 

Why is someone conducting a search?  What are they looking for?

Yoast SEO notes four specific search intents.

Informational, transactional and commercial investigation.

BloggingWizard puts this all in easier terms:

    Navigational (Go)
    Informational (Know)
    Transactional (Do)

Informational is obvious.  Folks simply searching for answers to questions.  What's the line on a particular game?

Transactional would be web searchers looking to make a specific purchase or obtain a membership.  In the online gambling sector, the intent would likely be to place a bet or participate in a contest.  Bet the line on a particular game.

Commercial investigation is for research purposes.  These make up the vast majority of searches coming into the Gambling911.com website.  While the intent may be to place a bet at an online gambling site, they may not do so immediately.

Commercial investigation could negatively affect online gambling affiliates.  If an online gambling site website's cookie expires within a 24 hour period, the affiliate may not get credit.

This is true of Amazon.  We spoke to a top affiliate in the DNA test kit (i.e. Ancestry DNA) sector who advised us that his biggest conversion day is Black Friday.  That may seem like a "duh" statement considering we all know Black Friday is among the most significant shopping days of the year.  But compare Black Friday with the weeks leading up to Christmas Day or Valentine's Day.  Consider your own behaviour during these shopping holidays.  Do you search for gift ideas and act on buying at a later date?  Black Friday and Valentine's Day web searchers must act on THAT day.  There is no room for commercial investigation.  

The transactional focused terms for affliates looking to target photographers might be along the lines of:

You want the Best, Latest, Fastest, Smallest:
Best DSLR camera under £500
Canon T6 vs Nikon D3400
You want a Discount or Coupon:
Canon EOS discount codes

In gaming the target might be something like this:
You want the Best, Latest, Fastest, Smallest:
Best sportsbook bonus if I send $500
You want to compare A vs B:
Betway signup bonus vs. Paddy Power signup bonus
You want a Discount or Coupon:
Betway bonus codes

When it comes to search intent and how Google determines your site's worth, Hallur writes:

Google can easily determine what’s the intent behind the query by a user (based on their behavior, interests, and history) and also can determine whether your content helped them to accomplish their intent. It does so by analyzing the user engagement and behavior on your blog.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com