A recent live stream was published on the YouTube channel Mostbet Partners featuring Sasha Flint, a SEO optimization expert. Guys shared useful tips for creating SEO websites for gambling. Among other things, the host and the speaker discussed the following questions:
- How to enter new geos;
- What types of websites are better to create for promotion through search engines;
- What to do if there is traffic but no deposits?
The most interesting highlights from the nearly hour-long interview can be read in this article in just 5 minutes. To read more articles on money making, visit our Telegram channel.
About the Speaker
Sasha and his team have been dealing with SEO for gambling sites since 2012. Since 2017, they have also been professionally involved in ASO for mobile applications. Currently, the main geos for promotion are European and Asian countries.
How to Start Working with SEO Traffic
According to Flint, the best way to learn how to SEO for gambling is to join an experienced team. Sufficient experience can be gained within 1-2 years, after which one can start their own projects. An alternative option is to start working independently right away by studying the information available online on the topic. However, this approach involves a lot of trial and error, wasting time and money.
To start independently in SEO for gambling sites, a small budget is needed initially. Around $300 is enough to create the website and fill it with initial content. The further budget depends on the types of links used for site promotion — crowd, outreach, PBN, or a mix of all of these.
The speaker assured that single-page sites can be promoted with low-quality links, significantly reducing the overall project budget. For example, it is possible to use various specialized services for site submissions.
For a large-scale project that is planned to be developed in the long run, it is better to use high-quality links. This increases the chances of ranking the site. Moreover, if there is a decision to sell the site later, the quality link mass significantly affects its value.
Which geo would you recommend starting to promote gambling through websites today?
It is currently easy to enter Africa. Many ads have targeted this region, but it is not overused yet, so I would recommend starting from this continent.
Doesn't Africa have low rates for advertisers?
The rates are indeed low, but SEO traffic is better to be directed through RevShare. SEO traffic is considered to be of high quality, so through RevShare, you will earn much more than through CPA. It is important to ensure that where you're directing traffic is a time-proven and reliable casino.
About Types of Gambling Websites
Alexander's team works with the following types of sites:
- Single-page sites that are replicas of popular brands. They consist of a banner and an optimized text. If the site begins to rank well, they expand it into a more extensive project.
- Slot sites — they feature one or several slots.
- "Top tens" — review sites of the best casinos, slots, and so on.
Does the site engine affect its ranking?
We have been making sites on WordPress all our lives. In my opinion, it is the best engine for any type of resource. Moreover, you can easily set up a site on it even without programming skills.
What do you think about custom engines?
I don't see any significant advantage for them over WordPress. Moreover, if the programmer who wrote the engine for several dozen sites leaves, what will you do with them? It's unlikely that another coder will quickly figure out the mess left by their colleague.
What services do you use to collect content keywords?
We use Ahrefs for websites and ASO Mobile for applications. But, frankly, the data in them is very approximate. Only through experience can you collect the keywords you need on your own. For example, we have keyword templates that we use for each type of site.
Questions About Links and Promotion Strategies
Can you get filtered by Google using low-quality links?
Since 2015, we have not had a single case where low-quality links have affected our sites. In 2012-2014, you could use bad links to outshine competitors. For example, you could drive them out with XRumer. It doesn't work anymore, so I'm confident that links don't harm the site.
When can you start putting links on a new site?
We give the new site about 1 month to settle. After that, we start putting links on it. We have a special methodology for this, the main principle of which is gradualness.
What other strategies do you use for site promotion besides link building?
In Yandex, we actively use behavioral factors. It works much worse in Google, but we also tweak the resources that are already in the top 10.
Questions About Domains
Do you launch sites on expired domains or register them from scratch?
We use both options. For example, for brand replicas, we launch 2-3 sites at once. One of them is a drop, and 1-2 are freshly registered. Then we see which one develops better and redirects less successful ones to it using a 301 redirect.
What should you pay attention to when choosing a domain?
First of all, it is necessary to look at the domain history and its backlinks. The drop mustn't have Chinese junk, or adult content, and also that it has good links.
Is it better to attach thematic domain names to the site, or does it not matter?
In principle, you can attach any domain. But we try to attach our own, with the same domain structure, similar keywords, and so on. This way, the site is promoted much better.
What hosting is best to use for gambling sites?
It is better to use abuse-resistant hosting.
General Questions
Can you tell us about any big losses if they have occurred in your work?
I think they happened to everyone, and we are no exception. In 2015, we drove a lot of traffic to Vulkan Casino. At that time, we pumped domains with behavioral factors. It would have been reasonable to use different promotion methods to diversify the risks, but we ignored the precautions. As a result, one morning we saw that our entire network of sites was knocked out, and there was no traffic to the promoted resource. Then we raised the same network for a whole year but gained good experience in how not to do things.
Do you launch all sites on different hosting?
No. You can launch five domains on one hosting.
Can you name the payback time for SEO investments?
It all depends on the type of sites you are promoting. If it's money-making, then the site starts working after 1-2 months, and the investment can be recouped within a year and a half.
What to do if the site has traffic but no deposits?
Many parameters affect the conversion. For example, we had a case in India where we made a landing page in Hindi, and there were no deposits. Then we switched to English, and things started to pick up. In general, I can only advise testing, testing, and testing again. Only this way can you find a profitable combination.
What to pay attention to when entering a new geo?
Pay attention to the competition. You need to see if there are young sites in the top 10. If there are, you need to analyze how they were promoted. After that, conclude whether you can apply the same promotion strategy.
Can a casino sue you if you make its clone?
Of course, it can. Therefore, it is better to agree in advance with the advertiser on what traffic and on what conditions they are willing to accept.
Do you warm up your sites with ads?
No. I don't see the point in that.
Give a few tips on how to upload an app to the store so that it passes moderation.
The most important thing is to use quality accounts and warm them up with applications. Graphics and keywords for optimization are also important. Google Play now aggressively bans apps. It's a bit easier with the App Store.
How to extend the life of an app in the store?
The less aggressive the design and title, the longer the application lives.
In which age category is it better to publish applications?
If you are publishing for ASO, it doesn't matter much. But in general, we try to publish 18+ to avoid targeting the teenage age group.
Which is easier to deal with — SEO or ASO?
Undoubtedly, ASO is much easier. From an SEO perspective, ASO is a primitive matter. You just need to place the keywords and experiment with screenshots and icons. At the same time, the result in ASO comes faster. For example, if you upload an app to the App Store today, and promote it, you will have positions for it tomorrow. It's not that fast in Google Play; the movement will start in a week or so. This doesn't happen in SEO — you have to wait for several months for the first results.
Where is there more money — in SEO or ASO?
There is a lot of money in both. The question is that SEO is more stable, and apps generate traffic and then get banned abruptly.
