How to do search engine optimization in the betting niche?
This is a guest post by Petter Hedman, who runs, among other things, fotbollsbetting.com within betting and sports betting. Today I will talk about SEO in betting and sports betting. There are few niches on Swedish Google that are tougher than the betting niche.
Casino, travel and loans are tougher I would say in a couple of the segments there, but otherwise the betting niche is close at hand when talking about the toughest niches in Swedish Google. Online casino and online casinos are really tough to rank for, so choose other niches if you’re just getting started with search engine optimization.
Why are these niches so tough?
The answer is that there are really big dragons in these niches with a lot of money in their budget, so they can buy up the smaller competitors and they also have a lot of money they can spend on their search engine optimization both in terms of texts, domains, links and “know-how”.
Several sites have just been purchased by, for example, Catena Media in the betting niche and these have received a boost since the purchases have been made. It has thus become even more difficult to rank on the best search terms in betting and sports betting. Since Catena Media has a large budget for everything that has to do with search engine optimization.
However, there is absolutely room for smaller players, even if you work at a hobby level, and today we will look at how to work with your search engine optimization if you are a smaller player/site owner in betting.
Start with simple terms and then build for tougher search terms.
This is actually how I myself work in many other niches, but in betting I have really worked this way. I have invested a lot in long elaborate texts where there are lots of variants on the keywords and focus on giving you as a visitor lots of information in the best possible way.
All so that the site in the long run will rank as high as possible on lots of keywords simply. I do not have a link arsenal to use, so I have to be a little more creative and create more text, lists, articles, videos, images, etc. than my competitors. It will be really exciting to see how far I can take my site.
I have actually from the first moment gone on a broader front with the aim of creating a lot of text mass that will eventually rank on many longtail variants as I said. We’ll see if I succeed with this. It is at least my own thought and my focus from day one.
Going narrow and ranking for a few keywords
Many people go into the niches with a narrower mindset and focus on ranking on a few good search terms with their site and then maybe buy one or more domains in neighboring niches and rank these as well. They have a bunch of good own links in the same niche and then this way of working works. Many links are really needed in these tough niches. The competition is often fierce.
In the casino niche, there are actually a few keywords that generate the really big money. In sports betting, there is a broader spectrum and here there are more natural keywords to create articles around that actually give hungry visitors and create new customers.
If you think about football, hockey or any other major sport, there is a wide audience and many sub-niches you can invest in with your site and then focus on simpler niches. There are so many exciting sub-niches to write about.
Cross-fertilize your sub-niches for best visibility
My own site focuses on both football and betting, so I think it’s a bit broader. I can target a variety of simple search terms in football, but also write about, for example, betting companies, odds, bonuses and other things related to the betting part of my site. Then cross these different parts of the site with each other to eventually get really many keyword combinations in terms of longtail.
There are many good keywords around football, which in the long run will provide good visitors and many are really manic with their interest in their football teams and this can absolutely be captured. However, you need to know the terms and “language” of the sport to be credible. It is intended that in the long run you will become an authority in the niche and convert visitors to customers in various forms.
As I said, there are many search terms in both football and in betting, which will hopefully provide good visitors in the long run even for me who work with my site at the hobby level. In the long run, the idea is to offer good current statistics regarding some information in the sport.
You can get the links yourself
It is rarely or never that you get natural links in the betting niche. If you work with the Casino segments, you will never get a natural link, I would say. A truth with modification, but in any case, it is very rare that you get links here, so all links you will have to create yourself or chase the life out of you to get from other places than your own sites.
Buying links is very common in these tough niches or you build your own PBN. I myself have no opinions on how people get their links, I just know that Google does not like purchased links at all, so be careful if you are going to take that route yourself when it comes to your own search engine optimization in all niches.
Onpage optimization
There are many in the betting niche who have not finished building their sites, I would say. They have started with good intentions, but have not reached the finish line if you know what I mean. They have built about 10 semi-good sites and acquired 15 links and then they have stopped their construction.
Nothing strange about that. If you’re an Internet entrepreneur, it’s easy to buy a bunch of domains in different niches and never really build a single site at all. I have done this too many times myself. I say that if you are going into these tougher niches, you should absolutely try to build the best site you can for your own sake.
You will get far on good Onpage optimization and really elaborate texts, videos, comparison services, images and other things that you can work with inside your site. The better your site is optimized in terms of structure and other technical aspects, the better you will be seen when you get links.
Offpage optimization
Once you have your site in place with all the posts, images, videos, etc. it’s time to build/maintain or acquire links. If you work in the toughest segments, links will definitely be needed. No question about it! If you have a well-optimized site with really good, long and informative texts, you will need fewer links.
Work on getting strong, relevant links. Use all the keyword tools available to sniff out competitors’ links, so you can get an idea of what is needed and maybe even go for the same kind of links.
This is obvious for those who have worked for a long time with search engine optimization, but for beginners it is always good to be extra clear. The links will make all the difference! So will your patience. In the tough niches, you need a lot of patience! It takes time to create a really good link structure and a really good site that converts visitors into customers.
