GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 27 - February 2014

COVER STORY Top-five World Cup SEO mistakes By Paul Reilly F rom an online sportsbook affiliate’s perspective, the World Cup is a dream come true. There are 32 competing countries, some regulated, some unregulated. And the World Cup is a truly global phenomenon, one that the whole world supports, regard- less of the level of interest they hold in football. This means two things: fanatical, mainstream popularity and an abundance of emotional, patriotic punters. During the 2010 World Cup, I had slightly more than my fair share of success. While I’m not going to give away my personal recipe in its entirety, if you’re a sports betting affiliate you really need to be aware of these common mistakes. First, if you’ve assumed that World Cup search rankings are dom- inated by big operators with deep pockets, you’re wrong! During the 2010 World Cup, there were only four operators ranking on page one (Google U.K.) for big generic World Cup phrases; the remaining six sites were affiliates. The four operators who nailed it were Paddy Power, Skybet, WilliamHill and Betfair. Two of those four operators were clients in my former life. Which leads me nicely onto the first and biggest mistake … CHOOSING AN SEO AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST When contracting an SEO to work on your campaign, keep in mind that SEO isn’t a standard marketing channel. In indus- tries where the volume of revenue is de- rived from very few short-tail keywords or phrases the high competition for a top- three position likens SEO to a competitive sport where athletes compete for gold, silver and bronze. At MediaSkunkWorks, we solved this problem with what we call “Objective Exclusivity.” We define the ob- jective by Keyword/Phrase and Region/ Territory. Does your SEO agency have any con- flicts of interest? Are you being played off against another client? Do you have your agency’s full, undivided attention? STARTING THE LINK- BUILDING CAMPAIGN TOO LATE This is the biggest mistake and definitely the most widespread. Despite having four years to plan for this event and it being the biggest sporting event on earth, everyone still seems to leave link building until the last minute, even though the available traffic volume is through the roof! Nick Garner, formerly the head of search at Unibet, told attendees at the Budapest Affiliate Conference in 2010 that Unibet got more funded accounts the day before the England/USA World Cup match that year than in the previous nine months, exclud- ing Grand National. That’s nine months of player acquisition nailed in one day. Take stock of all your available assets: websites, pages, existing rankings, link equity across all your digital assets, traffic, social media reach, fans, followers, every- thing you have available, because this is it! It’s the big one! The World Cup is the one sporting even which polarizes the planet. It typically ac- counts for 30 percent of a sportsbook’s annual revenue, every World Cup year. The World Cup unifies humanity – every- one is doing it! As a search query, it’s big- ger than porn! However, SEO for World Cup is supercompetitive, so careful plan- ning and perfect timing are required. “SEO for World Cup is supercompetitive, so careful planning and perfect timing are required.” Top-five World Cup SEO mistakes