GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 31 - February 2015

Complicated sites The real issues arise when you have complicated transac- tional websites. A good example of this type of site is an online casino. Online casinos are complicated websites that have very im- mersive user experiences, and game play is affected by the modality of mobile. As a result it is far easier for these com- panies to more or less ignore Google's requirements in favor of user experience. So far this has worked, but if Google comes down heav- ily on these sorts of sites, then they will be de-ranked on mobile search. Gala Casino is a bad offender. If you do a search on a mobile device and you see m.galacasino.com, you will be redirected to one page, no matter what key phrase you found the site on. What does this mean for you as an affiliate? Operators’ inability to meet requirements for Google may mean a drop in mobile search rankings. Since somebody has to fill the vacuum, it may as well be you. Despite what many well- meaning practitioners say, if you have amazing content, that alone will not get you ranked. You have to have good links.” 51 Mobile SEO and affiliates