with the complexity of most iGaming sites, and suddenly you have a fairly substantial issue with a site’s Core Web Vitals scores. The iGaming industry as a whole often lags behind from an SEO perspective, most frequently due to sites not featuring large bodies of content. Therefore, if you were an owner of an iGaming site, it would prove to be a wise move to shift your focus towards Core Web Vitals to provide a critical edge over your competition in the rankings. Moreover, in addition to any potential ranking benefits gained through optimizing towards Core Web Vitals, the overall page experience for the site’s visitors should improve. This improvement to the user experience due to optimization towards Core Web Vitals would also see the mobile-friendliness increase as a result. An increase in the mobile-friendliness of the site would then ultimately lead to a higher ranking due to Google’s preference for mobile-first indexing. HOW TO IDENTIFY CORE WEB VITALS ISSUES Diagnosing Core Web Vitals issues can be done in a variety of different ways and using several types of software. The first of which would be Lighthouse 6.0, which has now included three newmetrics used to assess Core Web Vitals in a lab environment: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) andTotal Blocking Time (TBT). The first two of those metrics are precisely what Google measures with Core Web Vitals; however, TBT differs slightly fromFID but is still being used tomeasure input delay. Another of the most popular ways to identify Core Web Vitals issues could be by using PageSpeed Insights (PSI) in your Chrome browser. PSI differs from Lighthouse in the sense that it will provide reports for both lab and field tests, meaning that PSI will provide an insight into the real-world application of how a real visitor would interact with a site. PSI also has Lighthouse integrated within its current build, meaning it is close to the best of both worlds while also providing an overview from a pageby-page basis, which even sets PSI apart from Search Console. KEY CORE WEB VITAL ISSUES ON IGAMING SITES One of the most frequent things we see with iGaming sites from a Core Web Vitals perspective is issues with LCP and CLS caused by sites that have substantial amounts of JavaScript running on the site. High levels of JavaScript can drastically increase loading speeds. Not only that, but it can also cause elements to move across the page as the JavaScript loads in. Furthermore, relating to the heavy reliance on JavaScript, another of the most critical factors affecting Core Web Vitals scores among iGaming sites is the widespread decision to opt for client-side rendering. Although client-side rendering often portrays itself as the most cost-effective hosting method for sites, it means that when a user visits a page, they are met with a loading screen until all the JavaScript has fully loaded in. These loading screens can often become tedious for visitors if they have a slower internet connection if there are substantial amounts of JavaScript on the page, which has already been identified as a common issue for iGaming sites. Whereas, if iGaming sites were to adopt server-side rendering, there would be a significant increase in page loading speeds, thereby improving the sites Core Web Vital scores and improving the overall user experience. HOW TO MONITOR CORE WEB VITALS PERFORMANCE Here at Blueclaw, we have designed a Core Web Vitals report that can record the page experience of an entire site at a page level, allowing us granular access to data that allows us to make recommendations that can significantly improve a site’s performance. In addition to allowing us to provide these recommendations, these reports also allow us to track any significant changes on a month-by-month basis. Alternatively, for a briefer overview of your sites Core Web Vitals, you can create your own Chrome User Experience (CrUX) dashboard. A CrUX dashboard is connected through to Google Data Studio with pre-built templates. However, the majority of the pre-built CrUX dashboards lack any page-level depth, instead preferring to give an overall report for the whole site. Ultimately, page loading is one of the most critical aspects for sites to show concern to, as faster loading times are proven to have a strong correlation with longer session times and a higher frequency of further interactions on the site. As a Digital Marketing Executive at Blueclaw Media Ltd, Tom works with leading operators and affiliates across sportsbook, casino, poker, bingo, slots and lottery markets. As part of Blueclaw’s award-winning SEO team, Tom is dedicated to developing exceptional search marketing strategies that drive growth and increase ROI. A CORE WEB VITALS GUIDE FOR IGAMING AFFILIATES G P W A t i m e s . o r g 26
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDIzMTA=