Online slots is truly a volatile market in terms of search. There’s almost constant movement in results because of how competitive it is, with new arrivals pushing established brands all the way. We tend to see these upstarts making a concerted grab for search space, while affiliates have focussed on volume search terms to get in the game.
We carried out some analysis of the slots market to try to winkle out the reasons for this ongoing volatility, and to see who’s winning the search battle.
Slotboss.co.uk is top of the pile
First, it’s worth noting that the stats we’re looking at are for slot-related keywords. For those companies who also operate in the casino market, visibility may increase markedly once terms for that vertical are factored in. That aside, Slotboss.co.uk are out on their own here, with a visibility of 28.65m, double that of Coral, in 2nd place.
Mr Smith Casino has achieved a 3rd place ranking from a relatively small number of search terms – 732 rankings on the first page, the lowest of the top ten brands. Slotboss may target more terns, 1186, but that’s still fewer than Paddy Power, Coral and William Hill.
Their strategy, then, is clearly focussed on targeting fewer keywords, but ones with high search volume. Our analysis bears that out. Slotboss has ranking position two for ‘slots’, four for ‘online slots’ and one for ‘slots uk’. Mr Smith is fourth for ‘slots’ and first for ‘online slots’.
So, how did they get these rankings, and can they sustain their position?
Content comes a distant second
Slotboss’ position at the top of the visibility index would suggest that they had a common sense SEO approach that placed user experience, engagement and content at their heart of their strategy. Strangely, that isn’t the case. Despite confirmation from Google that their algorithm considers these factors key in search ranking, Slotboss claims the number one visibility slot despite only ranking eighth on our engagement index.
They have the lowest link authority in the top ten, and also perform poorly in other key metrics including bounce rate, social shares and average time on site.
What are the lessons we can draw from this? It’s vital to take into account that this is a mere snapshot, and the volatility of this vertical, along with its links to the casino market, means that things can change very, very quickly.
Constant analysis of this sector has taught us that brands come and go in visibility rankings, and that Slotboss’ reign at the top might be exceedingly short-lived. Unless, that is, these brands riding high right now can implement an SEO strategy that will lead to ranking sustainability.
