Bodog Affiliates Being Told To Change Review URLS

[AcceleratedSports]

Apparently Bodog affiliate managers are emailing some affiliates and telling them to remove the word "Bodog" from all URLS, including review URLs, citing the following terms and conditions;

Affiliate Obligations and Responsibilities

6.5. Affiliate is restricted from utilizing derivatives of "Bodog" or "Calvin Ayre" in URLs and directory names for the intention of search engine optimization.

6.7. Affiliate is restricted from optimizing any page of their website(s) for keyword or keyword phrases that include, but are not limited to, Calvin Ayre, Bodog, bodog.eu, Bodog Brand, Bodog Sportsbook, Bodog Casino, Bodog Racebook, Bodog Poker or Bodog Sportsbook, Casino and Poker Room in any format. This includes, but is not limited to, meta tags, headers and body content.

1. Does this new rule apply to all affiliates? Because hardly any affiliates have changed their URLS.

2. What if someone is searching for "Bodog Sportsbook Review" or Bodog Casino Review" or "Bodog Sportsbook Information" and wants to receive info from an independent source. Bodog wants to prevent this?

3. Are you attempting to marginalize your affiliates by enforcing this term?

4. Finally, What the the affiliate would rather leave your affiliate program, keep their review URL in place, but only change the actual review of the book. (and send the traffic on the page to another book)?

[universal4]

Does this new rule apply to all affiliates?

If this rule is enforced one time on any affiliate then it needs to be applied to all affiliates.

Rick
Universal4

[AcceleratedSports]

If this rule is enforced one time on any affiliate then it needs to be applied to all affiliates.

Rick
Universal4

My point exactly.

[big fish]

Yea that's pretty crazy. I can understand the request with domain names, but not with page titles, urls, etc. thats just a little off. I think many affiliates would likely drop the program and send the traffic to another program instead. not a very good idea ...

[stgeorge]

If this rule is enforced one time on any affiliate then it needs to be applied to all affiliates.

Rick
Universal4

According to Bodog it is being applied to all.

What would you do? Drop them?

[monsterbet]

I haven't received any literature from them. If i do they can suck donkey d***....that is just stupid, how the hell are you supposed to promote them otherwise....i know i'll promote bodog without using the word bodog! I will close my account the moment i see any email of the sort.

Are they owned by paddy power, the guys that don't do cross promotion?

[davemerry]

As someone who promotes Bodog this is a strange move, asking affiliates to go against their own URL naming conventions, whether for SEO purposes or not, is fruitless in my opinion

My bet, Bodogs crazy domain changing recently has seen some of their rankings for branded keywords drop to credible affiliates, hence the sudden enforcement of this term.

[baldidiot]

This is ridiculous...

[Asim]

What a idiotic idea from Bodog...I will be redirecting my bodog links to other sites when/if they inforce this...

[universal4]

What do they expect affiliates do?

Rename the pages /someotherdamnsportsbook.html ?

Hmmmm does anyone currently rank for that?

On this page I have reviews for William Hill, BetFred, Bet365 and Some Other Damn Sportsbook....

Sounded kinda dumb reading it didn't it?

Rick
Universal4

[BodogBecky]

Apparently Bodog affiliate managers are emailing some affiliates and telling them to remove the word "Bodog" from all URLS, including review URLs, citing the following terms and conditions;

Affiliate Obligations and Responsibilities

6.5. Affiliate is restricted from utilizing derivatives of "Bodog" or "Calvin Ayre" in URLs and directory names for the intention of search engine optimization.

6.7. Affiliate is restricted from optimizing any page of their website(s) for keyword or keyword phrases that include, but are not limited to, Calvin Ayre, Bodog, bodog.eu, Bodog Brand, Bodog Sportsbook, Bodog Casino, Bodog Racebook, Bodog Poker or Bodog Sportsbook, Casino and Poker Room in any format. This includes, but is not limited to, meta tags, headers and body content.

1. Does this new rule apply to all affiliates? Because hardly any affiliates have changed their URLS.

2. What if someone is searching for "Bodog Sportsbook Review" or Bodog Casino Review" or "Bodog Sportsbook Information" and wants to receive info from an independent source. Bodog wants to prevent this?

3. Are you attempting to marginalize your affiliates by enforcing this term?

4. Finally, What the the affiliate would rather leave your affiliate program, keep their review URL in place, but only change the actual review of the book. (and send the traffic on the page to another book)?

Hey guys,

This is nothing new and yes, it applies to all affiliates. Actually, there is a thread at Affiliate Guard Dog from January 2009 discussing this very same topic. If your Bodog affiliate manager has not yet contacted you about these terms I suggest that you proactively make the changes because they will be enforced ASAP by your manager and also highlighted in the August newsletter.

The request is a very reasonable one as all affiliates have already agreed to abide by these terms when they signed up for the program. Bodog pays for non-bodog traffic and Bodog considers anyone searching for "bodog" to already be Bodog owned traffic- Bodog has a trademark on the name "bodog" for gambling in North America and Europe. These terms will have zero impact on any affiliates who are generating keyword traffic which is what Bodog is interested in paying for...what Bodog is not interested in is competing for its own traffic and this is precisely why the terms are included in the contract.

I do know from Bodog Affiliate's perspective that they wish affiliates had followed these rules from the start so they would not have to be proactively reinforced now. Should you have any questions about these terms or if anything is unclear please contact your Bodog Affiliate manager and they will be happy to help.

Thank you,
Becky

[jarvi]

Quick clarification please. If we are not allowed to mention Bodog in the body, because technically that is optimising, how do we actually tell our readers the name of the sportsbook/casino/poker/etc that we are talking about?

[baldidiot]

Quick clarification please. If we are not allowed to mention Bodog in the body, because technically that is optimising, how do we actually tell our readers the name of the sportsbook/casino/poker/etc that we are talking about?

LMAO

Also are you aware that by trying to stop affiliates from ranking for your name you're actually going to be shooting yourself in the foot - all of those good reviews of bodog will disappear from the search results, meaning the things that will start ranking for bodog terms are blogs and forum threads of people complaining about Bodog. Is that what you want people to see when they search "bodog"? It's called reputation management...

[GCG]

This is called strong arm tactics nothing new but one should not accept this.

I am wondering what the GPWA stance on this is by including such a term?

2. Responsible Promotion and Procedures

Sponsor Companies will be truthful in all promotions and publish only accurate information about their operations. Any rules and registration procedures affecting affiliates or the public will be made publicly available by the Sponsor Companies. Sponsor Companies will not use unethical methods of promotion either directly or indirectly through others.

IMO the last line is just what they enforced upon affiliates.

why should mysite.com/bodog-review not be allowed ?

if so why mysite.com/32red-review is ? 32red is also a brand name.

If you want to buy / maintain top 10+ positions for "bodog" in google this is what they are after nothing else.

PERIOD.

[BodogBecky]

Quick clarification please. If we are not allowed to mention Bodog in the body, because technically that is optimising, how do we actually tell our readers the name of the sportsbook/casino/poker/etc that we are talking about?

Of course you can mention bodog in the body, but if an affiliate is mentioning bodog every second word for example it becomes obvious that an affiliate is just trying to rank for bodog terms.

Basically you can write a normal review about bodog like you would if you were publishing in a printed magazine...that’s all that’s being asked...bodog is paying affiliates for organic keyword traffic not its own already existing traffic. The reasoning here is that bodog already owns bodog traffic so why do they want to fight with their own affiliates for this traffic?

[universal4]

The terms state the page can't be optimized for those words, but are not specific how many times the words can be mentioned.....

So if Google or any other engine would happen to rank the page for those words (even if the words were not used very often) the term 6.7 could be used against the affiliate to withold commissions.

Rick
Universal4

[jarvi]

We really need a definition of the word optimizing included in the terms. Without it we are running the risk of not adhering to the terms of the agreement. Putting the name bodog in the page title, heading and the anchor text pointing to the review is just a usability reason for us and our readers. Not to mention, common sense. Of course the SEO benefit is useful, however, not necessarily the primary reason for including them.

[Squigley]

Does a searcher looking for a 'Bodog review' really want a review of Bodog by Bodog?

[Zoorana]

Never heard of this before. What a BIZARRE rule. This is ridiculous indeed *shakes head*

[Buddy M]

Hey Bodog Becky, let me first say I think all of my programs mention something to this effect in the terms so I am not at all cought off guard by this. I dont think I have the word bodog in my meta keywords or use the word more than a few times in my reviews like Join Bodog, or visit bodog, but I do have it in my title like: Review of Bodog Sportsbook, Casino Poker. Now should I remove bodog from the title?