On-page or off-page SEO for tight budget site.

[rumbrasko]

Hi everyone!
I started a gambling affiliate website as a way to learn more about SEO and iGaming industry.
Now I am seeing some results, but they are not quite there yet, but I believe with the right approach I can get there.

Since I am new to the field and young, I don't have deep pockets for juicy links and all of that good stuff. I wanted to hear from a more experienced players in this field, what is more important - content or backlinks?

Currently I am trying to climb the ladder for good rankings purely trough good content, since I have seen some other sites rank well with no backlinks. But if a majority says that backlinks in iGaming SEO is the main priority, then I am willing to go all-in on backlinks.

In other words I would like to know, would it be a wise move for a tight budget website to buy couple of these expensive links or should I approach a blackhat techniques and hop on one of these gambling PBN's or maybe just focus on the content and websites quality for now?

Thanks!

[chaumi]

I think it might be sensible to look at it this way...if you don't have good content, why would anyone be linking to you (naturally) in the first place?

Focus on content first. That doesn't necessarily mean lots, but it does mean a sufficient quantity that answers user queries around the subject you're covering, and in a way that will encourage users/visitors to interact with what you have.

Send enough of the correct quality, authority, and user interaction signals, and you may find you need less links to make the next step.

If you decide to try 'fully-fledged' blackhat, you'll need to know what you're doing and chances are - even if it works - it could be short term. Judging by the questions, it sounds like you wouldn't be ready for that. Using a PBN (in conjunction with strong content) might give some positive results, but the results will likely very much depend on the quality/make-up of the PBN you're using

[big fish]

CONTENT 100% - create the best content (better than what's ranking in the top 10, then update it a minimum of every 6 months, some really competitive content can even be updated monthly.

good luck buddy =]

[rumbrasko]

Thanks guys. Your answers made me calm down a bit, now knowing that I can rank just by focusing on the content.

By the way. What do you think of AI content?

I have paid copywriters, written the content by hand myself and used some specific chatgpt prompts. So far the chatgpt generated content is outperforming these hand written and paid articles.

I will soon try a different approach. Taking chatgpt's created outlines and writing the content my self based on these outlines. I don't know why, but I have a good gut feeling that this will turn out great[-o<.

[CasinoGuideJapan]

I've often seen sites with great content and few links rank well, but never same story where site has no/bad content and many links.

[big fish]

I've often seen sites with great content and few links rank well, but never same story where site has no/bad content and many links.

exactly!

[PaulEchere]

You would need both tbh. Obviously as stated above, you want to get links to good content. Since this is a highly competitive niche, there are very slim chances that you will be getting a good number of natural backlinks.

Nevertheless, if you are going to buy links - make your content good enough that it would have gotten natural BLs under other circumstances, and then buy links for that content.

Also, it doesn't have to be super expensive or expensive at all. You'd just need to put some time into competitor research, outreach and comms to find the best quality / price places to buy links from.

[Jojeboje]

Just do your best and work with the content!

[chaumi]

By the way. What do you think of AI content?

These two threads have some thoughts that might be useful...

https://www.gpwa.org/forum/do-you-test-your-copywriters-ai-content-265931.html

https://www.gpwa.org/forum/gpwa-times-magazine-pros-cons-ai-writing-tools-264930.html


There are probably others you could find using the 'search our forums' box right at the top of the page

[NoDepositCasinos]

Hi everyone!
I started a gambling affiliate website as a way to learn more about SEO and iGaming industry.
Now I am seeing some results, but they are not quite there yet, but I believe with the right approach I can get there.

Since I am new to the field and young, I don't have deep pockets for juicy links and all of that good stuff. I wanted to hear from a more experienced players in this field, what is more important - content or backlinks?

Currently I am trying to climb the ladder for good rankings purely trough good content, since I have seen some other sites rank well with no backlinks. But if a majority says that backlinks in iGaming SEO is the main priority, then I am willing to go all-in on backlinks.

In other words I would like to know, would it be a wise move for a tight budget website to buy couple of these expensive links or should I approach a blackhat techniques and hop on one of these gambling PBN's or maybe just focus on the content and websites quality for now?

Thanks!

Welcome to GPWA. If your site is new, you’re learning, and you have limited resources, focus on content. It’s not that backlinks aren’t useful, but they’re not the main priority (and if someone says otherwise, check if their business consists of selling them).

You mentioned your site is new, but not how new. In any case, my advice is to improve your content, test, measure what works, and repeat. Use your own data and choose your backlinks wisely. They don’t have to be the most expensive to be effective, and you can always negotiate the price or an exchange.

[limoxt]

Thanks for the advice, I have a question, my website is just launched for a week, and I am keeping posting new pages every week, what's the right expectation should I have in terms of traffic?

[wonderpunter]

Personally I have reduced SEO and am focusing on content what used to work pre september no longer works or sets you up to get punished by the next core update. backlinks same story I would stay as close to your topic as possible.

[rumbrasko]

Thanks for the advice, I have a question, my website is just launched for a week, and I am keeping posting new pages every week, what's the right expectation should I have in terms of traffic?

I don't know if that is enough. I am trying to make a new page every day, but still traffic is very slim.

[PaulEchere]

I don't really think content volume is something that you should consider to be a performance indicator.

More content doesn't equal more clicks there is probably even no actual correlation. More content might equal more impressions, however even that is not guaranteed.

And again, more impressions doesn't equal more clicks.
__________________________________________________ ________

If you are posting content every day and that (let's take a time frame of 3 months) has 0 effect on your traffic - that's a clear indicator that you might want to shift your focus.

1) Is the content that you are posting ranking for the KWs you thought it would?
2) What are the average positions that it ranks for with the KWs you are targeting?
3) Do you have any pages that have average positions of 10 - 15 for your target KW?

If #1 is "Yes", #2 and #3 indicate that there is some parity between your expectations / plans and reality.
I would recommend focusing on:

1) Creating content that would serve as additional / supporting pages for your "main" ones.
2) Buy / trade / get backlinks for the pages that you feel are most realistic to get you traffic and get decent positions.

I don't know if that is enough. I am trying to make a new page every day, but still traffic is very slim.

[wonderpunter]

I don't really think content volume is something that you should consider to be a performance indicator.

More content doesn't equal more clicks there is probably even no actual correlation. More content might equal more impressions, however even that is not guaranteed.

And again, more impressions doesn't equal more clicks.
__________________________________________________ ________

If you are posting content every day and that (let's take a time frame of 3 months) has 0 effect on your traffic - that's a clear indicator that you might want to shift your focus.

1) Is the content that you are posting ranking for the KWs you thought it would?
2) What are the average positions that it ranks for with the KWs you are targeting?
3) Do you have any pages that have average positions of 10 - 15 for your target KW?

If #1 is "Yes", #2 and #3 indicate that there is some parity between your expectations / plans and reality.
I would recommend focusing on:

1) Creating content that would serve as additional / supporting pages for your "main" ones.
2) Buy / trade / get backlinks for the pages that you feel are most realistic to get you traffic and get decent positions.

It used to be the case but for a while now I have found that volume is no longer or now less of a ranking signal, probably becuse it's abused so often