Returning to the game

[allaboutthebets]

Hi guys and gals. I sold my sites a few years ago and have had a few years away from the industry. I am now getting back in to it (slowly) and can't believe how much I had missed the industry! I have missed everything..........from coming on here, conferences, ever changing offers, a good excuse to watch all the sports (it works on the mrs, I need to watch for work) etc

Has much changed in the last few years? Is it now harder/easier to rank a site?
Has the POC tax changed a lot?

Anything major I may have missed out on?

Thanks in advance & looking forward to again being an active member on the site

[casaffiliate]

Hi & welcome back!

I'm surprised that nobody has replied yet although this thread has gathered more than 50 views. Congratulations on selling your business. I hope the deal was lucrative for you!

I'm probably not the most qualified to answer all your questions but here is my view on what has changed in comparison to ... let's say .. 4-5 years ago. Hopefully some of the more experienced affiliates will join the discussion and share their views. So ...

SEO

• It takes much longer to rank a new site. Expect to work your behind off without seeing any results for 6-12 months. Check out this brillant case study by wonderpunter to see how much work it takes to build an authority site.
  How to build Casino traffic for a brand new site - Journal
• 500 words content doesn't cut it anymore.
• Throwing links at a fresh site will (more likely than not) get you penalized without you even noticing it. IMHO Google's main algorithmic weapons that keep new sites from ranking are: obfuscation of ranking signals and time delays.
• This is especially true for 'shady' niches like gambling. There is no one one algorithm. Today's SEO in competitive niches seems to be as much about actively optimizing as it is about avoiding traps.
• Having said that .. it seems that short-term gains are still very much possible if you know exactly what you are doing, if you have access to private networks and if you manage to stay under the radar.

INDUSTRY

• Gamification is a new concept that seems to work well for operators like Casumo. I expect that more and more of the established operators will implement similar ideas.
• Consolidation in the affiliate space. Media companies are gradually taking over. Just some examples (there is much more going on) ...
  2014: LCB acquires wizardofodds.com for $2.35 Million (I think that was a steal)
  2016: Catena acquires AskGamblers.com for €15 Million
  2016: Catena acquires casinouk.com for €10.6 Million
• Regulation (taxation), increasing competition and saturation are hurting operators. They are becoming more and more dependant on superaffiliates. Some operators have started to acquire bigger affiliates so that they can push more traffic to their own brands. Examples:
  Gaming Innovation Group (Betspin, Rizk, Guts, Thrills ...) or Game Lounge (Cherry)
• As a consequence of that consolidation smaller affiliates are suffering and real revenue share for them is declining.
• It will be interesting to see what happens when the cheap money ends. Obviously it can't go on forever. Venture capital could dry up and interest rates might rise again.

WHAT HASN'T CHANGED

• Screwing affiliates

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I'm seeing less new affiliates entering the market. Maybe I'm wrong and more new affiliates than ever are entering the market but I definitely don't see them conquering the SERPs. In fact I'm seeing a lot of good sites that don't get the traffic they deserve.

Google will have to monetize search more and more. Here is a very good article that describes Google's problem.
Google’s growing problem: 50% of people do zero searches per day on mobile

Organic results will be reduced more and more and I'm fairly conviced that at some point in the future organic exposure for certain industries will be "pay-to-play".

I think there is still money to be made for new entrants, but it definitely takes much more work than a few years ago to find success. This is .. if you are in the SEO game. There might still be 'easy money' in mobile ad buying, social networks and other less mature marketing channels. Those who are 'killing it' with channels away from SEO will wisely keep their mouths shut.

Apologies for the long post. You asked about changes in the point of consumption tax? No idea

[allaboutthebets]

Wow casaffiliate thanks for a very detailed reply! I was kind of expecting the big boys to be pushing hard and taking up most of the space. I had a feeling it would be getting more difficult to rank a site as well so thanks for confirming. I am going to spend a bit of time back on the forums now, reading over posts and things and try and get my head back in to it all! Thanks again

[wonderpunter]

They day's of building multiple 10 page niche sites are gone, If you want to rank then you have to go big,, We have built thousands of pages in the last 12 months.. all high quality and by that I mean skilled writers not some fiverr gig but experts that know what they are talking about. I'mm sure there are some niche sites that still rank Just I have not seen them on the serps

[allaboutthebets]

They day's of building multiple 10 page niche sites are gone, If you want to rank then you have to go big,, We have built thousands of pages in the last 12 months.. all high quality and by that I mean skilled writers not some fiverr gig but experts that know what they are talking about. I'mm sure there are some niche sites that still rank Just I have not seen them on the serps

Thanks wonderpunter for your input.Its definitely something I willt ake in to account

[sweetbet]

You also need a good hosting service for your main site. A poor hosting service could cost you dearly in the serps.

[PromoteCasino]

You also need a good hosting service for your main site. A poor hosting service could cost you dearly in the serps.

Got any suggestions Sweetbet?

[allaboutthebets]

Thanks Sweetbet, something to consider

You also need a good hosting service for your main site. A poor hosting service could cost you dearly in the serps.