Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Importance in Affiliate Marketing

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For anyone new to the industry, the complexity and different aspects of SEO is more than a little  intimidating, thanks to SEJ, everyone can become fluent in  SEO.

 

• SEO IN AFFILIATE MARKETING

1. Important SEO factors

2. Links and User Experience

3. Mobile-first and Voice Search Assistants

• HISTORY OF SEO

• REASONS BEHIND WEBSITE VISITS

• IMPORTANCE OF SEO & SERP

• INTERESTING SEO STATS

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SEO IN AFFILIATE MARKETING

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the term describing the process used to rank an iGaming affiliate site higher on the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

 

A higher SERP ranking equates to increased visibility for your affiliate site with improved traffic flow and engagement. Google constantly updates its algorithm to improve SERP results to make searches more intuitive and accurate. This causes SEO metrics to continually change, turning SEO into an endless challenge to continue attracting the greatest number of eyes to your site by convincing Google that your site is worth sending more visitors to.

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What are the Most Important SEO factors?

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1. Are links important? Yes

2. Are links necessary to rank? Perhaps, but not necessarily

3. Does the length of content matter? Yes, although a superb short post could outrank a low quality long post.

4. How long will it take for SEO to work? It depends since SEO ranking might take weeks or months. If anyone else achieves something that is a bit better, you could lose your top spot on SERPs. 

5. Is there a difference between off-page and on-page SEO? Yes, the changes affiliates make on their site refer to on-page SEO, while adding, for example, an XML sitemap can boost off-page SEO. 

6. Is it possible to purchase links? Yes, it is, but mostly this method turns out to be ineffective.

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Reaching the First Page on Google for Affiliate Marketing

SEO metrics include anchor text, site structure, URL structure, and much more and it all affects the site's SERP ranking. High-quality content may be the backbone of SEO, but if your goal is reaching the first page on the Google SERP it requires link-worthy content provably rich in Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT).

What to keep in mind when developing or creating content

Keywords remain critical, although context matters most. Google crawlers focus on the context before looking for secondary keywords related to the search intent.

What factors indicate to Google that an affiliate site is relevant?

Key factors include meta descriptions, keyword-rich titles, alt attributes, and H1 tags.

Which is most important, relevance or length?

According to Google, the content volume is necessary but relevance is more important and that makes it dependant on the purpose and topic of the page.
 

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"Content needs to be written by humans for humans first, and optimised for Google second!"

 

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Why Links matter?

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Links essentially count as votes that tell Google that other sites see your content as relevant.

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How does UX (user experience) impact ranking?

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User experience plays a considerable role in how Google ranks an iGaming affiliate website, and UX depends on numerous factors, including the site layout, content, and infrastructure.

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Will UX matter even more as Google gets smarter?

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Yes, UX is most likely to play an even more vital role, which makes learning the basics vital, and we list a few of the basic best practices below.

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• Site Speed

Structure, image compression, and fast servers add to site loading speeds, which should be less than 2 seconds in an ideal world. There are many good ones, but PageSpeed Insights is fast, reliable, easy to understand, plus it features an extremely user-friendly UI. 

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• Easy Navigation

A simple approach is best to improve website navigation via navigation bars, internal links, and drop-down menus.

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• Ensure the bounce rate is low and CTR and time on the page is high.

Even though such signals are not ranking factors, what can increase your affiliate site leads for high player engagement helps indirectly. 

 

How important is Mobile?

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Google started shifting its focus to mobile-first indexing in 2015, which means the search engine uses the mobile version of an affiliate marketing site to rank results. Google bases its decision upon the over 50% increase in worldwide traffic generated via mobile devices.

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How effective is Voice Search?

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In 2016, Google reminded us that voice search makes up 20% of searches. According to voice search statistics in 2024, voice search assistant answers around 93.7% of the average search queries. The number of voice searches per month is over 1 billion, and over 50% of mobile users use voice searches daily.

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Interesting Statists by Demandsage

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• The number of voice assistants currently in use is 4.2 billion, which will increase to 8.4 billion this year.

• Over 40% of voice search results come from featured snippets.

• Voice search SERP requires an average of 4.6 sec to load.

• Over 20% of Google App searches take place via voice search.

• Google Assistant supports over 30,000 smart home devices.

• 45.1% prefer Apple Siri voice assistant.

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Most Used Digital Assistants

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Google Assistant 36%, Apple Siri 36%, Amazon Alexa 25%, and Microsoft Cortana 19%.

 

Brief History of SEO

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Search engine marketing and SEO probably started alongside the launch of the first website in 1991, or possibly with the launch of the first web search engine in 1997. However, Digital Engagement author, Bob Heyman, claims it is all thanks to Jefferson Starship being upset that the official website of the rock band appears on page 4 rather than the top of page 1.

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Ranking high was still new and directory-driven before Google classification fuelled by DMOZ, Zeal-powered LookSmart, and Yahoo Directly, which became an all-important player in Yahoo Search.

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Terms Used Before SEO

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Before Search Engine Optimization, now used for over 20 years, other terms for SEO included Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Submission, Search Engine Registration, Search Engine Ranking, Search Engine Positioning, and Search Engine Placement.

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SEO Timeline

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• 1994 - David Filo and Jerry Wang creates Yahoo, the webmaster has to manually submit their page to the Yahoo directory for indexing

• 1996 - Brin and Page builds and tests Backrub ranking sites according to inbound link popularity and relevancy

• 1997 - Danny Sullivan launches Search Engine Watch, dedicated to news, information, and searching web tips

• 1998 - Marks the launch of Goto.com, offering paid searches and sponsored links. The DMOZ Open Directory Project became most favoured by SEO practitioners. Google incorporates and files first patent for PageRank.

• 1999 - The first Search Engine Strategies conference takes place

• 2000 - Launches Google Toolbar, completely changing SEO Marketing 

• 2003 - Google launches AdSense

• 2004 - Google files "reasonable surfer" patent and top search engines improve SEO results based on geographic intent

• 2005 - Mobile-first focus starts, by 2015 mobile search volumes surpass desktop searches, leading to the mobile-friendly algorithm update by Google

• 2006 - Google introduced Maps Plus Box and acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion while launching incredible tools such as Google Webmaster Tools plus Google Analytics and files "seed sets patent"

• 2009 - Google establishes measures to combat PageRank Sculpting

• 2016 - Dominating the industry for over 15 years Google retires Google Toolbar and PageRank as a public metric, but internally continues to actively use the metric

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Reasons Behind Website Visits

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Think with Google in 2015 published the four most important new and instant moments strategy.

• I-want-to-know – searches for general knowledge, news, etc.

• I-want-to-go – location-specific searches enabling users to find something nearby.

• I-want-to-do – information searches on how to fix, grow or prepare things. 

• I-want-to-buy – anything and everything that relates to information and reviews on purchasing.

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Google also releases Influence Search Behaviour influences.

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• Thrill Me

• Impress Me

• Educate Me

• Reassure Me

• Help Me

• Surprise Me

 

What is the motivation behind people visiting websites?

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• Wanting to learn 

• Wanting to buy

• Wanting to be entertained

• Wanting more information

• Wanting to be inspired

• Wanting to stay informed and in touch.

• Wanting to feel connected.

• A want to end boredom.

 

Importance of SEO and SERP

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Bill Gates mentioned that the future of search is verbs at a private dinner and referred to reasons relating to why people search.

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In the beginning searches were simple, mostly to access documents containing the word or words people typed into the search. That all changed, today searches are organic, reasons include finding something to do, accomplishing tasks or solving problems. The process of searching is called the journey of the consumer and the SERP .

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The Consumer Journey and Evolution of SERP

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Searching the web evolved from a simple search that matched on-page words to a better, more organic, understanding of search intent. It no longer is based on only keywords but also the right context and content for each user at the right time. It’s all about verbs for the user, leaving search marketers to find ways to influence searchers along the way.

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Modern Day SEO focuses on technical problem-solving, content strategy, data-driven insights and understanding personas. Marketing strategies focus on three areas: attract, engage, and convert.

 

The first, attract, is the most important, but the phrase build it, and they will come doesn’t apply to affiliate marketing or websites. Every webpage is an SEO page and aims to attract, engage, and convert players using SEO components.

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Great SEO focuses on content, finding ways to speed up websites, integrating with analytics, user experience, content, social media, and quick navigation through numerous versions of the same page.

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Interesting SEO Stats

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The most valuable affiliate marketing channel remains organic search, and SEO remains essential for all affiliates. Whether your business is small, medium, large, local, or international, it needs SEO.

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• Organic search is responsible for 53% of all traceable traffic.

• On average, 32% of the organic click-through rate goes to sites on the first page of Google.

• Google holds 91.75% of the worldwide search engine market. 

• 50.3% of browser-based searches result in zero-click on Google.

• Google’s first page shows 8.5% of the average number of organic mobile search results.

• The estimated amount agencies and brands in the USA spend on SEO services in 2020 is $79.27 billion.

• Most businesses spend around $5,000 monthly on SEO.

• According to 91% of consumers, positive reviews make them more likely to use a business.

• The average consumer spends 13 minutes and 45 seconds reading reviews before acting.

• 47.06% of searches use desktops, while 52.94% use mobile devices.

• 65% of people use mobile devices during I-want-to-buy moments.

• 70% of digital marketers use Ahrefs as a link-building tool.

• 51% of digital marketers use SEMrush as a link-building tool.

• 66.31% of web pages have no backlinks.

• Google Assistant is built into over 1 billion devices.

• Google handles over 2 trillion searches worldwide per year.

• Paid search results in 15% of trackable traffic.

• Paid social results in 5% of trackable traffic.

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