FEATURE
GRANT MACFARLANE
FOUNDER & CEO,
THE MEDIA IMAGE
Omni-channel attribution.
Traditionally the iGaming sector
has had a very insular path to
conversion or attribution view, in
essence dominated by single session,
last-click events almost always
isolated by device type. As ad tech
has evolved the smart operators/
marketers are taking advantage of
the insights that are available. It’s
a super complex and data-driven
exercise, and one that can be slightly
subjective, but its crucial marketers
invest the time and effort to correctly give channels their true value. Data is king.
Online to Offline. Many operators have matched player IDs across device to
understand usage and in some instances, particularly for large high street brands,
the opportunity to match online to offline has existed and in some instances been
exploited. The likes of Coral’s connect card and Ladbrokes’ The Grid are good
examples, but more work is needed to close the loop on the true value of the
online vs. offline journey. It will also help shape the personalisation of offers and
user experience for the user. The journey needs to be seamless.
Looking for opportunities in the haystack. The UK marketplace is becoming
more and more competitive, as are Google CPCs and general costs of marketing
in such a mature market. The smart agencies/operators are tuning into novelty
markets to exploit cheaper and less competitive auctions. The demand is out
there - start looking.
NICK GARNER,
FOUNDER, 90 DIGITAL
SEO – RIP the link
Amount of iGaming-related spam
sites to decrease.
Many operators to give up on SEO
in favour of PPC.
Sites that are genuinely better
will receive the kind of links that
Google knows are valuable, and
those sites will rank, as long as they
engage users.
SEO – the machines are taking over
Google will be able to interpret a
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website, or page, better than a human.
To win rankings battle, sites will have to put user engagement and satisfaction first.
Because so many iGaming sites suffer huge technical debt, expect to see fresh
players coming through the rankings and comfortably beating mature incumbents.
Technical debt – a rising tide
If an operator site runs with decades-old functionality, Google will not rank it.
‘Remote betting’, where users can place bets from affiliate websites, means the
‘little guys’ can out manoeuvre the big technically indebted operators. Watch out for
brands like Oddschecker and OLBG.
Users will have zero tolerance for non-‘all device friendly’ sites.
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MATTEO MONARI,
COO, BIZUP
1. Every year we hear people saying
“this is the year of mobile”. I am not sure
whether the “year of mobile” was 2013,
2014 or 2015, but the reality is that mobile
is already dominantly here, so 2016 is the
year operators and affiliate alike need
to adapt and be mobile, taking this for
granted.
2. From Google’s side, 2016 has
already started with an interesting update,
so it will probably not be a “quiet” year. In
general, I think in 2016 Google will show
that it can understand more and more
what users really want and what sites
really offer, getting better at determining
query intent from one side and website
content and purpose on the other site. So,
in order to stay ahead of the competition,
you need to understand which of your
visitors are looking for games to play with,
reviews to read, bonus codes to copy, or
videos to look at, and ensure the pages
they land on offer them exactly what they
were looking for.
3. In recent times, Google has also
shown (or at least declared) increasing
attention to privacy and safety, hence
https protocol. What’s more important
though, is the relation between using https
and being able to use http/2 protocol and
the speed improvements tied to this. This
can get a bit technical so you can find
more info here: searchengineland.com/
everyone-moving-http2-236716
4. As far as paid campaigns and online
advertising are concerned, I think 2016
will the year of native advertising, both
on desktop and especially on mobile,
primarily as a result of the Adblock war
going on between Apple, Facebook and
Google. It is a war I think all affiliates
should definitely be aware of, but I feel
many are not, so for more information:
www.theverge.com/2015/9/17/9338963/
welcome-to-hell-apple-vs-google-vsfacebook-and-the-slow-death-of-the-web
iGB Affiliate Issue 55 FEB/MAR 2016
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