In its latest online gambling and betting report, the agency said the brands that were among the most visible in 2012 lost “significant organic visibility” in Google searches last year after the search engine giant installed major updates.
The Panda and Penguin updates are aimed at penalising brands that adopt what Google deem to be aggressive or unnatural link strategies. The study said that the updates had already hit a number of gambling companies.
Online gambling operator 888 Holdings was one company that suffered, falling from being one of the most visible brands in the casino sector to as low as 17th in Stickyeyes’ index in the space of just one month.
Elsewhere, online gambling website Gambling.com fell from fifth place to outside of the top 100 in the space of just two months.
The third edition of the agency’s annual online gambling and betting report analysed more than 300 operators in five international territories.
The report also revealed that consumer expenditure in the UK online gambling sector in 2013 was set to hit £2.5 billion (€3 billion/$4.1 billion). Bookmaker William Hill remained the market leader with online net revenue growth of 18% in the first half of the year.
Online search volume for sports betting was also up 18% on the previous year while searches for casino also grew 15%. The increase in searches also led to an increase in online advertising for sports betting, with the total figure up from £4.6 million in 2009 to £10.8 million in 2012.
Elsewhere, the report said heavy regulation in the US market had resulted in an immature online search market.
However, following the decision by a number of states to legalise online gambling, more opportunities are created for international operators for them to “dominate” the US search results and capitalise on the keyword market in the country.
The report also highlighted challenges for international brands in the European market, with inconsistent regulation making it difficult for operators in a number of key regions.
However, the agency said moves by the European Commission to “harmonise” online gambling between member states could lead to a “genuine” European online gambling market and create a “thriving, competitive” search market in the sector.
“The UK online gambling sector goes from strength to strength but there is no question that the impact of Google’s Panda and Penguin updates has been catastrophic for some of the industry’s biggest brands,” Stickyeyes head of insight Phil McGuin said.
“We’re yet to see a major impact of these algorithm changes within the US search landscape, which is still a very immature market by comparison.
“However, we expect this to change dramatically as the regulatory grip on this sector loosens and it will be fascinating to see if those international brands hurt by Google in the UK and Europe have learnt the lessons as they make their move into the US.
“What our findings demonstrate is that there is still a huge opportunity for big international brands to grow across Europe and the US and a huge level of scrutiny is set to fall on lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
