SEO Tracker: Affiliate brands disrupt football betting search space

While our memories of English heartbreak and Argentinian heroics may feel fresh, it has been over six months since the World Cup in the Middle East, and we’re now able to take a proper look at how searches during the event impacted the UK sportsbook market.

Given that our data includes searches from the last six months, it is perhaps unsurprising that overall searches across the sector have increased by 43% from when we last analysed data in December. Even less of a surprise is that Oddschecker continues to lead the way in the sector.

Oddschecker retains its place as the most visible brand ahead of PaddyPower, seeing its organic visibility increase by 78% to bring in an estimated 51,585 monthly clicks. Both of the top two brands have seen considerable improvements in average ranking position and the number of keywords they rank for, while Bettingodds.com had a particularly strong six months, more than doubling its organic visibility to be the third most visible brand in the sector.

With Bettingodds.com now the third most visible brand in the sector, it is worth noting that two out of the three most visible brands are affiliate sites, with Oddsmonkey and Just Bookies other affiliate sites present in the top ten.

Rankings for high volume terms key

The ingredients to Oddschecker’s success are incredibly simple: rank in the highest position possible for the keywords with the highest search volume. Simple of course doesn’t mean easy, and Oddschecker is able to build on years of being the leading brand in the space, and all of the recognition, familiarity and trust that brings.

Many of the keywords that have seen increases in search volume are ones that Oddschecker already ranked in position one for, such as ‘world cup odds’, which naturally saw searches increase from 5,400 to 33,100 per month. Already being the go-to brand for these searches means that Oddschecker was in a strong position to make the most out of increased search interest around the tournament, and benefit from 6,684 additional clicks. When a curious web browser seeks insight on odds of any stripe, Oddschecker is often their first port of call, meaning that increased search interest benefits Oddschecker to a greater extent than competitors.

However, as the improved average ranking suggests, this wasn’t simply a case of sitting back and watching traffic from increased search roll in. The number of keywords that Oddschecker ranks in the top three for increased from 255 to 305, while rankings further down the top ten positions such as ‘football betting’ also saw an improvement (position nine to seven).

While it is hard to see this level of traffic being maintained as search volume returns to normal, Oddschecker finds itself in an even stronger position than before compared to its rivals in terms of ranking positions, and will look to hold steady in the coming months, as league football returns across Europe.

PaddyPower running away as leader of the bookmakers

Another brand that will looking to maintain recent gains is Irish giant, PaddyPower. While the brand has seen the gap to Oddschecker extend, it has seen its own organic traffic increase by 69% in the same period.

This has also resulted in the gap between PaddyPower and the next most visible bookmaker increasing considerably. PaddyPower saw a similar pattern to Oddschecker in the sense that the brand already had very strong rankings, no doubt again with support from brand recognition led by the company’s extensive PR activity, and subsequently increased the number of keywords it ranks for (360, up from 322), and increased its average ranking position.

At the top of the rankings, PaddyPower has also seen considerable traffic brought in by terms where either its ranking position has improved (Premier League odds) or search volume has increased significantly (football bet). This means that while the number of keywords that the brand ranks in the top three positions for has decreased slightly, the traffic generated by those keywords has grown from 13,476 monthly clicks to 20,946 monthly clicks.

BettingOdds.com charges up the rankings

Beyond the top two brands showing considerable organic growth, affiliate BettingOdds.com is undoubtedly the success story of the last few months. The brand’s organic traffic has grown by 149%, and it now ranks behind only the top two brands in the market, with an estimated 15,483 monthly clicks.

The brand has built a solid rankings profile, ranking for 363 keywords (second only to Oddschecker), and holding an average ranking position of 14, whilst not holding the brand recognition strength that the top two sustainBettingOdds.com has obtained a number of strong ranking positions across smaller volume keywords, especially those around relegation odds, but even more importantly when it comes to its overall visibility in the sportsbook market, it now ranks in third, behind Oddschecker and PaddyPower, for many of the most searched for terms in the space, including ‘World Cup odds’ and ‘Premier League relegation odds’.

It is a mixture of this wide-ranging rankings profile and strong positions for traffic-generating terms which means that BettingOdds.com is well placed to continue improving its organic visibility in the coming months. Whether additional challengers will be able to arrest this trajectory remains to be seen.

Furthermore, whether it can eat into the gap between it and Paddy Power, or it’s affiliate rival, Oddschecker, remains to be seen. However, given its rapid rise and strong foundations, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see BettingOdds.com continue to close the gap.

To find out more about how Stickyeyes could help your brand to establish and maintain organic growth in the sportsbook market and beyond, please reach out to William Conboy, director of igaming by Stickyeyes at William.conboy@stickyeyes.com.