SEO Tracker: Increased interest sees poker competition heat up

The last year has seen significant organic ranking changes in the poker sector, as increased interest in the sector as a whole, but especially free providers, has increased competition and seen 247 Free Poker shoot to the top of the visibility charts.

Overall interest in the market has seen a substantial increase, perhaps helped by a rise in both free services and in larger events. The 89,330 monthly searches currently being made in the UK is an 18.5% increase from our analysis in February 2024, and supports Poker.org’s State of Poker survey finding poker as a game is growing.

This increased interest has brought increased competition with it. This is demonstrated by the fact that the average number of ranking keywords among the top 10 brands has remained the same, but the average ranking position has improved from 21 to 17, showing that to rank among the top 10, brands are needing to be a lot more efficient and push their keyword positions closer to the sharp end of the rankings.

Free services to see increased prominence?

247 Free Poker has seen a huge increase in estimated monthly clicks over the past year, with a 226% increase powering it ahead of the previous top three brands.

A key portion of the increase in traffic has come from the brand improving its ranking for ‘poker’ from position 14 to position two. This improvement, partnered with a 22.1% increase in monthly searches for the term, has brought in an extra 4,026 monthly clicks.

While this makes up the majority of 247 Free Poker’s increase in organic visibility, it wouldn’t be fair to solely put its success down to one keyword. A 25.8% increase in ranking keywords partnered with improving its average ranking position from position 18 to position 11 has seen the brand strengthen its position across a range of keywords.

The number of position one keyword rankings has increased from 12 to 19, and as we can see in the above graph, the brand still has a lot to gain from ranking for a greater number of keywords. The next three most visible brands all rank for a greater number of keywords than 247 Free Poker, so this is the clearest opportunity for the brand in the coming months.

247 Free Poker’s performance in the organic rankings, especially for the most-searched ‘poker’ term, suggest that customer demand for free services may be increasing. With the cost of living affecting disposable income, yet interest in poker increasing, it wouldn’t be surprising if the providers offering free games were the ones that saw the greatest benefit from the growing number of monthly searches.

And with position one rankings for broad terms such as ‘online poker’ and ‘poker game’, 247 Free Poker has definitely benefitted more than most.

Previous leaders see slight decreases in traffic

While PokerStars had previously led the sector ahead of 888poker, both brands saw slight reductions in overall organic visibility as they were overtaken by 247 Free Poker.

PokerStars saw a 3.5% decrease in visibility, while 888poker saw a larger 11.1% drop. However, 888poker saw an improvement in its average ranking position, while PokerStars saw this decrease as well.

Some of 888poker’s decrease in traffic can be attributed to both PokerStars and 247 Free Poker overtaking it in the rankings for ‘poker’, again demonstrating the importance of this one keyword in the sector.

Meanwhile, as PokerStars gained traffic from this term, the brand saw losses elsewhere, as the increased competition that we mentioned earlier resulted in lower ranking positions for a number of terms.

While going from ranking in the top three positions for 37 terms to having 30 terms in those positions isn’t catastrophic, it’s indicative of this increased competition that PokerStars and the other top brands are facing in the sector, and they will be keen to reverse this trend to capitalise on the increase in interest the market is seeing.

Partypoker is another brand that will be keen to change its current trend, as it has suffered more than most, seeing a 52.5% decrease in visibility. With the brand ranking for fewer keywords and in a lower average ranking position than it was a year ago, it is clear that there is work to be done for it to compete with the top brands in the sector for organic visibility.

Less visible brands make big gains

Another sign of the increased competition in the sector is the fact that we haven’t seen a large gap open up between the top brands and the chasing pack, as can sometimes happen when the most-visible brands are able to hoover up the increased clicks that rising market interest brings.

This is in part down to the significant increases in traffic that Zynga Poker and Poker News have seen over the past year. Zynga Poker has seen a 176% increase in monthly clicks, while Poker News is now the fourth most-visible brand in the sector thanks to a 55.6% growth.

Poker News is another brand that has benefitted from the combination of an improved ranking for ‘poker’ and the increase in searches for the term, and has seen similar results for various terms related to Texas Hold ‘Em. The brand already had strong rankings in this sub-sector, but has strengthened these at the same time as seeing a large increase in searches for these terms.

While it has strong authority around Texas Hold ‘Em, if Poker News can extend this authority it could see further visibility, although that may be tempered by how Google assesses the search intent of people searching for these terms, as while it is an affiliate site, it is perhaps not the most obvious destination for consumers who already know that they want to play and just want to get started.

While Poker News and other brands have seen large increases in traffic as a result of their rankings for ‘poker’, Zynga Poker has achieved its remarkable increase in traffic despite only improving from position 13 to position 10 for the term.

Instead, the brand has seen a wider improvement in rankings. Despite its average ranking position actually falling, it has improved in the traffic-generating positions, most crucially going from ranking for 10 to 17 keywords in the top three positions. The terms that it has seen these most visible improvements for are driving a large amount of combined traffic to its website, especially through terms like ‘poker online’ and ‘poker game’.

While Zynga Poker has increased the number of keywords that it ranks for, there is still a large number of keywords that it doesn’t yet rank for. Partnered with an average ranking position that’s below the sector average, this gives the brand plenty of room to continue growing its visibility in the sector and get closer to the top brands.

Overall, here are three key takeaways from what we have seen in the poker market: 

1. Sometimes, improving rankings for even the most important term isn’t enough to avoid overall visibility decreasing if a brand loses traffic elsewhere. Brands need to be aware of the full picture and not only look at the largest keywords in a sector.
2. Capitalising on market interest increasing isn’t reserved for large brands. Small brands can also identify opportunities and monitor market trends to inform their strategy and improve visibility.
3. Often, analysing your market reveals simple changes that can be made to your strategy to improve visibility. This could be improving your average ranking through optimising keywords you already rank for, or looking for new opportunities for rankings to compete with competitors that have broader keyword profiles.

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