SEO Tracker: PokerStars pulls ahead of rivals in search results

Since October 2021, PokerStars has blown its competition out of the water in the poker search results, turning what had been a closely fought battle for visibility into a one-horse race with an estimated 6,708 more monthly clicks than closest rivals 247freepoker at the end of April 2022.

Even more surprising is that while PokerStars has seen an 81% increase in organic visibility over the last six months, its closest rivals have all seen much smaller gains. This has left 247freepoker and partypoker fighting for second place, but a considerable distance behind the leader in the sector.

High volume terms key in poker market

While PokerStars ranks for fewer keywords than in October 2021, it has improved its overall average ranking across the keywords it does rank for, with an average position of four. And although an improved average position is often behind increased organic traffic for a site, the much more obvious reason for PokerStars seeing its visibility nearly double is an improvement in rankings for the three highest volume terms in the sector.

Now ranking in position one for ‘poker’ and ‘poker play’ means that these two search terms alone generate an estimated 10,110 clicks per month for the brand, and while PokerStars only ranks in position six for ‘poker games’, this improvement from position eight last October has still brought in an extra 304 monthly clicks.

With dominant positions across the sector’s top keywords, and overall progress which now sees the brand occupy position one for 26 keywords compared to 16 in October, PokerStars will be keen to continue on its current trajectory as it pulls away from the competition.

Chasing brands see smaller traffic growth

In terms of pay-to-play providers, the closest competitors to PokerStars are partypoker and 888poker, which also both experienced increases in their estimated monthly clicks (11% and 38% respectively).

Despite the presence of a considerable gap between the brands, 888poker will be hopeful of continuing to gain ground as it has done over the last six months, with an increased number of keywords ranking in the top three positions contributing to a significant improvement in the brand’s average ranking position from 18 to eight. Combined with a large number of ranking keywords and strong ranking positions for important search terms such as ‘poker online’, ‘poker games’ and ‘poker’, 888poker will hope to maintain the momentum that the brand seems to be building.

Meanwhile, partypoker has managed to hold onto its position as third most visible brand in the sector as well as increasing its organic traffic, despite having fewer keywords ranking inside the top three positions than it did six months ago.

This is largely due to an improved ranking position for ‘poker play’ bringing in more traffic, but also to the fact that the majority of keywords that the brand no longer ranks in the top positions for had a very low search volume. Maintaining its average ranking position of six, as well as a position two ranking for “poker”, also shows that improvements have been made elsewhere to counteract these changes.

Demand for free-to-play providers persists

Previously the second most visible brand in the sector, Zynga Poker’s traffic has decreased by 33% over the last six months, meaning that it now sits in fifth place in the niche. Despite ranking for slightly more keywords, the average position of those keywords has worsened from position five to position 15.

Although the brand has increased the number of keywords it ranks in the top three positions for from 15 to 20, search terms in the positions below have slipped, lowering the average ranking position, and crucially costing the brand traffic.

The most significant change that has resulted in a loss of traffic, however, is falling from position one to position two for ‘poker games’, with the subsequent 1,621 fewer monthly clicks from this term alone accounting for 59% of the decrease in traffic experienced by the brand. As we often see, this highlights just how much of an influence a small change in rankings for one keyword can have on overall visibility when there is considerable interest in that term.

Despite Zynga Poker’s visibility decreasing, 247freepoker’s new position as the second most visible brand in the sector is proof that demand for free-to-play providers is still strong, and with a position one ranking for ‘poker games’, that free-to-play providers are able to compete with their pay-to-play competitors when it comes to the largest keywords in the sector.