Solving the esports search conundrum: how to compete in a competitive market

According to the stats, there will be 300 million frequent viewers of esports by 2022. The market for virtual competitions is growing, which means there are opportunities for businesses and content creators alike. Naturally, as the industry grows, so too does the competition between esports websites. Type ‘esports’ into Google and you get 427,000,000 results. Search for ‘esports websites’ and you’ll see 18,700,000. Put simply, the market is expanding rapidly and that means you need to find ways to make your content pop.

Naturally, there are many ways to up your search engine game. However, at the heart of every SEO technique is knowledge. Without an understanding of the market, you’ll never truly compete. Based on that, you need to think about esports and what the industry is really all about. Fundamentally, it’s all about competition. It’s player versus player, team versus team, just like any other sporting contest. The aim of the game is to compete and see who is the best, all while entertaining the fans.

To compete in esports SEO, you need to embrace competition

Based on this, any brand looking to make headway within the industry needs to embrace this spirit of competition. Players don’t want vanilla; they want to be challenged. When you can engage and inspire interaction, you stand a much better chance of improving your ranking. Indeed, we know from the way Google works that traffic matters. However, a spike in traffic doesn’t always contribute to improved rankings.

The traffic you attract needs to be high-quality traffic. Leaving the issue of bots aside, you want visitors to be relevant. In this instance, that means esports fans. When you can target and bring in the right type of user, retention rates are higher. Moreover, reading times will be longer, page clicks increase and the general level of interaction with your content will improve. In terms of competing for search engine visibility, these things matter.

Freshness, relevance and quality at all times

Anyone can stuff their site with keywords and achieve a temporary surge of activity. However, Google will dismiss these anomalies almost as quickly as it records them. According to search expert Neil Patel, the user experience matters more than anything else. Although search engines don’t publish how their ranking systems work, we know that they typically use around 200 factors. Google SEO guidelines state that freshness, relevance and quality are ranking indicators.

In other words, content needs to be constantly updated, speak to the subject matter at hand (i.e. esports) and offer value to the reader. If it meets these goals, it stands a good chance of being ranked by Google. Perhaps more importantly, it also stands a chance of piquing the interest of readers. Achieving a high search ranking is great, but that doesn’t mean people are going to look at your stuff. However, if you focus on freshness, relevance and quality, you stand a chance of killing two birds with one stone.

When you can do that, your rankings will improve and so will the quality of the traffic you get. Then, much like a self-fulfilling prophecy, your search visibility improves which, in turn, generates more clicks and so on. Eventually, the aim is to become an authority within the industry. So, for esports, you may want to become the go-to news site for fans. Alternatively, you might want to be the top affiliate for esports betting or generate ad revenue by promoting events.

Become an authority through creativity, content and competition

Basically, once you’ve established yourself as an authority, you can capitalise on it in any way you see fit. However, to achieve all of these overarching goals, you need to take practical steps. In order to do that, you need to understand the market. This takes us back to the notion that esports is all about entertainment and competition.

To attract visitors and become an authority, your content needs to speak to these ideals. So, for example, instead of just reporting on events, you could create your own power rankings. By tracking the results of gaming stars and celebrities, you’re giving fans something extra. From there, you can create fantasy matchups and rankings based on recent results, skills, etc. Building on this, you could devise ways for readers to back their favourite players and win prizes based on where they finish in the rankings at the end of the year.

This would not only get readers to engage with your content but test their knowledge of esports. This type of content plays into the overarching ideals of entertainment and competition much more than basic event recaps. This is how you really make esports content leap off the page. By tailoring the technicalities of SEO to suit the market, you stand a much better chance of dominating the rankings in this emerging industry.

Emma Carey is head of content at ICS-digital, an international content marketing agency. With almost a decade in the industry, she is passionate about helping brands stand out with great content.