Before and After The Google March Core Update: 'Best Online Casino Bonuses'

Our dear friend John Wright of StatsDrone fame posted an intriguing before and after of search results for the highly competitive key word phrase "Best Online Casino Bonuses".  We would recommend reading this on a smartphone and zooming in.  It's worth it. 

The Google Core Update is considered one of the biggest in the search giant's history.  It concluded on April 19.  If you are among the SEO specialists and website owners from a wide range of industies who were hit hard by this latest update, you're in pretty good company it seems.

The core update prioritized relevance and quality in search results with a primary focus on eradicating spam and manipulative tactics. 

And it rolled out as Wright took part in this past week's Brighton SEO Conference, which claims to be "the world's biggest search conference". 

"Being the affiliate guy talking to SEOs at brightonSEO, people asked if I'm worried that affiliates are going to get taken out.

"My answer is yes and no. This is clear disruption in the affiliate space and the constant changes might actually hurt small to midsized affiliates the most.

"Why?

"Well what happens if your traffic drops by say 100% or more over 6 weeks and then returns? If you can't find stability and growth in your sites, it might cause more M&A activity.

"We already know parasite SEO was sorta taken out but we don't know if media sites themselves will be winners or losers. Plenty of examples of some media sites getting nailed while others are getting rewarded."

To be clear, most affiliates are small to mid-sized.  The big guys are a handful of so-called "super affiliates" and these often partner with the little guys. Better Collective, Catena and the Gambling.com Group all come to mind.

Indeed it appears some of these may have even taken a hit.

Wright's "before and after" show that SI.com ranked number one for "Best Online Casino Bonuses & Promotions" and, quite honestly, we're not sure why they would have.  This isn't exactly their wheelhouse. 

PennLive.com has now moved into the top spot. AL.com, Miami Herald and Michigan Free Press have moved into the top five for the term "Best Online Casino Bonuses & Promotions".  These media websites have teamed up with some of the top gambling affiliates.  Combine that with their obvious news chops and you have your lucrative top rankings.

Catena Media's PlayUSA was among those sites hit by the latest update as was their flagship news brand LegalSportsReport, at least for this particular update.  

Better Collective appears to be the victor, at least this go around.  They are the company responsible for the Miami Herald's "Best Online Casino Bonuses & Promotions" search results.  

These results are not necessarily stagnant. AskGamblers and Wizard of Odds, two sites that specialize in the search inquiry entered, were back in the Top 10 as of April 27.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher