The online gambling market has boomed in recent years, with iGaming affiliate sites serving as one of the primary drivers in directing users to online casinos and sports betting platforms. Operating an iGaming affiliate site can be a potentially lucrative career path, but harnessing the power of structured data is a key factor in success.
In this guide, we examine the concept of structured data and discuss how it can be utilised by iGaming affiliate sites to attract customers, boost engagement and drive conversions. Read on to find out more.
What is Structured Data?
The term data often refers to specific customer information such as age, gender and geographic location. While this type of data is undoubtedly important for online businesses and can be used to optimise strategies and focus campaigns, structured data is used to describe something different.
All webpages, whether they are iGaming affiliate sites or ecommerce platforms, are designed and built using lines of code. This code, or data, is what determines how the page looks, how it functions and the way in which users can interact with it. This is what we mean by structured data – it’s data that is organised in a particular way in the backend of a webpage.
Structured data is critical to the internal function of a website. However, it also impacts how third-party sites, such as search engines, respond to and interact with websites and web pages. For iGaming affiliates sites operating in an increasingly saturated market landscape, structured data is an invaluable tool that can be utilised to gain an edge over competitors in search engine results.
The Impact on SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an indispensable tool that all online businesses, iGaming affiliates being no exception, should be harnessing to drive traffic and conversions. SEO is often seen as something of a dark art, and with Google’s ever-changing algorithms, it can be difficult to understand. However, there are a number of tried-and-tested methods that can be used to boost SEO – structured data being a prime example.
Search engines work by crawling existing websites and choosing the most relevant pages to display to users in response to queries. They do this by scanning backend data, meaning there is an opportunity here for developers to structure data in such a way that it gives search engines exactly what they’re looking for.
When a user looks for something via a search engine, the way in which results (SERPs) are displayed can significantly influence how they choose to proceed. Rather than clicking on each individual link, users will instead scan the list of results, using whatever information snippets are displayed below links to make the most appropriate choice.
With structured data, iGaming affiliate sites can ensure they are delivering only the most important information about their platforms in SERPs. Studies have shown that 50% of Google users click on a result within 9 seconds. This means that the information that accompanies a link plays a vital role in influencing whether or not a user will click on it, and structured data is the key to ensuring this information is relevant and engaging.
Schema Markup
It’s clear that using structured data can be an extremely effective strategy for iGaming affiliate sites. If you want to get started using structured data on your platform, first you will have to familiarise yourself with a recognised coding language or vocabulary, Schema Markup being the most widely used.
One of the biggest advantages of Schema Markup is that it is fully compatible with the HTML code used to construct webpages, making it straightforward to build and implement. With Schema Markup, you can break down the data in your website’s backend to make it easier for search engines to scan, analyse and identify exactly what your page contains. Armed with this detailed information, search engines can then display more accurate, informative snippets in SERPs.
Furthermore, Schema Markup is versatile and can be adapted to suit a range of different business needs. This is key for iGaming affiliate sites; Schema Markup can be used to highlight particular offers and promotions to attract players.
What Else Can Structured Data Do?
SERPs today look significantly different when compared to just a few years ago. Using Google as an example, several additional features are now included on results pages as well as the standard list of links. Images, videos and featured snippets often appear at the top of SERPs, and these sections can generate high CTRs and engagement stats. Featured snippets, for example, often generate a higher CTR than other results on the page.
If your iGaming affiliate site contains images or videos, you can use structured data to increase the likelihood of these appearing at the top of SERPs. Similarly, structured data is essential if you want your page to be displayed as a featured snippet on Google.
In addition, structured data can be used to display extra features under search engine results, such as additional site links or FAQ sections. These are valuable features that can help inform users and motivate them to visit your platform.
Conclusion
The iGaming market is growing at an exponential rate. However, this means there’s also more competition than ever before. For affiliate sites, harnessing the power of structure data and Schema Markup is crucial; doing so will maximise your platform’s SEO opportunities and allow you to take advantage of special search engine features.