Data: PokerStars profits from increase in poker search volumes

The poker market continues to be a tough vertical in the online gaming sector, but there are signs that things are on an upward trend, with search volumes increasing to give the biggest operators in this sector a not insignificant boost in search visibility.

The online poker market has seen something of a growth in search volume over the course of the last 12 months. While the market is still some way behind the peak we saw in the mid-2000s, there are signs that poker is seeing a slight recovery from its most recent lull.

In the last year, overall non-brand search volume has increased by 55,052 – a 50.8% increase YoY. The keyword term ‘poker’ has increased in search volume by 13,500 alone in that time, while there seems to be a surge of interest in the term ‘poker games’, which has gone from a search volume of 3,600 to 40,500.

That has resulted in leading brands seeing general increases in traffic from organic search, but those brands that have positioned themselves prominently in the search results through their SEO strategies have reaped these rewards more than most, as depicted on the data graphs overleaf.

PokerStars.com the big winner

When we look at the overall market landscape, we see that PokerStars.com is the distant leader in the market. Our estimates suggest that the brand drives around 24,300 visits from organic, non-brand search.

The brand achieves these levels of visibility thanks to prominent rankings for high-ranking keyword terms in this sector. The brand ranks in position one for ‘poker games’ (which accounts for 40% of this visibility), ‘online poker’ and ‘poker online’, and it ranks in second place for the term ‘poker’. It means that PokerStars.com is the most visible commercial result for this keyword (Wikipedia ranks in first position for this term), and this term also accounts for around 40% of the brand’s organic non-brand traffic.

The next most visible URL is also a PokerStars brand – PokerStars.uk, and this helps the brand to widen its keyword coverage.

The next most visible brand behind these is Sky Poker, with a visibility of 8,407 and PartyPoker, with a visibility of 8,339. PartyPoker’s visibility does come from a more diverse range of keywords, with the brand ranking for almost 95% of the keyword set, compared to Sky Poker’s 47%.

How does this compare to a year ago?

When we look at the same keyword set a year ago, we can see just what impact these higher search volumes are having on the market.

We still see PokerStars and Sky Poker at the top of the market but the levels of traffic that they are receiving are significantly smaller and, particularly in the case of PokerStars, the number of keywords that the brand needs to rank for that traffic was higher.

Last year, PokerStars generated a visibility of 11,748 whilst ranking for 94.9% of the keyword set. Today, with broadly similar ranking positions, it generates 24,351 from 76.5% of the keyword set.
Some brands, such as Coral and Full Tilt, have remained relatively static both in terms of traffic and keywords, indicating that these brands generally weren’t in position to capitalise on these increases in search volume.

A poker renaissance?

Whilst increasing search volumes are invariably a positive sign for the industry, we’re a long way from experiencing a return to the heady days of the mid-late 2000s, where poker search volumes were at their highest. Many of the top brands are heavily promoting themselves through above-the-line activity to consolidate their position in the market, and that increased visibility on traditional media may well be a contributory factor.

But there is undoubtedly more traffic to fight for, and those brands that can position themselves in the right places and for the right keywords may well have the upper hand should this trend continue. Conversely, those that have gone ‘all-in’ on the big traffic-driving keywords risk being exposed should that trend be reversed. The importance of a diverse keyword spread should not be underestimated.