SEO Tracker: Paddy Power shakes up slots market

In most of our analysis across different sectors, we see relatively small movements between different brands. In the space of a few months, significant shifts at the sharp end of sectors are rare, and we often see the same few brands fighting for the largest share of visibility.

When it comes to the slots market however, Paddy Power appears to have bucked that trend.

The slots market has changed, with Paddy Power – outside the top ten brands when we last looked at the slots search results – overtaking Grosvenor Casino who enjoyed a sizable lead in the market back in May 2022.

And that change comes at a time when the sector is growing, with overall search volume increasing by 10%, and searches for some free-to-play traffic almost doubling. Searches for ‘free slots’ have nearly doubled from 6,600 to 12,100 per month.

Paddy Power sweeps high ranking keywords

Most of the 10% increase in search volume across the sector stems from the most highly searched keywords. “Online slots’, ‘free spins’ and ‘online slots uk’ all saw significant increases in searches, making them even more valuable for any brand that could rank highly for them.

This is where Paddy Power has seen dramatic success. When we looked at the sector in May, the brand didn’t rank in position one for a single keyword. Now it holds the top position for the two most searched for keywords in the sector, in the shape of ‘slots’ and ‘online slots’. It also holds a position one ranking for ‘slots online’, which is the fifth most searched term.

These terms alone bring in 20,679 monthly clicks for Paddy Power, or 89% of the brand’s organic visibility. This generally means that visibility will go one of two ways in the coming months.

Either the brand will lose the position one ranking for one or more of these keywords, and the reliance on three high-volume terms for such a large percentage of visibility will mean overall visibility is hit hard by this; or Paddy Power will be able to make the most of ranking top for the sector’s key terms by also improving ranking positions for low- and medium-volume keywords, therefore building a stronger base that is less susceptible to fluctuations. Paddy Power will of course be hoping for the latter.

Grosvenor Casinos hit by Paddy Power’s rise

When one brand moves to the top of the rankings for high volume search terms in an industry, it is inevitable that the brand which previously held those positions suffers.

In May, Grosvenor Casinos held position one for both ‘online slots’ and ‘slots’, helping the brand to a dominant position in organic rankings. Now that Paddy Power ranks in position one for these two keywords, Grosvenor Casinos’ estimated monthly clicks have dropped considerably. Organic traffic has dropped by 40% overall, largely due to the clicks lost from these two search terms.

From just these keywords, Grosvenor Casinos now sees 9,954 fewer monthly clicks than in May. This loss in clicks is actually greater than the brand’s net loss in traffic, meaning that ranking improvements elsewhere brought in more traffic than previously. Average ranking position and the number of keywords ranked for have both improved, leaving Grosvenor Casinos in a strong position across the board, just missing the highest volume keywords.

While some of the lower ranking positions can be attributed to Paddy Power’s dramatic rise, Grosvenor Casinos now ranks in position five for ‘online slots’, showing that there are more companies capable of challenging the top rankings for the highest volume terms.

Visibility changes across top ten

One example of this is Party Casino, which is now the fourth most visible brand in the slots market, having also not ranked among the top ten brands in May. Fast forward to December, and the brand ranks in position one for ‘online slots uk’, which brings in an estimated 3,571 clicks on its own.

Achieving this ranking for a valuable term in the space shows how competitive the market is, and suggests that we could see further changes in the coming months as brands fight for the keywords that will bring the most visitors.

This will be reassuring for Betfred and Coral, who also lost organic traffic in recent months, both being overtaken by Paddy Power and with Coral seeing Party Casino climb above it as well.

While the natural assumption is that these brands have also lost ranking positions to Paddy Power, Betfred has actually lost two of its most valuable position one rankings – ‘free spins’ and ‘online slots uk’ to smaller brands, again demonstrating how competitive the sector is.

While regaining ground in the rankings for ‘slots’ may be a more hard-fought endeavour, Betfred will no doubt be looking to increase its visibility for ‘free spins’ and ‘online slots uk’, which have both experienced significant increases in search volume that the brand could benefit from.