Doing SEO in the tougher segments – think areas where the money is very direct like finance, gaming, and some other online services – is more complex than it seems. The things you do often have consequences much later on.
I have roughly 15 years of experience in SEO within these difficult segments and would like to share one observation. It’s that new players often appear, convinced they’re really sharp. Often it’s because they’ve managed to secure good positions at some point in another niche, or maybe they’ve even done okay with an affiliate site that generated revenue for a year. The problem is that success for one year is not the same as long-term success over many years.
Look at the graph above. It shows a gaming site that performed well for many years. Between points 1 and 2, several years pass. That journey has generally moved upward in the way SEO usually does: two steps forward and one step back. That’s the very picture of healthy growth in search results.
Just before point 2 something happens – they switch specialists. At first it looks very good, and the site pops up nicely in the search results. What’s difficult for an outsider to predict is that the choices made at that point will later result in a free fall at point 3. So what exactly happened?
What happens at point 3?
To begin with, it actually happened long before. They did something that looked very much like what had been done during the growth phase – but not quite. If you want to maintain positions over long periods of time, which most people do (even though some have a strategy focused on quick money and burning out the site in the process), you need to understand how what you do today will affect you years down the line.
It’s often hard to pinpoint exactly when something will happen, as Google is fairly irregular with its runs and various checks. What happened at point 3 is that a filter was triggered – one that targeted something not considered since point 2.
The gaming industry is tough, and it’s hard to recruit skilled SEOs into it. A job in the industry often means relocating to another country, and when you already have both “the cream and the cake” at home, it’s not always tempting. That means the selection is limited. You might get lucky and still find the right person – there are many talented ones out there – but the competition for keywords is brutal. What we’re seeing here is simply someone who had never before worked in such high competition.
The decisions made at point 2 just weren’t long-term enough.
So what should be done now?
It might be a really long road back. Sometimes Google is so strict that only time will heal it. Sometimes it can be solved quickly – with stronger trust signals or by cleaning up the link profile – and then you’re welcomed back into the fold.
My guess is that this one will take a while. I can only see it from the outside, so it’s not super easy to say, but it looks complex.
Magnus Bråth
Consultant & Adviser
Magnus is one of the world's most prominent search marketing specialists and primarily works with management and strategy at his agency Brath AB.