Top in 8 Weeks: Tier-1 Slot SEO Success Story

About the client

The client’s name is not disclosed within this case study due to NDA conditions.

A client approached us who already had experience in the iGaming niche and was planning to launch a new project for one specific slot. At the time of contact, the idea was just forming: there was no website, countries weren’t chosen, legal registration hadn’t started, payment systems weren’t selected. There was only an idea and a clear understanding of the desired result: to get a strategy for which Tier-1 countries it makes sense to launch the project in order not to waste time and resources in vain, reach the TOP within 4 months and start receiving deposits within that timeframe.

Everyone who works with iGaming, adult, or other “gray” niches knows how much time goes into selecting and implementing payment systems, as well as studying legal nuances in each launch region. This requires a significant investment of time, resources, and money. Therefore, this solution perfectly saves the client’s time and directs work immediately towards profitable and effective directions.

So, we have a goal: reach the TOP for a high-frequency keyword for the selected slot and start receiving organic traffic and deposits from selected countries in the shortest possible time.

After agreeing on all details, we started not with technical website implementation, but with deep GEO analysis to determine in which countries it’s realistic and easiest to achieve the set KPIs (ranking and deposits).

GEO prioritization and GEO expansion strategy

Considering that the client was focused exclusively on Tier-1 countries, the first stage of our work was a detailed analysis of potential GEOs taking into account dozens of critical factors. Our goal was to identify those markets where it’s realistic to reach TOP-3 for HF (high-frequency) keywords in a short time up to 4 months, without exceeding the approved budget. Among the factors we considered in the GEO analytics process:

• country population size
• GDP per capita
• regional languages
• complexity of local outreach (availability of quality sites for links, willingness to cooperate)
• average cost of link placement
• competitor structure: site types, licenses, their link profiles, traffic
• local vs global domains in top rankings
• potential legal complexity of product launch in the region
• payment infrastructure in countries

Part of potential GEO analysis

After analyzing all data, we divided GEOs into two categories:

• Priority 1: countries where the probability of quick TOP entry is highest
• Priority 2: countries where this is also possible, but with more complex conditions (more expensive, longer, stronger competition, etc.), but which we also consider for certain reasons (good potential, loyal legislation, client experience and established payment system connection procedures, etc.) and plan to work on, but at the project scaling stage.

Since we saw real chances for quick breakthrough in several directions at once, and the client also couldn’t decide on one single GEO, a strategic decision was made to start simultaneously with three countries from Priority 1. This allowed us to test several markets in parallel, compare dynamics and identify the most promising directions already at an early stage. For each of them, we registered 5 domains (mostly local, fewer international) to test different ranking approaches within one region.

After this, the client launched work on payment system connection in parallel, and also started developing separate websites, while we focused on SEO activities: building strategy for each country, purchasing domains, collecting semantics, writing content and creating link profile development strategy.

Technical project implementation

Our approach involved launching an SEO campaign “from scratch,” without relying on ready-made developments, so all processes were built systematically, sequentially. For us and for the client, it’s even better that one team is involved in the project’s start and development, since we can immediately start active actions, rather than studying what and how was done before us. So, we proceeded according to our classic and working plan:

1. Semantic core collection and clustering

For each of the three selected GEOs, we conducted a complete semantic collection, focusing on linguistic specifics and search behavior of the local audience. In the process, we considered:

• local keyword variations (including grammatical forms, synonyms, linguistic errors, slang)
• frequency according to local sources
• commercial and transactional nature of queries
• search competition for each cluster

After collecting the core, we manually clustered each keyword by user intent (informational, commercial, branded, comparative queries), which allowed us to build a website structure tailored to user intent.

2. Website deployment and domain work

For each GEO, 5 domains were registered, including:

• local regional domains (like .be, .de), which rank better in local Google
• international (.com) — to test ranking flexibility depending on domain type

On each domain, we deployed light, fast websites focused on one main slot, with clear internal navigation logic, simple architecture and without excessive functionality. Important: we purposefully didn’t overload the structure and design so that sites could pass indexation and get into search visibility as quickly as possible. External programmers worked on part of the development under our close control, we provided UI&UX design recommendations, provided ready content, gave structure, etc.

Each site received an individual but minimalist design, with emphasis on key SEO factors: loading speed, mobile device adaptability, UX considering expected player behavior.

A minimum viable structure (MVP)  was implemented with main landing pages: home, slot page, privacy policy, contact and pages for priority queries from clustering.

3. Crowd Marketing

To accelerate first signals for Google, at the initial stage we conducted a wave of crowd marketing for each site:

• local forums
• thematic discussions
• commenting on relevant platforms
• manual mentions with natural anchor

This allowed us to create initial link noise and stimulate more frequent indexation of new sites. Also, this cheaply allowed us to identify leader sites faster.

4. On-Page Optimization

After launch, we conducted initial on-page optimization and then regularly updated pages when:

• new data from Search Console or Analytics appeared that needed to be considered
• competitor landscape changed
• technical errors or blockers were discovered
• strategy didn’t work as planned

Overall across all sites, we conducted dozens of experiments with content, Title, headings, internal linking to identify the most effective combination for the client.

5. Monitoring

After all work, we started observing. Already a week after launch, we saw clear leaders. Two sites showed significantly better dynamics: indexed faster, got into visibility for HF queries and started receiving first clicks. Therefore, we started active tracking of dynamics, positions, clicks, early behavioral signals for them.

Leader site dynamics after the first week of work

We shifted our primary focus to these two projects, strengthening link building and content support for them. Other sites were left on basic support, and some were closed and postponed for development in next stages.

Leader sites and overall results achieved

The leader among all tested directions was a regional site in a country with complex administrative and linguistic structure. Within one GEO, different parts of the country had separate official languages and regional domains. We don’t highlight this GEO to avoid strengthening competition in it, but this is not the first project where it proves to be the best, so which came as no surprise. For this GEO, we developed a multilingual site that adapted to each language zone not only by content language, but also by page structure, metadata and link strategy. This allowed us to respond as accurately as possible to user expectations in each country segment.

During link building work, we decided to focus on local links, although they were significantly more expensive than international ones. At first stages, we thought to use international platforms anyway, but analysis showed it’s better to focus on local ones (although exact competitor data is actually unknown to us). This approach became a key ranking accelerator: the site started gaining positions much faster than predicted at the start.

As a result:

1) Just 2 months after work started, the site reached top-2 for the main HF keyword and started collecting traffic and even first payments. The main booster of this was building local links:

Top positions after 2 months

First sales after 2 months (Clicks: 241, Conversions: 33, Sales: 3)

42k impressions in Google results after 2 months

2) Results by the third month:

• TOP 1 – 3 keywords
• TOP 3 – 5 keywords
• TOP 5 – 10 keywords
• TOP 10 – 16 keywords
• 40 deposits received in 3 months

Sales for the next month (+ Clicks: 840, Conversions: 81, Sales: 37)

Key business result: a month after reaching TOP, the project started generating deposits, and the client received 40 deposits from organic traffic in total for 3 months of our work. This allowed reaching profit even before completing the 3rd month, even sooner than planned at the start.

In parallel, other sites also gradually advanced to TOP-50 for HF keywords, after which we started additional activity for each direction. Thanks to successful testing of several markets simultaneously, the client was able to scale the project, and our team continued working on new markets within the expanded strategy.

Conclusion and Plans

Successfully achieving results in short terms confirmed the effectiveness of multi-geo strategy, localized approach and flexible SEO model. Reaching TOP for the main keyword in 2 months is only possible with a very accurate strategy, so the teamwork of our specialists and clear vision of the client’s final goal gave such a result.

The client continued cooperation with us further, but now we’re scaling the project to new GEOs that were previously postponed together. The new goal is to establish processes so that 100 deposits are attracted monthly in total without significant investments in the project.