a4u Blog

The Casino Affiliate Convention (CAC) took place last week in Amsterdam, a thoroughly enjoyable affair. 

A goldmine of ideas and knowledge was brought back by those who attended.

One session that raised eyebrows, was a panel discussion on Black Hat Vs White Hat SEO techniques. 

SEO is becoming more and more important to gaming affiliates, as PPC channels are no longer viable for the mainstream affiliates, the debate and the opportunities have opened up.

The notion at the conference that 80% of traffic generated to casinos, poker and bingo sites is through Black Hat techniques surprised me to an extent, whilst some on the panel namely the knowledgeable Jason Duke of Strange Logic , stated that SEO is a question of Morals.  Others did resign to the fact that creating a new ‘gaming’ related portal via white hat methods almost certainly was not a particularly viable solution in the short to medium term.  A comment backed up by event the affiliate managers on the panel. Interesting, the power some affiliates have in this sector.

The debate however is ongoing; though where do things stop? Is it resigned to people who attempt to ‘steal domain names’ through devious means or people who upload their affiliate links / client links to .edu sites through ftp software loopholes? Or are we all guilty, as in anyone who attempt to deviate from G’s webmaster guidelines jump into the big bad black hat!