Google AI Search vs Affiliate SEO: What iGaming Sites Must Do Now

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-03

[00:00:06]Hello everyone and welcome back to our channel where as you know we talk everything and anything SEO and today we are going to be talking about a ta-da AI search box the huge change in Google. What does it mean for the future of iGaming SEO affiliates? Are we all doomed or is there a future for us?

[00:00:26]Let's summarize it.

[00:00:28]Google has decided to change their search box, okay? From the classic 10 links and normal search serving you more AI overviews. This is the shift.

[00:00:42]And it sounds scary because every change is scary, but this is as scary as saying we are going mobile first.

[00:00:52]You were doing SEO for desktop, you were doing SEO for mobile, maybe a little bit less optimized for mobile, but you didn't disappear.

[00:01:01]Just because Google might be showing more AI overviews for certain terms doesn't mean that SEO is dead.

[00:01:08]Okay?

[00:01:09]First thing I want you to remember, SEO is not not dead. It is a bloody zombie of our marketing strategies. It survives everything.

[00:01:18]SEO is changing. It is changing all the time and we always adapt how we do keyword research, how we structure our pages, how we do links, how we do this, how we do that, mobile first. We always adapt.

[00:01:33]We change the way we do things. Doesn't mean we stop doing SEO just because AI overviews are coming are becoming more predominant. Google has said it before, it is going to happen. So, what changes we should be seeing?

[00:01:50]Mainly the AI mode, the AI overviews are going to become more predominant and they're going to be served for more searches, okay?

[00:02:00]Doesn't mean for everything, and doesn't mean you will die.

[00:02:05]I actually don't know if any of you tested it, if you looked into it, what are we seeing? This is the new AI search bar. You see, it says AI here.

[00:02:14]It still looks like the old thing. It still has the same logo. It still has the microphone for voice search. Still search by pictures.

[00:02:22]You can still search.

[00:02:25]And what do you see? Depending on what you search. When you search something like how to play poker for beginners.

[00:02:33]Yes, by any argument, this could be your keyword if you are an affiliate.

[00:02:39]There is going to be an AI overview.

[00:02:41]Pay attention to the wording. How to play poker for beginners.

[00:02:47]There is AI overview, and then there is a normal sort of like a website, normal blue link.

[00:02:54]And when you click on the AI overview, you will see explanation.

[00:02:59]You will see links that they are actually quoting, and there is a video.

[00:03:03]So, we keep saying it for a long time.

[00:03:05]Optimize for videos. Create video channel. Don't rely on blue links only.

[00:03:11]Google is trying to do these different kinds of results. There is going to be picture, there is going to be video, there is going to be lots of other things.

[00:03:20]If you have been listening to any podcast, not just mine, if you have been to any conferences, people are saying this forever. And then there is this follow-up AI box.

[00:03:31]It is becoming more conversational.

[00:03:34]It is trying to understand what you actually want to learn, and to serve you these results in more answer-like mode, rather than sending you away from the search.

[00:03:48]And then when you go down, you will see the normal results, as I said.

[00:03:53]Some of them have got people also ask, and then you just continue. Nothing changed there.

[00:03:59]Now, if you search something more sensitive, that more applies to our business, how to play poker in online casinos, AI mode does not trigger. You will see videos first, people also ask, and then you see the discussion forums, and then you get results. LiveScore is first. Well done, LiveScore.

[00:04:21]Perfect.

[00:04:23]So, nothing really changed here, okay?

[00:04:25]Nothing. Maybe the videos got bigger cut of the primary position of the real estate of the SERP.

[00:04:34]Let's do it again. Bonuses online casinos Australia.

[00:04:39]No AI overview, sensitive topic. They don't like to do AI overviews yet. I'm not saying it's never coming.

[00:04:47]We are not there yet. So, the conversational queries without having online casinos in it trigger AI overviews. If you have online casino, online betting in it, does not trigger.

[00:04:59]And again, you see a bonus comparison table that comes from somewhere here, and then you have got the normal links on the bottom.

[00:05:08]As well, online casinos UK, massive search term. What happens?

[00:05:13]Unibet happens, gambling.com happens, Mr. Q happens, um William Hill happens. Huge brands, right?

[00:05:21]And this is something I want to talk to you about, big brands. Remember this screen here.

[00:05:28]So, what is the search? What Google is saying the search is bringing? It's bringing more dynamically talking to people and allowing them to find the answers in these boxes without sending them away from Google. The idea is to keep them within the Google thing.

[00:05:48]And probably start to sell them things in that as we go forward.

[00:05:53]So, AI-powered answer and more of these boxes and then the seamless follow-up questions. I showed that to you. Maintain the conversational things. So, it should be like your friend you're having conversation. So, as you saw, actually I searched for something else. I wanted to make sure it triggers the AI box. So, I went for something very very safe like how to groom a cat.

[00:06:16]And yes, you will on the bottom see the link to the ASPCA cat grooming tips. There is a video. And again, there is this box and you can follow up saying like, "Oh, but how I cut their claws? And how do I brush their teeth?" And it will keep giving you ideas without you needing to go away from this. And this is sort of scary.

[00:06:38]So, what is it increasingly trying to do? Before you searched for best MMA betting strategy.

[00:06:46]And Google would return blocks of blue links. Now, what are they trying to do?

[00:06:50]And I'm not saying it's not working perfectly for our industry, but what they are trying to do is in this AI box explain you what is MMA.

[00:06:58]Find lots of sources or what is MMA and how to bet on it. Will not try to send you away even though your ranking first you might might not show because they will try to cite lots of sources that are talking about it and show you video of a fight.

[00:07:12]So, it's sort of trying to become more educational, I would say.

[00:07:18]And of course, more real estate from the above fold is taken from us, less clicks we get. So, this is the scary part and this is the scary part of zero clicks.

[00:07:30]As you saw in a moment you put online casino, online casino bonuses, online betting, it does not trigger the AI overview. So, please do not panic.

[00:07:40]The real threat is that right now when you're thinking of affiliate website, people search for something, affiliate website is there to answer the questions. It is lots of conversational and informational topics.

[00:07:55]How to do this, how to do that.

[00:07:58]And then you go to operator. Now this AI recommendation is trying to replace your affiliate website by serving all of the answers right there. So you search, you go there, and then you go to sign up to casino.

[00:08:11]And this is scary that Google is sort of trying to become an affiliate.

[00:08:17]And yes, long-term, if this happens, it's not going to be beautiful for a lot of people.

[00:08:23]Right now, we are not there.

[00:08:25]But right now, it gives a lot of ground to fake geo AI services. Please do not fall for this. Good geo, good AI services are SEO.

[00:08:36]We are doing SEO for years. There are shifts.

[00:08:40]There are shifts how the results are served.

[00:08:42]We didn't optimize for video for many years, then we started. We didn't include forums in our strategy, then we started. We didn't have to clean up 3,000 negative SEO attacks a day, now we're doing that. So things are changing, and any good SEO knows that and adapts. So if somebody comes with "OMG, I'm going to rank you in this AI thing." Do not go for it. This is a pink water, is going to do nothing for you outside of creating a horrible ROI for you, because you will waste money.

[00:09:14]As well, they will start to claim like "You need to be visible everywhere on Reddit with mentions to be anyhow relevant for these AI overviews."

[00:09:25]Granted.

[00:09:26]Reddit is important. Google loves Reddit, they have got a deal.

[00:09:30]No questions here.

[00:09:32]Mentions work perfectly for LLM, because I I you they're becoming more conversational. They're trying to cite a lot of things. They're trying to show you like they talked about it here. They talked about it here. Here is a video.

[00:09:43]Here is a picture.

[00:09:45]Of course, you need to be everywhere, not just on your website. We talked about it a million times.

[00:09:51]But, AI overviews, if these companies are just using tons of fake accounts and tons of pointless mentions in subreddits that have no desire to talk about gaming, no desire to promote betting. First of all, they get removed. Second of all, they bring nothing. So, do Reddit services, and I highly recommend you do them yourself.

[00:10:15]Use something like Crowd Reply, and create a perfect strategy. And Crowd Reply is a tool, AI tool, that will help you place mentions and links on Reddit.

[00:10:24]Do not go for these agencies that promise things, and in the end there is no strategy.

[00:10:31]Mentions need to have strategy. There is not just like da-da, let me every- So, please think twice about trusting these people, and do it. Come absolutely get all of these in your strategy. Many things, be smart about what you invest in, and how you spend your money, right?

[00:10:51]Now, I keep hearing this thing.

[00:10:54]Google is completely removing affiliate websites. And I showed you how that would be possible, cuz affiliate websites are right now the AI overview box. That's where we get the ideas how to claim these what is wagering requirement, this and that.

[00:11:08]And if AI overviews ever becomes clever enough to take all over these, and steal all over these, and then do their own affiliate links, then yes, a lot of websites will be unfortunately screwed.

[00:11:20]We are not there yet, and not all of the affiliate websites are going away.

[00:11:26]As well, if this becomes too predominant, we will be in the era when no one will be creating content.

[00:11:33]And AI overviews are not creating content. They are stealing content from other websites and serving it. Yes, they give them a little bit of credit, but in the end, they are not sending you the click. So, of course, there will be some shift in seeing less clicks, less traffic.

[00:11:49]But what you still need to do?

[00:11:51]You still need to do the work we already are doing.

[00:11:54]Create a topical authority. You want to talk about betting? Talk about betting in depth. Not just how to do this, how to do this, have one pager and you're done.

[00:12:04]Create an authority and works with authorities.

[00:12:07]So, create a content that um sort of is original and AI struggles with. Analysis, predictions, insights, expert opinions. AI overviews are not creating, they're stealing.

[00:12:22]So, if you are doing betting, do betting models.

[00:12:26]Uh explain what are weekly picks and how they works. Create lots of things that are very important for people to read and go to your website to find out more. So, even if there is a little bit in AI overviews, it's not enough for them.

[00:12:41]Of course, work with the SERP features.

[00:12:44]Not because LLMs are so into them, but more features you have, more real estate you claiming.

[00:12:50]Now, one of the hot topics, geotargeting, is not dead.

[00:12:55]Lately, I saw several website and I reported on this channel removing the hreflangs and absolutely stopped doing geotargeting.

[00:13:04]Absolutely a huge [clears throat] mistake, okay? Geotargeting is important, is live, and if someone tells you to remove hreflangs when you are targeting more than one market, they are wrong. I saw websites dying over this. I'm not going to name and shame, but I told them this is a mistake and if you do this, the website will be dead it And yeah, I was right, you were wrong.

[00:13:29]AI struggles to understand things in our industry such as rapidly changing regulations. I mean, we struggle with it, right? We have got a whole department that explains us what is changing and what we can and can't do.

[00:13:42]They don't understand payment methods and what's blocked and what's allowed.

[00:13:46]They don't really understand country-specific things. So, here is a huge part you can do of creating geo-targeted content. Norwegian payment blockings, uh huge thing. I mean, you are in Norway, you're ranking, you cannot convert a customer because there is no way in hell they can actually deposit with you.

[00:14:06]Finish regulation change is really hot this year. Dutch compliance, OMG. I work in Dutch market for years, I still don't know it. Explain differences between uh licenses, which one to trust, create comparison, which are difficult to show in the AIs.

[00:14:23]So, be clever about what you're doing.

[00:14:25]As well, stop doing the very generic weak things because you saw how to and what get stolen in AI overviews. So, what is betting or how to play poker for beginners is not going to cut it. Create something that is really, really authoritative.

[00:14:42]Explain bonuses, offer original bonuses that are not going to appear in the AI overviews.

[00:14:47]Uh review new casinos. That is an amazing fresh content. There's so much you can do.

[00:14:54]Now, the shift here is that Google was sending us traffic and they no longer want to do that. They really want to become the answer place.

[00:15:03]They become the answer um I know everything sort of thing, right? Even though it hallucinates, but that's where it's going.

[00:15:11]So, smart affiliates should be doing lots of other things, not just a weak affiliate content that is easy to steal, that is easy to duplicate, and that is easy to just not rank. Just steal the answers in AI search overviews.

[00:15:29]Of course, a brand is important. We keep talking about it forever. I showed you why YouTube is important. So, if there is something you can do, and of course, this does not apply to every search query, but let's say World Cup is coming up. Why don't you have a podcast about World Cup? Why don't you talk to enthusiastic bettors? Why don't you talk to fans? Why don't you talk to some local small football players? They might not be, you know, interesting really, but they have an opinion because they're experts in football. Why don't you speak to people that live and breathe football? AI overviews are not going to steal this. And you saw in AI overview, there is video. There is always YouTube. So, be the YouTube that gets explained.

[00:16:13]I would say the most important thing I want you to remember outside of SEO is not that is changing and you're going to survive this. Just be clever.

[00:16:23]That SEO is moving to becoming an authority.

[00:16:27]All right? I want you to remember this slide. Recognizable brand. How many times we talked about recognizable brands unless you think doing churn and burn strategy?

[00:16:37]Endless.

[00:16:39]Expertise in topic. Localize experts.

[00:16:43]Geo-targeting. Hello. Hello. Hello.

[00:16:46]Data-driven reviews. Right? Something that others don't have.

[00:16:51]Testing include screenshots, include videos, include voice. Be original. If you're going to be doing the same thing over and over and over again.

[00:17:01]How to play poker for beginners. How to do this. How to do that. AI overviews are going to swallow you and spit you out you suck.

[00:17:10]As well, create communities. Create places where people want to come back.

[00:17:14]And just be creative. This is a time where SEO is doing different things rather than just keyword research, very bad article publishing in bulk, and buying shitty links. This is a time when SEOs are understanding that they need to be more creative, so give them the budget to be. And as well, as we talked about in many of our videos, defending of what you have.

[00:17:38]Now, defending of what you have usually comes to our mind negative SEO attacks, the nasty DDoS, DMCA's. My channel is full of DMCA's, so you probably are sick of it. Governmental blocking, malware attacks.

[00:17:53]This is what comes to your mind.

[00:17:55]But right now, I mean defend of what you have from the AI overviews, from AI stealing your cheese.

[00:18:03]Thank you very much for being with me, and I hope this video was useful to you.

[00:18:08]>> If you got value from this video and want direct access to us, weekly calls, training, and the latest SEO updates, and a community of people operating at this level, click the link in the description to join the boardroom. We'll see you inside.