While the Lionesses try to defend their continental crown in Switzerland at Euro 2025, search interest in the football sector has continued to grow, with a 4% increase in monthly searches over the past six months.
But while competition on the pitch is fierce, when it comes to organic rankings oddschecker is now clearly the dominant force in the football market. Increased presence from news sites in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and greater competition in the sector has eaten into many brands’ traffic, yet oddschecker has largely held firm, retaining its commanding presence in the sector as rivals have suffered.
Top three brands lose traffic as competition increases
The top three brands in the football sector; Oddschecker, Paddy Power and Sky Bet, have all lost traffic compared to six months ago as the football market has been shaken up by increased competition and changing ranking factors.
Fundamentally, there is now a lot more competition for organic traffic in this sector. In December, across the 319 keywords we analysed, 1,842 websites ranked for at least one keyword. In June, that number had increased to 2,313 websites.
That means 25.6% more websites are ranking for the same number of keywords, with the effect of that being that the 471 new sites have taken traffic from the sites that were present before. Even the larger brands that are among the most visible in the sector are seeing smaller slices of the pie than they were in December.
Paddy Power and Sky Bet in particular have suffered as a result of this, losing 64.5% and 82.8% of their organic monthly traffic, respectively. Both brands are now ranking for fewer keywords, and have a lower average ranking position, showing the increased competition throughout the whole sector.
Oddschecker, however, has managed to weather the storm. While it is seeing fewer monthly clicks, which is unusual for such a dominant brand in a sector which has seen overall searches increase, it still ranks in position one for 220 terms, including key broad searches such as ‘football odds’.
Although oddschecker will be keen not to lose any additional traffic to this growing competition, the foundations that it had built before were strong enough that it is still dominant in this sector, and is now far further ahead of its nearest rival.
News sites see increased SERP presence
While the larger number of websites ranking in the sector explains some of the traffic that top brands have lost, another key factor is the increasing presence of news sites ranking for these search terms.
Large media outlets like Fox Sports, the Telegraph and the Independent are now seeing significantly more organic traffic than six months ago. Between them, those three sites now receive 4,858 monthly clicks, a huge increase from the cumulative 699 clicks they received six months ago.
With betting representing a lucrative sector to write about, new publications are now developing betting-specific categories and publishing articles which bring traffic and generate affiliate income.
These and other news outlets like the Guardian, ESPN and the BBC experiencing growth in organic traffic offers an explanation as to why so many of the top brands have seen traffic decrease, as other authoritative sites are now competing with them for rankings.
Beyond news sites, we’re also seeing a much greater presence in SERPs from social media platforms, with YouTube and Reddit seeing traffic from this sector increase from 308 monthly clicks to 1,449.
While on an individual level these news and social sites still don’t compete with the market-specific brands, this wider shift is eating into the traffic that brands are receiving in the sector.
It remains to be seen the extent to which this trend continues to grow, but while it is decreasing organic search traffic, it represents alternative opportunities for brands.
Traffic that is now going to news sites can come back to a brand through a strong affiliate programme or paid partnerships with news outlets, while social media marketing (when practiced correctly) can also help generate custom from a platform that the brand doesn’t own.
Challenger brands able to see growth despite competition
This is not to say that brand presence is only decreasing on search engines and that marketers need to be looking at alternatives. Odds Portal, Bet365 and DraftKings have all seen traffic increase in the last six months, so betting brands are still able to make gains in some places.
Odds Portal and DraftKings saw notable gains from increasing the number of keywords they rank for, while bet365 has seen its growth come from a variety of improvements at the sharp end of the results pages. It now ranks in position one for a greater number of keywords, and is also ranking in the top three positions for more high-demand keywords.
Whereas previously most of its high-ranking keywords saw low search volume, it now ranks in these positions for terms such as ‘euro betting’ and ‘football betting websites’, which drive more traffic to its site. Reassuringly for people working in SEO in this sector, this shows how a focus on broadening keyword profiles and improving rankings for traffic-generating keywords still results in improved visibility for brands.
Overall, here are three key takeaways from what we have seen in the football market:
- Even the largest brands are susceptible to industry-wide changes. Oddschecker, Paddy Power and Sky Bet all lost traffic due to increased competition and ranking factor shifts. No matter the size, every brand needs to be prepared for increased competition and other factors that can affect visibility.
- Larger shifts in search habits and results represent new opportunities for brands. While traffic through organic search has decreased for these brands, it is important for them to explore the opportunities that affiliate and social media marketing can bring as these grow as a potential traffic source.
- Despite significant changes, the fundamentals still hold true. While these are large market shifts for brands to consider, organic visibility can still be improved by focusing on the fundamentals.
To find out more about how Stickyeyes could help your brand to establish and maintain organic growth in the football market and beyond, please reach out to William Conboy, director of igaming at Stickyeyes at William.conboy@stickyeyes.com.
The post SEO Tracker: Increased football competition sees oddschecker strengthen position first appeared on EGR Intel.
Fair Play Sports Media’s flagship brand manages to stand firm, while legacy media and news sites continue to eat into traffic with betting-focused content
The post SEO Tracker: Increased football competition sees oddschecker strengthen position first appeared on EGR Intel.