This Casino SEO Exploit Is Ranking RIGHT NOW
Quick Overview
The presenter confirms that the casino SEO exploit involving subdomain abuse is still working as of January 8th, Episode 731, demonstrating that multiple casino affiliate sites are ranking quickly by pointing old, de-indexed subdomains to new casino landing pages, a tactic that Google currently treats as new sites, thus bypassing typical indexing hurdles.
Key Points: The presenter is analyzing the SEO exploit where casino affiliates abuse subdomains by pointing old, de-indexed subdomains (e.g., those on elliotlakevikings.ca) to new casino landing pages. The main finding is that this subdomain abuse exploit is still actively working as of the video's recording date (Jan 8, EP 731). The Elliot Lake Vikings hockey site (elliotlakevikings.ca) is being used as the host domain for the exploit, with the casino content being served from a subdomain like casino.elliotlakevikings.ca or real-money-casino.elliotlakevikings.ca. The speaker notes that when the old subdomain is slapped with a canonical tag pointing to the new casino site, Google treats the casino page as a new site, allowing it to rank faster. The speaker checked the rankings for the Elliot Lake Vikings site, showing several high-ranking keywords related to 'best online casino canada', with positions often in the top 10. The method involves creating a new subdomain for the casino content and pointing the old, established subdomain's canonical tag to the new URL, which the speaker suggests is why Google ranks it faster.
Context: The video focuses on an ongoing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) technique referred to as 'Subdomain Abuse' within the context of ranking affiliate casino websites, specifically targeting the Canadian market. The presenter uses data from an SEO tool (Zight) to analyze the current ranking performance of a site (elliotlakevikings.ca) that has been subjected to this technique, comparing its keyword performance before and after the exploit was implemented.
Detailed Analysis
The presenter begins by referencing a previous discussion about subdomain abuse, where casino affiliates were boosting subdomains using canonical tags. He checks the current rankings for the Elliot Lake Vikings site (elliotlakevikings.ca) on January 8th, Episode 731, and confirms the exploit is still working. He reviews the SERP data showing that keywords like 'best online casino canada' are ranking well for the casino affiliate URLs hosted on the Vikings' subdomains. The speaker notes that the Elliot Lake Vikings site has multiple casino-related URLs ranking, such as 'online-casino.elliotlakevikings.ca' and 'real-money-casino.elliotlakevikings.ca'. He points out that when the old subdomain gets hit with a penalty or 'clapped', the exploiters immediately swap the canonical tag to a newly created subdomain, effectively treating the casino page as a brand-new, fast-ranking site. He specifically shows that the Elliot Lake Vikings domain, which is a junior hockey team site, has external links pointing to various casino affiliate pages, demonstrating the link structure being abused. The speaker expresses amazement that this tactic continues to work, noting that the old domain is likely being used to pass authority to the new casino pages hosted on new subdomains, which Google is still ranking quickly.