Google Lifts Gambling Advertising Ban

16.10.2008 Posted in Search

Google have announced that they are to lift the ban on advertising gambling websites on their AdWords platform in the UK.

As of tomorrow (17/10/08), gambling websites including poker, bingo, and sports betting will be able to advertise on Adwords in the UK providing that they hold a license in their home countries

This is massive news for anyone in PPC or online gambling. We expect this to open up huge a landgrab with the big players instantly vying for top spots on key terms. This will inevitably lead to spiralling costs on the most popular terms.

Our experience in gambling campaigns on the Yahoo Search Marketing platform showed that the smart money is on finding long-tail keywords which are less competitive and convert at a higher rate. We found with campaigns in sports betting, casinos and online lotteries, there are savings of up to 40% to find on the less competitive keywords. When cost per click climbs towards £10 a professionally managed PPC campaign becomes even more important.

As ever with Google there are substantial benefits for anyone managing to get in amongst the first to advertise in any sector. Those considering it should make sure that they waste no time at all in order to build and protect that all important ‘performance history’ within Adwords.