The Definitive Guide to Gaming SEO

Gaming is a massive industry, with 2022 video game sales totaling over $56 Billion.

That doesn’t even take into account the growing ecosystem of streamers and content creators that have built entire careers off of playing and promoting these games. There’s also the eSports scene, which is also expanding rapidly.

If you are a retailer or influencer in this niche, there is definitely room to grow.

You won’t be able to expand your reach effectively unless you really understand consumer behavior in the industry and adjust your marketing tactics accordingly.

In this guide we’ll be deep diving into how the right Gaming SEO strategies can set your brand apart and get you noticed, along with some other tips that will help you master this growing industry.

Best Gaming SEO Strategies to Use Right Now

Before getting too deep into the specifics, let’s begin with the reason why you’re here: learning how to improve your gaming SEO.

• You need a keyword strategy that aligns with your product selection, service, or brand.
• Align your content strategy with the goals and interests of your target audience.
• Gamers are tribal; this needs to be considered when creating content and speaking to certain audiences (PC vs. Console, Playstation vs. Switch, Sega vs. Nintendo, Fortnite vs. Call of Duty, Nvidia vs. AMD, Pokémon Red vs. Pokémon Blue. There’s two sides to everything in gaming, play on this fact.)
• Broad keywords and generic products are going to be tough to compete for. Find your niche and drill down (Gaming Consoles vs Best Handheld Gaming Consoles, Twitch Streamer vs Dark Souls Streamer and Content Creator).
• Be consistent with your SEO efforts. On top of updating your website frequently to make sure its technical issues are consistently addressed, you need to be blogging regularly, at least once a week given how competitive an industry this is.
• Make sure your website is user friendly. Whether it’s a minimalist brand portal or a full-fledged eCommerce gaming website, you want your users to feel comfortable and informed as they navigate.

These SEO tips are a great start, but isolated fixes here and there usually won’t result in much.

To really gain traction, a full strategy is needed.

How to Build a Gaming SEO Strategy That Works

More so than many other industries, it’s crucial that your SEO strategy resonates with your target audience here.

The gaming niche is very unique, there is a very specific culture built up around gaming. You have to talk the talk, walk the walk, and actually create content that your users are going to respect and derive value from.

Can you make inroads with gaming SEO strategies without taking this into account? Probably, but the going will be slow and you will get less out of your efforts.

So before anything else, you want to brand your content correctly.

For instance, if you are a Smash streamer, you have no business writing about what’s going on in Fortnite or random Nvidia releases. Chances are your community lives and breathes Smash, so that’s what they’re expecting.

The aesthetic of your website has to match your content too. The images you use in your blogs has to mirror the branding of the console you are aligned with and the games that you either sell or play.

How does gaming SEO for influencers differ from gaming SEO for eCommerce stores? There are some points worth noting here:

• Streamers and influencers need lead generation SEO, therefore the content should encourage people to subscribe and donate.
• Gaming stores are eCommerce, so the point of this SEO campaign revolves around digital transactions.

Even if you are a streamer that has a merch line, unless you are specifically trying to generate more merch sales, you’re probably going to want to stick to the lead generation route.

Likewise, if you manage a gaming store and you have an influencer or streamer that creates content for you, targeting your products is going to be the right way to go.

For best results, you will want to select at least one keyword that best represents each category or service page on your website. Include this keyword in the content on that page, which will indicate to Google that the page in question is relevant to user queries.

Defining The Gaming Industry

This is all a great starting point, but now we will go even deeper into gaming as a whole to better understand user search intent and why certain techniques will work better than others.

The gaming industry can best be described as one part entertainment, one part identity.

Gamers, whether they are watching a streamer or talking about a certain game they love on Reddit, develop a strong affinity for their preferred games / consoles / influencers / tech.

SEO for gaming sites requires frontline insight into these specific sub-niches in order to properly optimize the strategy accordingly.

While uncovering the specific sub-niche you want to focus on is important, equally so is knowing how to follow the fast-moving trends that somewhat define the gaming industry.

No doubt if you are a gamer or someone who works in the gaming industry, you are already aware of how fast this space moves.

What’s popular one day might be completely irrelevant the next.

This is where the entertainment component of gaming comes heavily into play.

Unlike other forms of eCommerce and even content creation, gaming moves relatively fast.

There are two large cycles to be aware of: console or generation lifespan, and the lifespan of individual games.

Some games have established themselves to be evergreen, at least as far as the current generation of gaming is concerned. Creators that formed their entire brand around Fortnite five years ago are still well-positioned in the market.

Individual consoles or console generations, on the other hand, are never evergreen. After so many years they always get cycled out for newer and better systems.

This is why you’re more apt to find a Nintendo influencer vs merely a “Switch” influencer. There are exceptions, of course, but everyone who doesn’t create an evergreen strategy has to pivot eventually.

What does this mean for your gaming SEO strategy?

The important takeaway here is to make sure that the keywords you select and the niche you focus on has some kind of staying power. Don’t bank on one single console or concept being strong enough to maintain its relevancy 5 to 10 years from now.

Think about the demographic of gamer or consumer you want to target and think about how their interests will shift over time along with the wider market.

If you are running a gaming store that sells gaming PCs, for instance, you want to cater to the PC gaming demographic, not simply people interested in AMD or certain genres of games.

While there’s nothing wrong with establishing a strong brand around one particular market-mover, always be prepared to shift direction without having to overhaul your strategy or change your branding.

It’s best to avoid being pegged as a “sellout” in the gaming world because you decide to hop onto whatever is trendy.

Rather, create a niche umbrella that is not too wide and not too limited. This way you can feel comfortable targeting what you want to target over the course of several years without fears that the market will shift away and make you irrelevant.

You can also decide to pick an evergreen category ahead of time without needing to hop macro-trends. The retro gaming scene always has its own diehard following and while the competition in this niche is stiff, a smart gaming SEO strategy could put you on top organically.

Play to Win: Implementing Your Gaming SEO Strategy

Creating a successful gaming store or gaming influencer brand is no easy feat. To make it in this industry, you have to first know who you are targeting and why, and then create a strategy based on this targeting.

Next comes the content creation and optimization, and that’s an ongoing process.

It might seem overwhelming but if you start with the research into who you intend on targeting, the rest will fall into place as long as you’re consistent.

• For content creators and influencers: play what you love, make sure it’s as easy as possible for your fans to follow you and subscribe to your channels, and use consistent branding across all of your digital marketing channels.
• For store owners: be as helpful as possible to your shoppers by creating detailed blogs, always staying on top of the latest news in your niche, making the shopping process as easy as possible, and whatever your unique brand values and perks are, be sure to display them prominently on your website.

Ranking on the first page of Google in any industry is tough, which is why SEO is so important. The gaming industry is particularly competitive, so your strategy has to be rock solid. Proper video game SEO is the key to getting the rankings you need so you can ultimately win the game.