As regulations shift and the digital landscape becomes more crowded, a strong SEO strategy can make the difference between thriving and disappearing online. Thomas Kraska, founder of Rankstar, an SEO agency with over 300 clients, half of whom operate in iGaming, shared his playbook with SiGMA News.
“The iGaming world is way more competitive than many others,” Kraska says. “There are more rules to follow, link-building is harder, and affiliate competition is intense. But that’s what keeps it interesting: we always have to stay creative.”
AI content: can it rank?
Can AI-generated content rank? Could it compete with human writing? According to Kraska, the answer isn’t about the tool; it’s about the human behind it.
“AI is just a tool. If you use it blindly, your content won’t rank. But if you think like a strategist and use AI to support a strong SEO structure and cover the right topics, it can absolutely rank.”
The issue, he emphasises, lies in how AI is often misused.
“Too many people let AI generate endless fluff. You have to focus on search intent. If you’re targeting ‘Best Online Casinos in Canada,’ you better be showing a comparison of 30 casinos, not writing about the history of gambling.”
His agency, he explains, uses AI for programmatic SEO, enabling them to scale when building thousands of pages, such as city-specific landing pages for a global casino brand. But, he insists, the core content architecture and strategy have to be human-led.
The content boom and the rise of opportunity
Kraska also reflects on the sheer volume of new content flooding the internet since the rise of generative AI, and sees it not as a crisis, but as an opportunity.
“There is much, much more content being published every day,” he says. “Of course, it makes things more competitive, and Google has to filter more aggressively. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”
In fact, Kraska sees today’s landscape as more open and democratic than ever before.
“Thirty years ago, starting a business was expensive. You needed capital, a physical location, maybe a loan. Now, you can create an online brand with just a few hundred dollars. You don’t need to be a tech genius or a developer. You can launch something meaningful from anywhere.”
For Kraska, this accessibility is something to embrace, not resist. “It gives more people a chance. You just have to be smart, put in the effort, and one day, it will pay off.”
Secrets of the trade: Google autocomplete manipulation
A particularly clever element of Kraska’s SEO toolkit is its strategic use of Google Autocomplete.
“One of the most overlooked opportunities in SEO is manipulating Google Auto Suggest,” Kraska reveals. ” With the right approach, a brand can show up for high-intent searches like “Best Casino Bonuses”, so it shows up before users even finish typing.”
The same technique can be used to link a brand to its competitors: “If someone types your competitor’s name, we can make it suggest: ‘[Competitor] vs [Your Brand].’ It’s like brand jacking, except it’s organic and it works before the ads.”
These strategies, combined with click-through-rate (CTR) manipulation and smart topical content, can yield ROI in as little as three months, Kraska says.
Overlooked tactics
For an industry known for fierce competition, iGaming SEO still leaves many strategies on the table. One should be creative, he explains.
An often ignored opportunity? Bing.
“It’s overlooked,” says Kraska. “Sometimes it’s easier to rank on Bing, which also lets us reach a different demographic: Bing users tend to be older, especially since Edge is the default browser on Windows PCs.”
Navigating Google’s algorithm shifts
Google’s constant changes keep the SEO world guessing. But Kraska believes that core fundamentals haven’t changed.
“Yes, the algorithm changes. Yes, AI-generated junk floods the web. But the core is the same: helpful content, good links, strong branding.”
He avoids negative assumptions: “Some people get frustrated and say ‘Google is unfair.’ I don’t see it that way. They’re doing the best they can. Our job is to adapt and help our clients win.”
That mindset is reflected in the building blocks of any solid SEO strategy — something that Kraska and his team at Rankstar live by every day.
The foundation: authority, brand, and search intent
Kraska outlines the essentials of a long-term SEO strategy:
- Topical authority: “You need a topical map and to cover every relevant angle of your subject. That builds authority.”
- Search intent: “Respecting what the user really wants when they search, that’s 90% of the game.”
- Backlinks with real traffic: “Forget spammy links. You need links from sites that have genuine traffic themselves.”
- Omnichannel presence: “SEO doesn’t live in isolation. If you have traffic from YouTube, social media, ads, email, Google will reward you.”
In short, Google likes real brands. That’s why Kraska advises all clients, even startups, to think like a brand from day one.
“Some clients don’t have good SEO yet, but they have huge YouTube communities or big traffic from social media. As soon as they publish something, it ranks instantly.”
Common mistakes: structure, stagnation, and SEO myths
When asked about typical SEO errors in the iGaming space, Kraska names site structure and content decay as two culprits.
“A lot of sites have orphan pages or poor internal linking. All pages should be reachable in three or four clicks from the homepage.”
He also criticises the set-it-and-forget-it mentality around content:
“People think updating content once a year is enough. If it’s a key page, review it every two months. Add stats, fix fluff, refresh visuals. That often brings more impact than buying new backlinks.”
And beware of myths. “Some aspects of technical SEO are overrated,” he adds. “Focus on what matters.”
Final words: sprint results, marathon mindset
For Kraska, SEO is a game of short-term wins backed by long-term discipline.
“We aim to make clients profitable within three months. That’s our sprint. But they also need to commit for the long run; it’s a marathon.”
Whether it’s advanced tactics like auto-suggest manipulation or simply better page structure, Kraska’s ethos is clear: “If you build a real brand and back it with smart SEO, you’ll always be ahead, no matter what changes next.”
