How to sustain in competitive SERP (gambling) (I am giving my technics and want to debate)

What I’m doing right now​

• Recent traffic
• Pages still indexed on Google
• Backlinks (though I’m still struggling to find good tools to assess backlink quality — I have Semrush + SEO Observer, but suggestions are welcome)

1. I only rebuild the main page around my new target keyword.
2. I send the domain to indexing tools and push a bit of POP traffic ($3–5).
3. After 1–2 days, I check if it ranks.
4. If it’s around page 2, I add another $5 of pop traffic and monitor again.

Question 1: Am I using canonical tags correctly?​

• I create a copy of my homepage with a canonical tag pointing to the main page.
• I send the canonical version to indexers.
• In my sitemap, I only include the main homepage.
• I send pop traffic exclusively to the main homepage.

Question 2: How often do you update ranking sites?​

Question 3: Do you mix traffic sources?​

• POP traffic
• CTR manipulation (Microworkers, etc.)

Question 4: How do you maintain top positions?​

• Stabilizing rankings
• Preventing drops
• Keeping momentum once you break into page 1

Ben Arthur said:

Solid breakdown, man. Looks like you’re already doing more testing than half the niche, but here are a few things that might help tighten the process.

1. Canonical setup
Right now you’re treating the canonical like a shield, but Google doesn’t really reward that approach. A canonical is basically you saying “ignore this copy and focus on the real one.” If the canonical page is pointing to your main page, you’re telling Google not to index or rank the clone at all.
Sending traffic or backlinks to a page you’ve told Google to ignore doesn’t pass any special benefit. If anything, you’re just wasting signals.
I’d keep the homepage clean, but don’t try to “route” signals through a canonical clone. Pick one URL and push everything into that.

2. Updating content
Yeah, refreshing helps, especially in gambling. I don’t do daily edits but I touch money pages every 10 to 20 days. Even minor updates give Google a reason to re-crawl and re-evaluate. Bigger rewrites only when rankings stall or a competitor jumps over me.

3. Traffic sources
POP is fine for indexing and initial movement. CTR helps when you’re already somewhere in the mix. I don’t stack both at the same time unless I’m trying to jolt a page that’s stuck on page 2. Steady + believable signals always beat chaotic bursts.

4. Staying on top
This is the real fight. If you’re jumping to page 1 and falling back fast, the domain probably doesn’t have enough trust yet. The quick boost comes from freshness + relevance, but it fades if Google doesn’t see authority behind it.
A few things that help:
• Add supporting articles with internal links pointing to your main page.
• Grab a couple of clean backlinks from related pages, not generic blogs. Even two or three make a difference.
• Make sure your on-page isn’t thin. Add comparison tables, FAQs, bonuses, etc. You want to look like a “complete” answer.
• Keep engagement signals steady for at least a week once you hit page 1.

Casino SERPs bounce harder than other niches, so volatility is normal. The trick is layering signals slowly instead of blasting everything at once.

Happy to compare notes if you want to share more tests.

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• the canonical URL is not in their sitemap,
• they still manage to rank the “clone” page,
• and on their homepage they even redirect the canonical version.

loubil said:

Hey man, thanks a lot for your reply, really appreciate the depth!

Getting proper feedback when you’re pushing hard in a niche like this is rare, so it genuinely helps. I’d be happy to share my testings and what’s working or not on my side as well.

About your point on canonicals though, that’s where I’m still confused.

When I analyse the best expired domains that are ranking, a lot of them use a canonical setup, but:

• the canonical URL is not in their sitemap,
• they still manage to rank the “clone” page,
• and on their homepage they even redirect the canonical version.

I don’t really understand the logic here.

If the sitemap is telling Google not to index the canonical version, why is that exact URL ranking anyway?
Or is it because when they use tools like IndexMeNow, then they don’t need to include the canonical in the sitemap, since they know they can force-index it manually?
But then, why do they choose to rank the canonical instead of the homepage?

Do you have any idea or thought on this ?

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Ben Arthur said:

Yeah, that’s the part that confuses a lot of people, and honestly most of these setups aren’t “clever hacks”. They’re usually just messy leftovers from clones, rebuilders, or previous site structures.

A few things are happening with the sites you’re analyzing:

1. Google doesn’t treat sitemaps as the law
If a URL has backlinks, internal links, or gets crawled through external signals, Google can index it even if it’s not in the sitemap.
A sitemap is a hint, not a rule.

2. Canonicals are also hints, not directives
If the content isn’t a true duplicate or Google sees stronger signals pointing at the “clone,” it can ignore the canonical and rank the page anyway.
It happens a lot with expired domains because the old strongest URL sometimes wasn’t the actual homepage.

3. Redirecting the canonical version isn’t a strategy. It’s usually a mistake
Plenty of SEOs rebuild expired domains with automation. When you see a page canonicalized, excluded from sitemap, and redirected, it's often a leftover setup rather than a deliberate tactic.

4. Why does Google rank the clone instead of the homepage?
Most likely:
• the clone inherited old authority
• external links still point to that specific URL
• the domain had previous structure where that page acted like the real “root”
• Google sees that URL as the historically stronger entry point

When Google has a choice between “the page with signals” and “the page you want to rank,” it often chooses the first one, even if your canonical says otherwise.

5. IndexMeNow doesn’t change ranking logic
It just helps the page get into the index faster. It doesn’t override the canonical or sitemap. It just forces crawling.

So the setups you’re seeing are less “secret technique” and more “Google choosing the stronger URL despite the owner’s configuration.”

If you want to test this yourself, clone your homepage, leave both live, send a few decent links to the clone, and watch how Google treats them. You’ll usually see it prioritize whichever URL has better historical or external signals.

Hope that clears it up a bit. Let me know if you’ve found any examples where it looks intentional. Those are always fun to reverse-engineer.

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