How Absolute Digital Media found the growth beyond the brand term for one of the most recognised names in global gambling.
Absolute Digital Media's SEO campaign for Ladbrokes delivered +378% page one keyword positions, +530% organic traffic within campaign scope, +40% overall visibility and 1.66m monthly searches on the brand term (held at position one).
Ladbrokes is one of the most recognised names in global gambling, running sports betting, casino, bingo and gaming under a brand with more than a century of high street presence behind it.
That heritage produces a particular search profile. The brand term carries 1.66 million monthly searches and the site holds position one on it, a position most operators will never see. Brand demand of that scale dominates the traffic picture, which means the sophisticated question, and the one Ladbrokes asked, is where the next phase of growth comes from: the searches where the name carries no advantage. Choosing to compete there is the mark of a brand managing its search like an asset rather than admiring it.
All figures are drawn from campaign reporting and relate to the pages, sections and keyword set within the engagement’s scope. Ladbrokes operates one of the largest gambling domains in the UK, at 2.4 million monthly organic sessions across the site, and scoping the measurement to the campaign is what makes the numbers attributable.
Integrated Agency of the Year - SilverEuropean Agency Awards 2026
Best Use of Search B2C (PPC) Small (The Swallow Co.)European Search Awards 2026
Standout B2C Ecommerce Website of the Year (Stelrad)UK Digital Excellence Awards 2026
Best Integrated Paid Media CampaignUK Paid Media Awards 2026
Best New Business CampaignUK Agency Awards 2025
Best Use Of Search (Retail/Ecommerce) - SEOUK Search Awards 2024Integrated Agency of the Year - SilverEuropean Agency Awards 2026Best Use of Search B2C (PPC) Small (The Swallow Co.)European Search Awards 2026Standout B2C Ecommerce Website of the Year (Stelrad)UK Digital Excellence Awards 2026Best Integrated Paid Media CampaignUK Paid Media Awards 2026Best New Business CampaignUK Agency Awards 2025Best Use Of Search (Retail/Ecommerce) - SEOUK Search Awards 2024 
The strategy was set and led by Ben Austin. The decision that shaped the campaign was to find growth in the News and Guides sections rather than to spend the budget contesting the head commercial terms directly. The rejected alternative is what a brand of this size is usually sold: a programme aimed at the biggest terms in the category, justified by the authority the domain already carries. Domain Rating in the high seventies opens doors, and it does not settle a first-page fight against affiliates whose entire commercial model is holding those positions. A gap analysis across the News section found a large volume of addressable demand the brand was entitled to compete for, and growth there is cheaper, faster and does not require winning a war of attrition.
A full technical audit covering crawlability, metadata and subdomain structure came first, with the findings prioritised by impact against effort and delivered through the client’s internal development teams. An organisation of this scale governs its own releases, and the way to ship inside that reality is to specify precisely, prioritise ruthlessly, and hand developers work they can schedule. An agency that works inside a large organisation’s release cycle ships continuously; the campaign was built to be that agency.
Content optimisation was directed at the highest-converting pages first, with keyword targeting, intent matching and conversion-focused adjustments applied there ahead of anywhere else. The rejected alternative was proportional coverage across the estate, which is easier to plan and produces a flatter return. On a site of this scale the revenue is concentrated in a small number of pages, and a modest improvement to those outperforms a large improvement anywhere else.
Data-led infographics, interactive games and industry guides were produced as press assets and pitched to journalists and media outlets. A link-building programme buys placements. A creative campaign earns coverage, and the asset keeps working after the placement, because an interactive game or a data study continues to be shared, cited and referenced. In gambling, where the category’s advertising is closely governed, earned editorial is the link acquisition method that carries authority without carrying questions.
Creative concepts were presented monthly and aligned to the client’s wider marketing calendar rather than developed on an independent schedule. This is an operating decision rather than a tactical one, and it is what separates an agency that is briefed from an agency that is consulted. Campaigns that land alongside brand activity get internal support, budget and amplification.
Ben Austin set the campaign on the growth an established brand can actually take: the content estate over the head-term war, revenue pages over proportional coverage, and measurement scoped so every number is attributable. Reading brand and non-brand separately is what made the real opportunity visible, and the result of working it is a 378% rise in page one positions and 530% growth in campaign-scope traffic on one of the largest gambling domains in the UK.
Alex Stott ran the gap analysis across the News and Guides sections and built the content programme that claimed the demand it found, every piece written to clear brand voice, the compliance standards of a Gambling Commission licensed operator under the CAP Code, and the marketing calendar in a single draft. Writing to all three from the start is what let the programme publish at pace in a category where most content dies in approvals.
Jack Hawtin ran the creative campaigns, data-led infographics, interactive games and industry guides, built as press assets and pitched monthly into the brand’s own calendar. The placements were earned with journalists and media outlets rather than acquired, which in gambling is the difference between authority and exposure, and the assets keep attracting coverage after each outreach round ends.
Shofiur Rahman ran the full technical audit across crawlability, metadata and subdomain structure, then converted the findings into precisely specified, impact-ranked tickets delivered through Ladbrokes’ internal development teams. Working inside an enterprise release process is a discipline of its own, and it is the reason the technical foundation improved continuously rather than waiting on access nobody hands to an agency.
Lewis Esson is Head of SEO at Absolute Digital Media, leading a team of seven across organic strategy for gambling, lending, adult and regulated ecommerce brands. He joined ADM as…
Shofiur Rahman is Head of Technical at Absolute Digital Media, leading the team responsible for everything the agency builds and runs: client websites, internal applications, infrastructure, AI systems and the…
Alex is Head of Content at Absolute Digital Media, overseeing content production and ideation for regulated-sector clients in iGaming, finance, and healthcare. He specialises in creating content that performs reliably…
Jack Hawtin leads the outreach team at Absolute Digital Media, running link building and outreach strategy mainly for iGaming clients, alongside adult industry brands, interior design, and a smaller portfolio…
Page one positions rose 378% within the campaign’s scope, from campaign reporting: nearly a fivefold increase in the rankings that receive meaningful click volume, achieved on a domain where the obvious positions were already held.
Organic traffic within the campaign scope rose 530%. The gap analysis identified demand the brand was entitled to compete for, and the content programme took it. Overall visibility improved 40%, the measure that captures presence across the tracked keyword set rather than performance on any single term, and press coverage was earned through the creative outreach, reinforcing authority through editorial.
Ladbrokes’ Domain Rating sat in the high seventies before the campaign and stayed there, because the growth came from entering the places where that authority could win rather than from adding to it. On a brand this established, that is the shape a well-run campaign should have.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Page one keyword positions | Up 378% |
| Organic traffic within campaign scope | Up 530% |
| Overall visibility | Up 40% |
| Press placements | Earned through digital PR |
All figures from campaign reporting, scoped to the pages, sections and keyword set within the engagement.
By separating brand from non-brand and working only on the second. Brand demand arrives regardless of the marketing and makes aggregate reporting look healthy. Growth for an established brand comes from searches where the name carries no advantage, which on this account meant the content estate and the category’s most competitive commercial terms, delivering a 378% rise in page one positions and 530% growth in campaign-scope organic traffic.
Not on authority alone. Affiliate businesses in this category have optimised for those exact positions for years and do nothing else. The productive route is identifying demand nobody has claimed rather than contesting positions everybody is fighting over.
It maps the search demand a site is entitled to compete for against what it currently ranks for. On established domains the opportunity is usually large, because sections get built and then held for later, and the addressable demand inside an existing indexed section is the cheapest growth available.
By revenue concentration rather than page count. A small number of pages carry most of the commercial value, and a modest improvement to those outperforms a large improvement spread across the estate.
By specifying precisely and prioritising ruthlessly, then delivering into the client’s own release process. Development teams schedule work they can act on. An organisation of this scale rightly governs its own releases, and an agency that works inside that cycle ships continuously.
Because earned editorial carries none of the scrutiny that purchased placements attract in this category, and because a creative asset keeps working. An interactive tool or a data study continues to be shared and cited after the outreach round ends, which a bought link never does.
By treating brand voice, the Gambling Commission’s standards and the CAP Code rules on gambling advertising, and the marketing calendar as briefing inputs rather than approval stages. Content drafted for search and then edited for compliance loses what it was built on. Content written to all three from the start clears the approvals and still performs.
Regularly and against the client’s own calendar. Concepts aligned to planned brand activity attract internal support and amplification, which is what turns a campaign into coverage.
If your brand owns its own name and the next phase of growth has to come from everywhere else, that is a different discipline from ordinary SEO. Book a consultation and we will show you where the biggest gains are.
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