SEO has been the go-to playbook for iGaming operators for years, but the game is changing. People are turning to AI assistants for suggestions on where to play, which bonuses to try, or what’s trending. That’s where GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, comes in. It’s not about tossing out SEO, but about evolving it so your content makes sense not just to Google, but to generative AI models too.
The real win happens when SEO and GEO work together. SEO keeps you visible in traditional search, while GEO helps you show up in the AI-generated answers players increasingly rely on. For operators chasing sustainable, long-term growth, striking that balance is becoming a must — not a nice-to-have.
GEO: What it Means for iGaming Operators.
In simple terms, GEO is all about making your content easy for AI systems to understand, trust, and reuse in their answers. Instead of just optimizing for search engines, you’re optimizing for the AI assistants and chat-based discovery tools that millions of users now rely on to make decisions — including where to play, which bonuses to grab, and what games are worth their time. If SEO helps people find you, GEO helps AI recommend you. And in today’s iGaming landscape, you want both humans and machines on your side.
While exact iGaming-specific GEO usage figures aren’t publicly documented, cross‐industry research shows up to a 40% boost in visibility from GEO tactics. And with 86% of SEO professionals already using AI tools, it’s safe to assume most serious iGaming operators are now investing in GEO strategies [arXiv].
And, when it comes to acquisition, both cost and quality count — and GEO is proving it can punch above its weight. One cross-industry study shows that the average CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) for GEO hovers around US$ 559, which is about 14.4% higher than traditional SEO. But here’s the twist: those same GEO-driven players convert at roughly 27% higher rates and come in with noticeably better quality. In other words, yes, you might pay a bit more upfront, but for high-value iGaming players, that’s an extra investment that can easily pay for itself [First Page Sage].
How iGaming Operators can use GEO to Boost Acquisition.
- Create high-quality semantic content: rather than just focusing on “casino bonus Brazil”, write content that answers full conversational queries such as “Which mobile sportsbook app has the fastest payouts for Brazilian players?”, or “How safe is a crash game app licensed in Colombia?” GEO research shows freshness, structured data and metadata help content get cited [arXiv].
- Optimize for conversational intent: As divergences from traditional “keyword → click” emerge, GEO recommends writing for long-tail, intent-rich queries (“I want to bet live on football tonight — what app should I use?”). This improves the chance your content shows inside an AI-powered answer rather than just ranking a link [direction.com].
Does that Mean SEO is not Relevant Anymore? Not by a Long Shot.
And yes, while there’s a lot of buzz about GEO right now, let’s be clear: SEO is nowhere near irrelevant. In fact, if you’re an iGaming operator and you’re not investing in SEO, you’re basically whispering in a stadium during a rock concert.
Organic search is still one of the biggest acquisition engines in the industry. The global online gambling market is projected to hit US$ 127 billion by 2027, up from US$ 59 billion in 2020 [Ranktracker], which means millions of new players entering the funnel every year. And since mobile already accounts for roughly 50% of online gambling revenue, a well-optimized, mobile-friendly site (a cornerstone of SEO) is still the difference between capturing intent-driven players or letting them land in your competitor’s lap. SEO keeps you visible where players are actively searching — and that demand isn’t going anywhere.
On top of that, SEO delivers the kind of compounding, long-term value that paid channels and AI-driven discovery can’t fully replace. A gaming SEO case study showed a brand scaling from zero to 383,000 monthly users in under two years just by doing the fundamentals right — technical SEO, high-quality content, backlinks, the whole classic toolkit [Halo Lab].
And industry experts have been loud about it: for iGaming, SEO isn’t optional; it’s foundational, especially for high-intent searches like “best cashout sportsbook Brazil” or “live casino with fast payouts” [Smartico]. So yes, GEO is the shiny new way to get discovered in AI answers, but SEO is still the engine that keeps your brand ranking, trusted, and profitable.
It’s Not SEO vs GEO — It’s SEO and GEO.
Now here’s why you need both in the long run: if you lean only on SEO, you might miss the growing share of traffic going through AI-powered journeys (where bots answer questions and award placement to brands they trust). If you lean only on GEO, you risk ignoring the huge volume of traditional search queries still driving traffic today. For example: SEO still matters because “75% of users never go past the first page of search results” [aioseo.com].
Meanwhile, AI search platforms are pulling in new levels of usage and citations — one report found that 76% of AI-Overview citations come from pages ranking in Google’s top 10 [ahrefs]. So the smartest iGaming operators are doing this: they build a strong organic foundation (technical SEO, content, backlinks) and they layer in GEO-ready assets (structured data, conversational intent pages, brand citation signals) so they’re positioned for both channels. That dual-strategy sets you up for sustainable growth — not just the next campaign boost, but a long-haul win.
How to Use SEO + GEO.
- Build conversational hubs that rank & get quoted: create content that speaks human (e.g. “Which casino pays fastest in Brazil?”) and machine (FAQ structured, clear headers) — such hubs in recent studies show 20-40% more featured snippet wins and 15-25% more non-branded organic traffic [ClickRank].
- Deploy GEO-ready landing pages with structure + local relevance: localize currency, payment methods, regulatory messaging and add schema/FAQ markup so both search engines and AI engines understand your page — structured data “improves crawl efficiency” and indexing speed [Linkbot].
- Build local authority signals that search engines and AIs trust: partner with GEO-specific affiliates, local media, esports communities: pages cited in AI Overviews are 76% pulled from content ranking in Google’s top 10 [ahrefs.com].
InPlaySoft: Combine SEO and GEO for Sustainable Growth.
With InPlaySoft, operators don’t have to choose between SEO and GEO — because our platform is built to deliver the best of both worlds by default. Every page, every module, every feature can be fully optimized for classic search and AI-driven discovery, giving your brand maximum visibility no matter how players choose to find you.
From structured, SEO-friendly layouts to content frameworks designed for generative answers, we make sure your platform isn’t just discoverable — it’s irresistible. In short: with InPlaySoft, SEO lives everywhere, GEO comes built-in, and sustainable growth stops being a theory and becomes your competitive advantage.
