7 Common Causes of Blocked Traffic in iGaming
Blocked traffic within the iGaming industry is one of the biggest hidden challenges for publishers and affiliates. While the focus of most marketing teams is on gaining the number of clicks on an affiliate link, there is a much overlooked aspect of the customer journey after they have clicked on that link.
That traffic can result in the player attempting to register with an operator but getting blocked somewhere along the way. This can result in them leaving the website and the revenue that could have otherwise been earned by both the publisher and the operator.
The good news is that most causes of blocked traffic can be avoided. By understanding the reasons that traffic gets blocked, publishers and iGaming operators can improve the user experience and their revenue.
What Is Blocked Traffic?
Blocked traffic is any traffic that does not make it to the desired destination due to some form of restriction.
Users who are blocked from completing some action have the same intention as those who click on the affiliate link but cannot complete the intended activity.
Every single visitor who gets blocked represents a revenue that could have otherwise been earned.
Geographic Restrictions
One of the most common causes of blocked traffic for publishers is due to geographic restrictions.
In most cases, online gambling websites have specific regulations regarding the countries in which they will accept users.
A user from a different country to the operator can be blocked from registering and completing their journey. This means that although the users may click on your affiliate link out of interest, they will not be able to contribute to your revenue.
Licensing Limitations
Another cause of blocked traffic can be licensing limitations of the iGaming operator.
In most countries, there are specific licenses for online gambling companies to operate within certain jurisdictions and exclude others.
An operator may have a license to serve one jurisdiction but not have an offer for users from another. Publishers who do not take this into account will see fewer conversions and earned revenue from their published operator.
Outdated Affiliate Links
Another cause of blocked traffic is if the links used to publish the iGaming operators have become invalid over time.
This could be for a variety of reasons such as a landing page being removed, a redirect failing, or the URL changing altogether.
In these cases, publishers must monitor these links to ensure that revenue is not being lost due to a nonfunctional link.
Technical Redirect Errors
As the name suggests, technical redirect errors are caused by software and server issues.
For instance, if the server hosting the iGaming website is down or if the operator has incorrectly set up their redirects, users could be the subject of blocked traffic.
These technical errors can impact revenue significantly during high traffic days.
Unsupported Devices or Browsers
Another cause of blocked traffic is due to the devices and browsers that users employ.
For example, if the operator does not support mobile browsers or uses an older operating system, users may be unable to complete the registration and face blocked traffic.
In these instances, publishers must test the iGaming operators on various devices to ensure compatibility.
Compliance and Verification Checks
For legal and security measures, iGaming operators must verify players before they can engage with the website’s features.
If a user fails this verification, they may be blocked from continuing their journey. This could be due to age, identity verification, or anti-money laundering checks.
Although these checks are in place for a great user experience, publishers must understand where users get blocked to improve this process.
Payment Availability
Another reason that users may attempt to register but then get blocked from completing their journey is that the player’s preferred payment method is not available to them.
For instance, if a player would like to use their bank account but the operator does not support bank payments, they may abandon their registration journey.
Publishers can avoid this issue by ensuring the operator supports the most common and popular payment methods.
Why Identifying the Cause of Blocked Traffic Matters
As with any issue within the industry, the lack of understanding of the causes of blocked traffic results in a lack of solutions to address the problem.
Each cause of blocked traffic requires a different solution to address the issue. For example, if users are being geo-blocked they require a better traffic routing system. If the cause of blocked traffic is due to affiliate links it is up to the publisher to fix those links. Each cause requires its solution.
Build a Monitoring Strategy for Blocked Traffic
Recognizing the causes of blocked traffic is essential to managing it well. However, it is also important to monitor the traffic that gets blocked.
Tracking the number of clicks, registrations, and deposits can help publishers better understand where traffic is getting lost and why.
As well, tracking where clicks happen geographically, on what devices, and how many users get redirected to the correct landing page can also reveal causes of blocked traffic.
Use Smart Traffic Routing
Smart traffic routing platforms analyze the user before they are sent to the advertised offers from the iGaming operator.
These platforms allow publishers to set rules for where traffic gets sent. For instance, traffic from specific countries can be sent to specific operators that accept those users.
By using this platform, publishers can avoid sending users to dead ends and instead show them the best possible operator.
Keep Content Up to Date
Another way to avoid blocked traffic is to keep the content up to date with the various operators.
This includes checking the bonus offers, the availability of the iGGaming operators, the licenses they hold, the affiliate links, and the landing pages of the advertised offers.
Keeping this content updated will result in a better user experience for those who visit the publisher’s websites.
Test the Complete User Journey
As with any other element of the user experience the best publishers test more than just the homepage of their websites.
They test the complete user journey from the moment the user clicks the affiliate link to their deposit process with the iGaming operator. This will reveal any issues within the user journey that could be causing blocked traffic.
Technology Is Improving Traffic Management for Publishers
The best traffic management platforms have started to use automation to prevent blocked traffic for users.
For example, intelligent software utilizing AI technology can analyze the user and automatically route their traffic to the best available offer.
Other technologies can also automatically check affiliate links for validity and target specific traffic from specific locations.
Best Practices to Avoid Blocked Traffic
There are a variety of steps that both publishers and iGaming operators can take to avoid the problems of blocked traffic.
These include auditing the affiliate links, monitoring geographic traffic, testing the redirect links, reviewing the licenses of the iGaming operators, optimizing for mobile devices, analyzing the availability of payments for users, tracking blocked traffic, and using traffic routing technology to automatically route users to the best available operator offers.
Looking Ahead for the Future of Blocked Traffic
As there are more countries in the world that are introducing regulations for online gambling, the problem of blocked traffic will become even more complex for publishers and iGaming companies.
To compete in this industry effectively publishers and operators will have to invest in the analytics of their traffic, the smart routing of their traffic, as well as the technical monitoring of the traffic coming to their websites.
The more they can prevent blocked traffic the better their user experience will be and the more they will succeed in their efforts to earn revenue from their published iGaming offers.
Final Thoughts on Blocked Traffic
Blocked traffic rarely occurs due to only a single cause but due to a variety of factors that contribute to the users getting stuck in certain steps of the registration journey.
By understanding these causes publishers and iGaming companies can improve the registration journey and the revenue that they earn from the players.
By monitoring and managing blocked traffic better publishers and operators can also significantly improve the user experience for iGaming site visitors. In the world of iGaming where competition is so strong between companies finding a way to solve the problems of blocked traffic can provide a competitive advantage for those who take the time to address the causes of this issue.