About Warren Sammut
Warren Sammut is an SEO expert and a team leader with over 14 years of experience driving organic growth in highly competitive digital markets. Currently the Director of SEO at Catena Media, one of the leading performance marketing companies in the iGaming space, Warren is known for building high-performing teams and mentoring the next generation of search professionals.
With a background that includes hands-on affiliate SEO execution, in-house leadership at Betsson Group, and a strong focus on sustainable growth, Warren combines tactical precision with big-picture thinking. In an industry where algorithm volatility, compliance challenges, and intense SERP competition collide, Warren brings a calm, pragmatic perspective on the best SEO strategies for affiliate businesses.
Interview – What’s Working Now in iGaming SEO, What’s Fading Out, and How Affiliates Can Adapt to Win in 2026
Between the rise of AI-powered search, Google’s stricter stance on link schemes, and compliance tightening across regulated markets, what used to work in affiliate SEO now feels outdated.
In this interview, Warren Sammut breaks down how iGaming affiliates can future-proof their strategies, where most are wasting time and money, and how smart SEO in 2026 goes beyond keyword and backlink obsession.
Q: Warren, iGaming SEO changes fast. What strategies are actually delivering results for affiliates in 2026?
A: We are definitely experiencing the most exciting times in SEO, that have been ramping up for the last three years. SEO has leveled up, from a somewhat one dimensional discipline concerned with website structure, walls of text, and quantity of backlinks, to a more mature and interconnected practice.
For years SEOs have worked to become more integrated in tech teams particularly, however today this level of integration needs to scale accordingly with the various touch points a business has with their customers. At a foundational level, I think this is the very first step to put yourself in a position to be successful in SEO. If the discipline is not well integrated within all areas of business, from tech development, to product design, to social media, you will have a hard time being successful.
This for me is a very interesting challenge and learning opportunity, and it elevates the quality of work being delivered, as decisions are taken with a holistic scope in mind.
We know that consumers engage with a brand at multiple points, and SEO needs to be present wherever the customer is. In iGaming affiliation we see communities, social media use, AI based search engines, email marketing as well as traditional channels all being touch points for a customer, so the value proposition of an affiliate needs to stretch just as far, and provide the customer with value across the media being used, and not just a bonus promo code that provides no additional incentive to engage with your brand.
This is hard work. It involves doing customer research, creating unique products that are more than just skin deep, and providing the experience that customers truly want. Having this mindset is what will ensure that the work you do on tech, on-page, and off-page SEO will resonate and give you the signals to appear in any search box – be it Google, ChatGPT, TikTok, and any medium you focus on.
Q: Many affiliates still chase keyword volume. How has your approach to keyword targeting evolved in the face of AI search and tighter regulations?
A: The core principles of keyword targeting is still somewhat unchanged, the shift is more in the packaging of that content and also the depth at which you go with a specific keyword or keyword group that has seen more complexity largely with the coming of AI based search engines. If we consider how people engage with these platforms, we are seeing more complex use of ‘keywords’. People are searching in a more conversational manner, and also expecting a more natural and conversational answer that is not hidden sales pitch.
We need to also look at the behaviour on how AI engines ‘learn’, and the process with which they consume content on any page. We used to split intent with having one keyword targeted per page, with a few secondaries peppered in, however it seems that for AI search sometimes this is not the ideal approach, but rather having the full topic covered in a single page, with a significantly higher amount of keywords targeted in the same page.
The last layer I would cover is that keyword complexity has also increased, meaning that within the content you need to be able to cater to very complex and bridging topics within the same page. We are seeing in fact Schema and FAQs make a very popular return as they help unpack a deep topic in a more structured manner.
Q: Link building is always a hot topic. What types of links are still valuable for affiliates—and which ones should we stop wasting money on?
A: Links are still a cornerstone of SEO, and AI based search also requires these mentions to understand authority. The key difference that I see is that there needs to be a heavier focus on high quality links that support EEAT.
Standard link building I would say is still business as usual, but there needs to be a bigger diversity in the sources of links, and a much higher focus on PR, newsworthy links that get actual traffic.
Link velocity is also another metric to monitor. The shelf life for how long links stay ‘relevant’ is somewhat shorter, with various search engines looking at UGC content, mentions and links from these platforms.
Q: How do you approach content strategy across multiple GEOs or languages? Are there systems that make localization and scale easier?
A: Localization is key, I don’t believe doing word to word translation to target another GEO or language is enough anymore. Organisations need to pour in more effort to target other markets, by having local experts and EEAT signals from those different GEOs.
The key to success here is scaling accordingly, as it’s very rarely the case that going after a new GEO will be done at the same effort from the start. It’s better to focus on launching a subset of a website for another GEO, and ensure processes are setup, cadence updates are going well, and that you are slowly building up the authority in a new market. As mentioned above though, for each GEO it’s important to consider also building the authority within that market.
The advantage in some GEOs however is also Google’s understanding of a particular language. It’s quite clear that SERP that are English based are harder to trick your way up to page 1, however not all languages are treated the same by Google. Some that are more complex often offer easier paths to ranking faster, although they tend to be highly volatile SERPs.
Q: E-E-A-T is a growing focus in SEO. How can affiliate sites build real “authority” when they’re not the product owners?
A: I don’t think authority can be built unless you have a product worth coming back to. We can see that traditional affiliation is under significant threat as particularly on AI based search engines the user journey doesn’t even need to cross over onto the website.
Affiliates need to build brands, create value for the customer to return, and offer something that is unique to the niche they are targeting. Marketing 101 has become SEO.
Q: With AI-generated content flooding the internet, how should affiliates balance efficiency with originality?
A: It goes together with the question above, affiliates need to create proper value and a unique offering that is engaging enough to customers. AI can help accelerate output, but it needs a solid foundation to start with; both in using AI to support processes, as well as in using AI to generate touchpoints.
Prompt engineering is a skill that is very much worth learning, and makes a big difference in the type of output you get, and how engaging it is. AI content can be indeed very good if done right, but it’s easy to pick up and hard to master discipline.
Creating AI fodder will not help the website in any way, and while most likely it will not penalise a whole domain, it’s highly unlikely that the content with have any meaningful impact. So work on the brand first, build an offering, and then use AI to supercharge the effort.
Q: What metrics actually matter when evaluating SEO success for affiliate projects, especially with rising zero-click searches?
A: For me, traffic and engagement are the most meaningful metrics as a step before conversion. Rankings matter of course, as do impressions, but ultimately if you are creating a brand, and a product worth using, then you want traffic and multiple engagement touch points.
The measurement of this needs to spread beyond the website to any channel in which you engage your audience on. This will give you a full understanding of how successful your brand and performance is.
SEOs who understand user journeys, and tailor their experience based on that are in a better position to succeed. In such a way you can provide an experience based on the platform, and tailor SEO to whichever platform has a search box that your customers use. Google is one, but there are many others that affiliates can look out for, the principles of SEO will apply to all.
Q: Finally, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to new or struggling iGaming affiliates who want to rank in 2026 and beyond?
A: As always, foundations are important, but I encourage any SEO to go beyond tech, on page, and link building optimisation. At this point that’s the equivalent of racing a horse in the world of cars. SEOs are problem solvers and there needs to be curiosity to delve beyond Google and the traditional SERP. Understanding your audience and where they spend their time will elevate your SEO game, which although is harder, will provide better results and will be far more rewarding.
Conclusion
Warren’s message is clear: SEO in 2026 is not a checklist of on-page fixes and backlink quotas. It’s a full-scale strategy that integrates product, brand, content, and user behavior. Affiliates must consider customer value, cross-platform visibility, and building experiences people actually want to return to. And while the SEO and GEO fundamentals matter, without a strong, human-centred product, even the most optimised site will struggle to compete.
