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“Is this company a scam?” If this is the first thing a user sees on Google about your brand, you are in trouble. Even if you have the most honest payouts, top support, and billing that doesn’t lag.
In gambling, reputation in search solves everything. Your landing page can be perfect, your UX can be smooth, and your offer can be bold. However, if Google stands between the click on the ad and the “register” button with reviews such as “does not display”, “scammed”, “do not recommend”, traffic will be lost. Because the modern user looks not only at the creative. He checks what is written about you and reads it before giving you his card.
And now imagine that your competitors are also toxic – and they have already “helped” you to get into some top “worst casinos of 2025” with a zero rating. Or someone has leaked a bot-generated hate on Reddit or Trustpilot.
And this is where SERM – Search Engine Reputation Management – comes in.
It’s like SEO, but instead of “bringing the site to the top” the task is “removing crap from the search results and replacing it with something nice”. This is a new must-have in gambling marketing, which in 2025 is like running a marathon with a weight on your feet.
We are going to break the topic down – without water, with cases, examples, and guidelines. In short, we take a shovel and dig deep into the reputation field.
SERM is not just another buzzword. It is an abbreviation that often appears in arbitrage chats somewhere between “negative search results again” and “it’s time to do something”. It stands for Search Engine Reputation Management, or reputation management in search engines.
Now it’s simple.
SERM is about what a user sees on Google when he or she enters your brand or project. And he sees either “the best casino for beginners” or “trash, scam and ban.”
And this is where the main difference between SERM and its “relatives” – SEO and PR – begins:
Because what good is PR on Forbes or launching a new landing page if the first 10 results on Google scream: “DO NOT PAY!!!”?
SERM is a kind of hodgepodge of marketing skill:
SEM has one clear goal:
To make sure that a user on Google does not come across compromising information but sees “honest casino”, “top reviews” and “the best platform for gambling in 2025”.
And if you think it’s not critical, just open a new tab and enter your brand name. If your heart doesn’t drop in your chest, you’re either lucky or haven’t started to get traffic yet.
Ukrainian gambling is when you have not even managed to make the landing page responsive, and you already have a lot of “expert” opinions on forums such as “the casino does not pay, bans, and is generally a murky office.”
It is important to understand that in this niche, the reputation is formed not by PR specialists, but by anonymous Reddit users, Telegram chats, and freelance SEOs.
Here are some of the main reputational booby traps that Ukrainian gambling projects are stepping on en masse:
“I read somewhere that they quit, so it must be true”
Forums like MMGP, closed web chats, comments under Telegram reviews are places where a brand’s verdict is passed overnight. One fake “they haven’t withdrawn the payment for 3 weeks” is enough – and it’s all over. Especially when this review is beautifully accelerated through Reddit or Ukraine Gambling Community on Facebook.
“Pseudo-reviews that look like media but are pouring into your mouth”
Many people in Ukraine enter the query “which casino is better” via Google. And what do they see? Articles written in the style of “Top casinos that cheat”, “These platforms are cheating”. And then there is a guide on how not to get hooked with your brand blacklisted.
Imagine: you pour money into the UA target, and a user enters the query “your_brand reviews” one second after clicking and sees this.
“Welcome to the world where black PR is just another buying tool”
In the Ukrainian market, it’s a common practice to raise a couple of satellites where you throw in an “objective review” with minuses about your project. There is also a favorite trick: create an SEO site like brandname.net or brandname-reviews.info and flood it with negative reviews. It’s cheap, fast, and often with impunity.
“When they wanted to clean up the reputation, but made it even worse”
The result? Google begins to perceive this as manipulation, and the user – as “well, if they justify themselves like that, then they really are scamming.”
So if you think that the negative in the search results will “somehow disappear” – no. In 2025, Ukrainian gambling is not just marketing, it is a war for SERPs. And the one who survives is the one who not only pours but also cleans. Regularly. And professionally. Without pathos – but with analytics and a plan.
While the team is happy about new leads from TikTok or calculating CTR in Google Ads, the user is doing his own micro-audit of the brand. And this audit is simple to the point of banality:
he enters “your brand + reviews” or “your brand scum?” in the search and sees what comes up.
This is where it becomes clear who is working with a reputation and who is just “hoping for the best.” Because even one negative article in the Google top can break the funnel – the traffic has come, but there is no trust. The person simply closes the tab. And there are thousands of them.
Start with the obvious:
Check not only the first page – the second page often hides dirt, which can rise to the top under the right conditions.
Additionally, check localized queries like:
In 2025, video is no longer just “content”, it’s trust. And also a potential reputational risk.
What are you looking for:
Don’t forget: YouTube search results are personalized, so it’s better to check incognito or from another device.
Short videos today are a new place for black PR or UGC with a dubious tone. Even a single reel with the title “This casino does not withdraw money” and a good reach can go viral.
TikTok does not block hateful content about brands, especially if it is disguised as a “review”. Algorithms can raise such a video to thousands of views in a few hours.
Ukrainian users are increasingly checking brands for reviews on English-language resources. Especially if it is a project with international positioning.
If any of this sounds like “maybe we have it,” it means that it is already affecting traffic and conversions. And while the team is testing new creatives, a SERM specialist should work with SERPs as aggressively as a banner ad does with placements.
Most gambling teams remember about SERM when Google already stinks of scum and traffic does not pay off. But to be honest, reputation is not a “reaction”, it is a part of the start. It is as important as a domain, offer, or tracker.
It is ideal to establish reputational hygiene before the launch. Otherwise, you will have to patch up your image instead of building it.
Create and optimize content not when the hate has already arrived, but even before the first traffic outflow: website, blog, FAQ, posts on Medium/Teletype, YouTube videos with a neutral review (even a simple interview with a founder is a plus), accounts on Reddit, Trustpilot, Quora – let them lie “with a story”
When you create the first 10 results for your brand yourself, you form the entry point to the funnel. And do not give it to forum trolls or SEO freelancers of competitors.
Content should be live, not “copy-paste from a press release”. Write several materials on behalf of the team, players, and support. And don’t forget about the FAQ page, which really removes some of the negative in the search.
In the startup period, the first “voices” often appear – from bots to real users. And the main thing here is not to close yourself off from feedback, but to be able to manage it.
The worst thing you can do at the start is to ignore the reputational noise or “play it cool.” Because someone will definitely talk – either for you or against you. And it’s better to be the first to speak up: “Yes, we have had bugs. We fix them. We are not perfect, but we do not quit.”
Because in gambling, you build not only a CPA funnel but also a reputation foundation. And if it is not there, any traffic inflow will turn into a budget drain.