The rise of online Cryptocurrency exchanges has exploded in the last few years in line with rocketing value of Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Also, the recent rise of alt coins like Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Ripple as serious competitors of Bitcoin, each with their own unique characteristics, has boosted interest in cryptocurrencies to an all-time high.
In this edition of #TaksuTrends, we analyze the organic visibility of virtual money exchange websites in Singapore and Hong Kong.
An increasing number of people in these two thriving Asian cities are considering buying cryptocurrencies. Whether it is to diversify assets, to try and make a quick profit by trading them, or to invest and hold on to the digital coins; these technologies are becoming more popular.
Currently, the organic search results are dominated by global cryptocurrency exchange platforms, but both Singapore and Hong Kong have some local players who entered the industry in recent years.
With the help of SEM Rush, we created an overview of cryptocurrency exchange websites with the best organic visibility as of November 2017.
We listed the key players in each search engine region and classified them based on organic search visibility and explain why the websites are ranking high in the search engines.
Singapore
Singapore was one of the first countries to regulate cryptocurrencies, and the country also takes one of the most progressive approaches to the technology. They are even in the process of creating a national digital currency based on Ethereum blockchain technology.
The virtual currency sector is bound to rise to new heights in the city-state. Several cryptocurrency exchange websites catering to Singaporeans have emerged in recent years. That said; there is fierce competition from worldwide players who have been around for a while.
We have created three tiers of organic performance in Singapore:
- Tier 1: The Organic Crypto Whales
- Tier 2: Potential Crypto Goldmines
- Tier 3: Need more Capacity / Gas
We used SEM rush to analyze organic search results for important keywords in the industry and created graphs to visualize the differences.
The Organic Crypto Whales (Tier 1)
In this top tier, we see a steady traffic growth of Coinhako in June, after which it drops again. Gemini seems to have taken over some of Coinhako’s rankings starting in July.
All the websites we selected for this tier all rank on the first page for important keywords in the niche. The players with the highest organic search visibility in Singapore appear to have solid SEO strategies in place. Not surprisingly, with Coinhako and FybSG, this tier is represented by two websites that cater specifically to Singaporeans.
- Coinhako: Local platform where people can buy, sell and store Bitcoins and Ethereum directly with their Singaporean and Malaysian bank accounts.
- Gemini: Digital asset platform for businesses and investors.
- LocalBitcoins: Trading Bitcoins for cash directly from person to person.
- FybSG: Cryptocurrency exchange website catered specifically to Singaporeans.
- Remitano: Peer to peer bitcoin exchange platform.
Strengths
- Solid on-page SEO. The landing pages are intuitive and keyword optimized.
- The worldwide players use clever URL structures made for both local and worldwide rankings.
- Good vertical and horizontal internal linking.
- Responsive and mobile friendly.
- Some websites have communities and forums, increasing user engagement and diversity of keyword rankings.
- Landing pages are to the point and aimed at conversions.
- META tags are generally optimized for Click Through Rate.
- Clean URLs.
- HTTPS-enabled.
Opportunities to Improve
- Website speed could be improved for a quick win.
- Blogging strategies could be more diverse and localized.
- In some cases, landing pages could be optimized more.
Potential Crypto Goldmines (Tier 2)
There is a lot of competition in Singapore. The second tier websites rank high for some keywords, but they generally fall behind the top tier. According to the SEM rush graph, several of them have increased their traffic in recent months, even though we can also see a steep decline for a platform like Cex.io.
- Cex.io: Cryptocurrency exchange website with worldwide coverage.
- Paxful: International peer to peer bitcoin marketplace.
- Luno: Worldwide bitcoin exchange platform headquartered in Singapore.
- Coinbase: International crypto currency exchange platform.
- Kraken: Global platform for buying, selling and trading Bitcoin.
Strengths
- Responsive and mobile friendly.
- HTTPS-enabled.
- Landing pages are to the point and aimed at conversions.
- META tags are generally optimized for Click Through Rate.
- Intuitive to use.
- Impressive rankings, considering these websites don’t target Singapore specifically.
Opportunities to Improve
- A lot of brand searches. This is not a bad thing, but leaves opportunities to target keywords.
- URL structure improvements to target specific countries.
- Some websites could improve URL cleanliness.
- Blogging strategies could be more diverse and localized.
Need more Capacity / Gas (Tier 3)
The third tier consists of websites that have some visibility, but not enough to beat tier 1 and 2. These could be potential local competitors in the future.
- ItBit: Bitcoin trading service for financial institutions and active traders.
- Spectrocoin: Worldwide Bitcoin exchange platform and wallet.
- Paybis: Digital & Crypto currency exchange website.
- CRXZone: Crypto currency trading platform based in Singapore.
- Coinmama: Platform to buy Bitcoins with credit card or cash.
Strengths
- HTTPS-enabled.
- Responsive and mobile friendly.
- META tags are generally optimized for Click Through Rate.
- Landing pages are optimized well.
- Have some visibility in Singapore, despite not targeting the country. This suggests a strong brand presence.
Opportunities to Improve
- Paybis triggers a scam warning in the Google Chrome extension “Web of Trust”.
- Landing pages could be optimized more for conversions.
- Blogging strategies could be more diverse and localized.
- URL structure improvements to target specific countries.
Hong Kong
Public interest in Hong Kong seems to be rising and several local bitcoin exchanges are emerging, along with international giants building their presence in the Hong Kong SERPs.
Also with the banning of Bitcoin exchanges in China, Hong Kong is in an intriguing position to see whether it will be able to prosper from the ban in China or whether it will be subject to regulation due to influence from the mainland.
In this market, we analyzed less websites than for the Singapore market. The organic real estate is occupied by a lot of editorial websites, which could indicate an immature market.
We used the same tiers of organic performance:
- Tier 1: The Organic Crypto Whales
- Tier 2: Potential Crypto Goldmines
- Tier 3: Need more Capacity / Gas
We used SEM rush to analyze organic search results for important keywords in the industry and created graphs to visualize the differences.
The Organic Crypto Whales (Tier 1)
The Hong Kong tier 1 consists of two international websites and two websites that cater to Hong Kong specifically. All of these websites rank on the first page for significant keywords in the Hong Kong bitcoin exchange industry. Like in Singapore, Gemini also shows a growth in Hong Kong, albeit a lot more volatile.
- Gemini: Digital asset platform for businesses and investors.
- ANXPro: Trading platform based in Hong Kong that specializes in Altcoins, Algos and Performance.
- LocalBitcoins: Trading Bitcoins for cash directly from person to person.
- Bitcashout: The first Bitcoin exchange platform in Hong Kong.
Strengths
- HTTPS-enabled.
- Responsive and mobile friendly (except Bitcashout).
- Bitcashout looks older, yet still ranks high. This indicates a strong user base and trust.
- Intuitive landing pages aiming for conversions.
- The worldwide players use clever URL structures made for both local and worldwide rankings.
- META tags are generally optimized for Click Through Rate.
- Clean URLs.
Opportunities to Improve
- Website speed could be improved for a quick win.
- Blogging strategies could be more diverse and localized.
- In the case of Bitcashout, modernizing the website will help.
Potential Crypto Goldmines (Tier 2)
The second Hong Kong tier shows some traffic turbulence. The websites shown here have a decent organic visibility, but do not manage to outrank the top players in Hong Kong.
- Coinbase: International crypto currency exchange platform.
- Gatecoin: Regulated Bitcoin and Ethereum token exchange platform based in Hong Kong.
- Paxful: International peer to peer bitcoin marketplace.
Strengths
- The worldwide players use clever URL structures made for both local and worldwide rankings.
- Landing pages are intuitive and optimized for conversions.
- Responsive and mobile friendly.
- HTTPS-enabled.
- META tags are generally optimized for Click Through Rate.
- Impressive rankings, considering two of these websites don’t target Hong Kong specifically.
Opportunities to Improve
- A lot of brand searches. This is not a bad thing, but leaves opportunities to target keywords.
- Pages and META tags could use improvements to target specific countries.
- A website like Gatecoin should be able to take more advantage of the fact that they are based in Hong Kong and cater to the Hong Kong market.
Need more Capacity / Gas (Tier 3)
The third tier consists of websites that have some visibility, but not enough to beat tier 1 and 2. These could be potential local competitors in the future. We do see a steady rise of the Kraken platform in the most recent months.
- Kraken: Global platform for buying, selling and trading Bitcoin.
- Spectrocoin: Worldwide Bitcoin exchange platform and wallet.
- Wirexapp: Online banking solution with option to directly buy Bitcoins
Strengths
- HTTPS-enabled.
- META tags are generally optimized for Click Through Rate.
- Landing pages are optimized well.
- Responsive and mobile friendly.
- Spectrocoin and Kraken have some visibility in Hong Kong, despite not targeting the country. This suggests a strong brand presence.
Opportunities to Improve
- Blogging strategies could be more diverse and localized.
- URL structure improvements to target specific countries.
- Pages and META tags could use improvements to target specific countries.
- Creating a multi-region target URL structure across their domain
Conclusion: Crypto Exchanges can do much more on their SEO strategies to be at the top of the search engines in their respective target countries
What is not shown in the data we analyzed is that the organic real estate in both Singapore and Hong Kong is occupied by a lot of non-competitors:
- Editorial websites
- Blogs
- Bitcoin ATMs
- Fintech and Bitcoin startups that do not actually offer bitcoin exchange services
- News websites
- Forums
These websites rank for important keywords like “Buy bitcoin”, “Bitcoin exchange Singapore”, “Bitcoins in Hong Kong”, etc.
Roundups or lists of bitcoin exchanges in Singapore or Hong Kong have value to the end user, and should in fact occupy a spot in the organic real estate, but we also see opportunities to surpass low value websites that are currently ranking.
The cryptocurrency exchange market on the Google search results is relatively immature in both Singapore and Hong Kong, with lots of opportunities for new competitors to enter the market and rank organically.
With a solid SEO strategy in place, one could relatively easily reach tier 3 and then gradually move up to tier 1.
Disclaimer: TaksuDigital.com does not work with any of the websites at the time of writing this article. This analysis and insight is based on the organic traffic information provided by SEM Rush’s keyword databases in each local country.
If you’d like us to analyse a specific industry online in Asia or look at who are performing best for organic search in your sector then please get in touch at contact@taksudigital.com
Alternatively, if you’d like to know how we could help boost the organic search visibility in the cryptocurrency space or any other industry, please visit our seo services page or contact us on the email address listed above.
