The online casino and gambling industry has seen a steady surge in revenue in recent years. A recent study by Statista suggests that total revenue for all online gambling will reach $131 billion by 2027, a 270% increase from 2017. 

link building gambling and casino websites
Online gambling revenue 2017-2027 (projected) – Statista 

With a global audience eager to test their luck, a far-reaching digital identity has become increasingly vital. The growing competition within this lucrative sector has made it essential for online betting platforms to employ effective strategies to promote their online visibility. One of the strategies that can drive success is link building. 

Driving Success via Online Gambling Websites: The Position of Link Building in Boosting Traffic 

In the growing sector of online gambling, driving SEO traffic stands out as the most effective and sought-after advertising channel. Additionally, users looking to find gambling entertainment do so via Google, meaning that any rigorous strategy must consider search engine metrics. Simultaneously, gambling businesses face restrictions on alternative customer acquisition channels due to licensing limitations.

Therefore, in an already competitive sector, the quest for a prominent digital identity is more difficult than ever. However, rising profits in this sector underscore its potential, but also emphasise the need for an aligned approach to stand out. This is where a solid link building strategy comes in. 

gambling link building seo
Google keyword searches for online gambling

Unveiling the Link Between Success and Quality Backlinks

With high budgets, online betting websites have harnessed quality backlinks as their secret weapon in this competitive digital sphere. These backlinks are not just hyperlinks; they are increasingly essential lifelines connecting your website to a broader audience, playing an essential role in maintaining your site’s online visibility and authority. 

Here’s how high-quality backlinks can revolutionise your link building game:

1. Improved SEO rankings

2. Increased Traffic and Conversions

3. Enhanced Credibility

4. Expanded Reach

However, it’s important to remember that not all backlinks are created equally, and distinguishing between ethical (white hat) and unethical (black hat) practices is also essential. Given the stringent regulations and intensified scrutiny in the gambling industry, compliance with industry standards and adherence to search engine guidelines are non-negotiable factors.  In upcoming sections, we’ll delve into strategies, techniques, and valuable tips for purchasing  backlinks for your online betting website. We’ll also explore which tools and software you can use to enhance your link-building efforts. 

Effective Link Building Strategies for Online Casino and Gambling Websites

Link building as a strategy through the online gambling and casino industry can be both a powerful tool for success, yet it can be a potential disaster if not approached with care and quality. In this section, we’ll focus on effective link building strategies tailored for this unique niche and provide an overview of the key distinctions between white-hat and black-hat SEO tactics.

White-Hat SEO Tactics: Building a Strong Foundation

White-hat link building focuses on utilising ethical and sustainable SEO practices to get valuable links. In the chosen niche of online betting, these practices become even more crucial as competition intensifies. White-hat strategies strive not only to improve SEO metrics but also to enhance a user’s experience. Here are some key white-hat strategies:

1. Quality Content Creation: serpzilla crafts informative, engaging, and authoritative content to form the backbone of a white-hat link building strategy before placing them on high-traffic sites. For example, casino and gambling websites can create things like comprehensive guides, reviews, and useful articles that may organically attract backlinks from sources aligned to your industry.

2. Outreach and Relationship Building: establishing legitimate relationships with industry experts, bloggers, and webmasters is a cornerstone of white-hat link building. Collaborating on things like expert-driven content, guest-posting, and participating in selected industry events can help strengthen these relationships. You could also create a referral program so that industry leaders and influencers are keen to promote your online service.

3. SERM: this is essential for online casinos, prioritising positive content and mitigating negatives. Strategic link building is key. Placing links to positive materials in results 11 to 50 ensures accessibility beyond the top results. Promoting content via PR and influencer channels enhances your identity towards an impactful outreach strategy.

White-hat links can also be gained through methods such as guest posting, editorial outreaches, and building on broken links, emphasising both transparency and user value.

Black-Hat SEO Tactics: Short-Term Gains, Long-Term Risks

In this hugely competitive industry, some sites resort to black-hat SEO tactics, which often involve manipulative shortcuts to gain quick results. However, these strategies come with considerable risks and can lead to penalties, loss of reputation, and long-term damage. Common black-hat tactics include:

1. Paid Links: Purchasing links in bulk, often from lower-quality or irrelevant websites, is a black-hat practice. While it may provide a temporary boost, search engines will detect and penalise these schemes. Therefore, this tactic is insufficient for long-term success. 

2. Keyword Stuffing: Overloading content with keywords to manipulate search rankings is a common black-hat tactic. This not only harms user experience but can lead to ranking penalties.

3. Hidden Text and Links: Hiding links or text from users but making them visible to search engines is another black-hat strategy. It’s against search engine rules and can result in stringent penalties.

The Link Building Grey Area for Online Betting Platforms 

Link-building tactics for casinos can often find themselves falling into a grey area. Of course, there are legitimate and ethical ways to build links to a casino site. However, in this competitive industry, there remains a high likelihood that spammy, manipulative, and nefarious practices are adopted to gain links. This is mainly due to the fact that it’s such a rapidly expanding and competitive space.

Key Link Building Tips

To advance in link building, adopt a rigorous strategy. First, scrutinise competitors to determine link quantity and distribution. Before acquiring links, thoroughly evaluate potential donor sites, emphasising rigid SEO metrics: a minimum Domain Rating (DR) of 20, organic traffic, and year-over-year growth. Also, maintain a balanced ratio of incoming to outgoing donor domains.

link building for casino
Detailed analysis of a domain using Ahrefs.com

You can use Serpzilla.com or Ahrefs.com to assist with detailed analysis. Here you can visually inspect link placements, avoiding spammy content and prioritising well-written, lengthy articles with multimedia elements. Steer clear of excessive sponsored content to maintain search engine trust. You can also consider the likelihood of link removal.

The goal is to secure both high-quality and long-lasting links. We emphasise clear technical specifications, including unique text, images, well-formatted content, and useful material for the best quality results.

Effective Strategies for The Industry: Tried and Tested Methods

In the ongoing world of online gambling SEO, there are methods that transcend niches and offer valuable insights for everyone seeking to improve their website’s visibility. Here are some universal strategies that have proven effective.

Utilising Expired Domains

Specialists often turn to platforms like ExpiredDomains.net or GoDaddy to acquire high-quality domains with strong SEO metrics. These domains are restored using Web Archive. In the short term, they serve as a source for direct backlinks to the target site. In the long term, a network of such domains is cultivated, forming a private PBN (Private Blog Network). Precise plans for ongoing development and content creation are established. This network can be employed to contribute to link-building strategies for other projects.

Outreach and Guest Posting

While not out of the ordinary, outreach and guest posting remain powerful methods. The process involves identifying a relevant site, assessing quality, and initiating contact with the owner for content publication. It remains relevant to note that a mere 5-10% of contacted publishers may respond. Publisher content guidelines can be strict, requiring investment in high-quality content. In the gambling niche, additional fees for topics related to gambling are common, and there’s a risk of link removal post-publication.

Multi-Tier Link Building

Securing link acquisition in the online gambling sector can be challenging due to increased competition. An effective solution involves building a multi-tiered link structure. This method involves placing links on pages that already contain links pointing to your website. By doing so, link equity accumulates in a flowing manner, strengthening the link’s influence deeper into the site. This layered approach is beneficial for accumulating link weight and authority, enhancing your site’s overall SEO rating.

These strategies provide valuable methods and approaches that can be employed effectively in the ongoing area of SEO and online betting. 

Tools and Services To Utilise for High-Impact Link Building

When it comes to creating an effective link building strategy for online betting platforms,having the right tools and services at your disposal can be the difference between success and failure. Here, we’ll highlight 3-5 essential tools and services that enable you to analyse the backlink metrics of competitors and facilitate the purchase of high-quality links:

1. Ahrefs.com: Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers in-depth backlink analysis. It allows you to explore your competitors’ backlink metrics, fully analyse the quality and quantity of their links, and identify potential opportunities to acquire valuable links. Ahrefs is a foundational resource for not only analysing your competition but additionally for tracking the performance of your own backlinking efforts.

Ahrefs’ backlink tool
Ahrefs’ backlink tool

2. SEMrush: SEMrush is again a powerful SEO tool that provides competitive understandings into backlinks. It enables you to research your rivals’ backlink strategies, reveal their most valuable link sources, and hunt out opportunities to acquire similar links. SEMrush also offers a user-friendly interface, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced SEO professionals. 

Semrush Backlink Analysis
SEMrush’s backlink analysis

3. Majestic: Majestic is renowned for its primary focus on link data. It offers a detailed analysis of backlink profiles, helping you spot out  your competitors’ most commanding links and their historical link-building trends. Majestic also provides their own ‘Trust Flow metric’, which can be a valuable indicator of link quality.

Majestic’s Trust Flow metric
Majestic’s Trust Flow metric

4. Link Research Tools: This platform offers a range of tools designed to enhance your link-building efforts. It helps you evaluate link quality, detect toxic links, and analyse the link status of your competitors. The service assists in identifying link-building possibilities and managing your link-building campaigns effectively. They also offer a Link Research SEO Toolbar for chrome that checks backlinks thoroughly within your chosen search engine. 

The Link Research SEO Toolbar
The Link Research SEO Toolbar

5. Pitchbox: Pitchbox is a powerful outreach and content marketing platform that simplifies the process of finding and connecting with potential link partners. It streamlines the process of outreach, making it easier to navigate, negotiate, and acquire high-quality links.

Pitchbox platform
The Pitchbox platform

By leveraging these tools and services, you can gain an edge in the challenging and fierce realm of link building within the online gambling and casino industry. These resources empower you to analyse your competitors’ backlink methods, pinpoint valuable opportunities, and enhance your link acquisition efforts for continued, organic success.

Navigating the Challenges of Promoting Gambling Projects: Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Each niche in the digital sector comes with its own set of rules, strategies, and SEO characteristics. When it comes to promoting gambling projects, there are specific concerns to keep in mind to ensure success while steering clear of mistakes. Let’s explore what makes the gambling niche distinct and what you should be attentive to:

Budget Matters: A Cash-Driven Competitive Sector

In the world of online gambling, competition is fierce and largely driven by financial resources. Approximately 90% of the links in this niche come at a cost. To thrive in this high-stakes environment, ensure you have a substantial budget. Having enough financial resources to go head-to-head with your competitors is essential from the get go. 

The Power of Discreet Networking: Informal and Hidden Contacts

To avoid potential sanctions and challenges, it’s wise to operate wisely within the gambling niche. Informal and hidden contacts can be your lifeline in building connections without attracting unwanted attention. Maintaining a low online profile and using clandestine methods can help to protect your interests.

Balancing Anchor Text: Aggressive Yet Cautious Approach

While it’s acceptable to use targeted anchor text aggressively to bolster keyword rankings, it’s important not to go overboard. Understanding how to balance this is vital. Analyse the behaviour of your competitors to gauge a safe ratio. Over-optimized anchor text can trigger search engine scrutiny, so tread carefully.

Vigilant Link Tracking: Safeguarding Your Investment

 The gambling niche can be a risky scene when it comes to link placements. Webmasters may remove links due to complaints or other issues. It’s crucial not only to monitor new links to your site but also to keep an eye on old one link placements. Regularly tracking the placement of your links is essential to safeguard your investment and maintain your site’s link profile integrity.

Mastering Link Building in the Gambling and Casino Industry

In the competitive arena of online gambling and casinos, mastering link building practices is essential. This article has looked into the intricacies of link building, from the relevance of quality backlinks to the many methods and tools that may boost your digital presence.

In this dynamic world, abiding by ethical standards remains vital. Curating relationships, creating high-quality content, and navigating link acquisition is needed.

As you venture into the online betting industry, note that link building is a constantly progressing discipline. Keeping up-to-date with the latest trends and algorithm changes is key. With the right knowledge, tools, and a commitment to quality, you can foster an authoritative online identity and thrive in this competitive area.

  • Alex Sandro

    Senior product manager at Serpzilla.com. SEO and linkbuilding expert. More than 10 years of work in the field of website search engine optimization, specialist in backlink promotion. Head of linkbuilding products at Serpzilla, a global linkbuilding platform. He regularly participates in SEO conferences and also hosts webinars dedicated to website optimization, working with various marketing tools, strategies and trends of backlink promotion.