The Challenge
Outranked by Affiliates on Your Own Brand Terms
The client held a full UK Gambling Commission licence and had operated for 7 years. Despite a strong product, established players, and a DR of 44, they were losing organic positions to affiliate comparison sites for queries like "best UK online slots," "new casino sites 2024," and "fast payout casino UK."
The iGaming niche is one of the hardest link-building verticals. The vast majority of publishers categorically refuse gambling content. High-DR sites in the space — sports publications, news outlets, entertainment sites — almost universally have editorial policies against casino or betting content. This leaves a narrow pool of genuinely qualified publishers.
Many agencies in this space fill the gap with low-quality "casino guest post" networks. These are easily identified by Google and frequently trigger devaluation or manual actions. The client had previously acquired 40+ links from one such network and needed a clean, sustainable strategy instead.
- 90%+ of publishers reject gambling content
- Cheap "casino link" networks trigger penalties
- UKGC compliance limits certain anchor types
- Affiliates have massive link advantages
Strategy
A Private Network of iGaming-Friendly Publishers
Over 6 years of iGaming link building, we have curated a private database of publishers who actively accept gambling, casino, and betting content. These are not PBNs — they are real editorial sites, sports and entertainment blogs, review publications, and niche media properties that have been vetted for real organic traffic, editorial independence, and Google penalty history.
For this campaign, we selected 52 publishers from this database, all with genuine organic traffic (minimum 8,000/month), no history of link-scheme penalties, and existing content categories adjacent to gaming or entertainment. Average publisher DR was 61 — significantly above the typical iGaming guest post market.
We also assisted the client in filing a disavow update for the 40+ flagged network links before placing new ones. This was a non-negotiable first step: adding quality links on top of a dirty profile is inefficient. Cleaning first maximised the impact of every new placement.
Execution
6-Month Link Building Timeline
Disavow update filed for 40 toxic links. Publisher selection from iGaming-vetted database. Anchor strategy reviewed against UKGC guidelines. 0 links placed.
9 guest posts live on entertainment, sports, and gaming-adjacent publishers (DR 40–55). Branded and URL anchors only.
11 placements. First DR 65+ links from sports media and gaming review properties. Two keywords move from page 2 to bottom of page 1.
10 placements. Partial-match anchors introduced. All 5 priority keywords now on page 1. Top position reached for "fast payout casino UK."
22 placements including 3 DR 70+ authority links. Campaign ends with 5/5 target keywords in top 3. Organic traffic +63% vs start.
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