Quick answer: iGaming link building is the work of getting other websites to link to a casino, sportsbook or affiliate site so that Google trusts it more. In 2026 the links that still move rankings are editorial ones: trade press, regulator-adjacent coverage, data people want to cite and real sponsorships. Paid links are allowed only when they carry `rel="sponsored"` or `rel="nofollow"`, which means they pass no ranking credit. Everything else that is bought, swapped or automated falls under Google's definition of link spam.
Gambling is one of the few verticals where almost every site owner has been offered a "casino-friendly guest post package". That market exists because links still matter and because casino and betting keywords are expensive to rank for. It is also why the vertical gets more manual actions than most. The useful question for an operator is not how many links a vendor can sell, but which of them Google will count and which ones it will treat as a liability.
What counts as link spam for a casino or sportsbook site?
Google's spam policies define link spam as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings". The examples the policy lists read like a description of the gambling link market:
- buying or selling links for ranking purposes, including money, goods or services exchanged for a link or for a post that contains one;
- excessive link exchanges and partner pages that only exist to cross-link;
- links created with automated programs or services;
- advertorials and native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass ranking credit;
- optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites;
- low-quality directory or bookmark links, and links in widely distributed footers or templates;
- low-value content created mainly to manipulate linking and ranking signals.
None of this depends on the vertical. What makes iGaming different is volume: a single SERP like "online casino" or "betting sites" attracts networks of sites built only to sell placements, and many of them sell to every operator in the market at once.
Are paid links allowed at all?
Yes, as advertising. The same policy says buying and selling links "is a normal part of the economy of the web for advertising and sponsorship purposes" and is not a violation "as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute". Google's guide to qualifying outbound links asks publishers to mark ads and paid placements with `sponsored`.
For an operator that has two consequences. A paid placement on a relevant site can still be worth buying for the traffic and the brand exposure it brings. But if the vendor promises "dofollow" as the selling point, you are paying for exactly the thing Google's policy targets, and the risk sits with your domain, not theirs.
Which links still work for licensed operators?
The links that hold up are the ones a journalist, regulator-adjacent publication or industry body would give you without being paid. For licensed operators they usually come from five places:
| Link source | Why the publisher links | Typical effort |
|---|---|---|
| Original data and research | Trade and business press need numbers to quote | High, one strong study can earn links for a year |
| Commentary on regulation | Coverage of a new law or regulator decision needs expert context | Medium, needs fast turnaround |
| Sponsorships and partnerships | Clubs, events and associations list their partners | Medium, slow but durable |
| Tools and calculators | Affiliates and forums link to useful utilities | High to build, low to maintain |
| Brand and people | Interviews, conference talks, podcast appearances | Low per link, needs a real spokesperson |
The pattern behind all five is the same: the operator publishes something that has a reason to be cited. A deposit-limit study, a clear explanation of a new licensing rule or a calculator that affiliates actually use earns links that keep coming after the campaign ends. A bought article on a site that publishes forty casino posts a week does not.
How is iGaming link building different from link building in other verticals?
Three things change the playbook.
First, many publishers will not link to gambling at all, and some markets restrict gambling advertising by law. Outreach lists have to be filtered by market and by the publisher's own policy before anyone sends an email, otherwise the reply rate collapses and the brand gets a reputation for spam.
Second, relevance matters more than raw authority. A link from an iGaming trade outlet or from a regulator-adjacent source tells Google more about a casino site than a link from a high-authority lifestyle blog that suddenly publishes a slot review. We prioritise topical fit over domain metrics every time.
Third, compliance travels with the link. Anything written on a third-party site about your brand has to respect the advertising rules of the market it targets: bonus wording, age limits, responsible gambling messages. A link from an article that breaks those rules is a regulatory problem before it is an SEO asset.
Anchor text: how exact should it be?
Mostly branded or natural. Google names "links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases" as an example of link spam, and gambling is where exact-match anchors like "best online casino" are most common. A healthy profile for a licensed operator is dominated by the brand name, the naked URL and descriptive phrases a journalist would write on their own. If a vendor asks which exact keyword you want as the anchor, that question alone tells you what kind of placement you are buying.
How do you plan an iGaming link building campaign?
We run it in four steps, and the order matters:
- Audit what you already have. Pull the backlink profile, flag paid or exchanged links from past vendors and check Search Console for manual actions. Cleaning up is sometimes worth more than building.
- Pick the pages that should earn links. Money pages rarely attract editorial links on their own. Link-worthy assets (data, guides to local regulation, tools) earn the links, and internal links pass that value on to the pages that convert.
- Build the asset before the outreach. A study or a regulatory explainer has to be genuinely useful and specific to the market. Outreach for a weak asset is just spam with better manners.
- Pitch by market and language. A Peruvian licensing explainer goes to Spanish-language trade and business press, a Dutch advertising-rules analysis to outlets that cover the Dutch market. The same pitch sent to everyone gets ignored everywhere.
Measure links earned per asset, referring domains that are topically relevant, and the ranking movement of the money pages the asset links to. The raw link count on its own says very little.
When does link building not fix rankings?
When the site has a technical or content problem. If Google cannot render your game pages, if hreflang sends Spanish users to the English version, or if a hundred bonus pages share the same template text, new links will not rescue them. That is why link building sits inside our iGaming SEO practice and our casino SEO work rather than being sold as a standalone package.
How Basher approaches link building
Basher works only with licensed operators, market by market. We build the link-worthy assets (research, regulatory explainers, tools), run the outreach in the market's own language and keep paid placements properly marked as sponsored. If you want to know what your current backlink profile is worth, and what it is costing you, tell us about your operation.