Gambling & Casino Link Building Case Study

In 2023, the global casino and online gambling industry was valued at $263 billion, and with figures expected to increase as we move into 2024, the casino and gambling sector is one of the most competitive and lucrative industries to work in.

However, it’s not just the stiff competition these sites have to worry about. Search engines like Google categorize casino websites as YMYL (Your Money Your Life) sites – “YMYL websites cover topics that can impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability or safety.” This means search engines will look much more closely at the authoritativeness, expertise, or trustworthiness of these sites to ensure users remain safe while they are online. Due to this added level of scrutiny, it is even harder for online casino sites to rank well. 

But it’s not all bad news. It is well known that backlinks are arguably one of the most important ranking factors when trying to get your website to place at the top of Google. However, most authoritative websites are skeptical about building links to casino sites, due to the negative reputation these sites have. 

Therefore, our client, a prominent online casino in the United States, knew they needed the help of an experienced link building agency and reached out to Rhino Rank for help.

At Rhino Rank, we specialize in link building gambling and casino sites, and over the years we’ve developed strong working relationships with bloggers, journalists, and site owners who allow casino links on their sites. Meaning we were confident that we would be able to help our client grow their backlink profile and generate the organic traffic and client numbers they so desperately needed.

And we were right!

Recognizing the unique challenges that are associated with gambling and casino SEO, the first thing we did was carry out a full website audit. This allowed our in-house specialists to assess which keywords the casino site was currently ranking for and the amount of organic traffic these terms were generating. Our team then used this information to create a bespoke link building campaign that would not only improve our client’s SERP rankings but also enhance their online authority and trustworthiness.

Our Curated Links service is designed to drive authority and powerful relevancy signals for any niche, including the casino industry. So, with a monthly budget of $4,000 dedicated to link building, we designed a comprehensive strategy that capitalized on this link building method:

• Curated Links Package 5 ($3,500)
  • 10x RD20-100 links
  • 16x RD100-250 links
  • 12x RD2050-500 link
  • 11x RD500+ link
• 3x RD1000+ Curated Links ($600)

Package 5 is currently our largest and most comprehensive Curated Links package. This package includes 49 links, meaning we can strategically place each link based on its Referring Domain (RD) score, ensuring we create a natural and balanced backlink profile. The additional RD1000+ links were then selected as these links come from quality websites with the highest level of authority we offer and will have the biggest impact on a site’s rankings and traffic.

Building a good backlink profile can be tricky for online casino websites due to restrictions and perceptions.

However, our Curated Links are an extremely effective way of building quality links that drive powerful SEO results, link authority, and link equity. By securing casino links into highly relevant content on authoritative websites, online casinos can achieve long-term SEO ranking results.

Over a 9 month period, we executed a complex link building campaign, closely monitoring the results it generated and fine-tuning our link placements as we went along. To ensure our client received the best outcome possible, we followed our comprehensive 5-step outreach process:

1. Conducting internal research: As mentioned above, once we have onboarded a client, the first thing we will do is conduct a full website audit and research their industry and target URLs to fully understand their target audience. 
2. Identifying the link placements: Using our research findings, our outreach team will review our current webmaster relationships and Google SERPs to find the most suitable and relevant websites for their links.
3. Pitching the link acquisitions: Once we have found the most appropriate link placements, our outreach team will contact the website owner to pitch the link acquisition.
4. Securing each link: Whilst working with the webmasters, our content writing team will create additional content to surround each link, ensuring they appear both relevant and natural. Our dedicated Quality Assurance team will then check the links to ensure they meet your requirements and our standards.
5. Delivering a custom link report: Once their order is complete, we’ll deliver a fully transparent report to their Rhino Rank dashboard that outlines all the link placement URLs.

Before partnering with Rhino Rank, the client’s organic traffic was hovering around the 3,500 mark. However, after working with us for just 9, their website is now receiving over 36,000 visitors per month, that’s an extraordinary 930% increase in organic traffic.

This surge in organic traffic was directly linked to an increase in our client’s SERP rankings, with Google page 1 and 2 keyword rankings increasing 143%. 

Given these remarkable results, it is no surprise that the online casino has chosen to continue working with Rhino Rank. They plan to carry on making the most of our Curated Links Package 5 offer, which enables them to utilize our 8% package discount, and plan to start using our bespoke Guest Posts service in the coming months.

In conclusion, this case study highlights how effective high quality link building is for achieving long-term SEO success, boosting website traffic, and skyrocketing keyword ranking SERPs even in the most challenging of industries. We’re one of the few link building agencies that specialize in building backlinks for gambling sites, and we are proud to be part of our client’s success story.