Luke Widmer
In this week’s Q&A section, we have selected the following topic from our subscriber: “Do Gambling Links Hurt Your SEO?”
Question From Clara H.:
“Hi team, I have joined several backlink groups in FB and noticed many websites put different pricing for gambling link (usually 2x more expensive than normal link). Is it because gambling links actually hurt their SEO?
To answer your query: yes, one of the key concerns with gambling links is that they can hurt your SEO.
For website owners and SEO professionals, the issue of gambling is less about morality and more about the impact it can have on search engine rankings.
This is because search engines like Google have strict guidelines that prohibit the use of “black hat” SEO techniques, which are designed to manipulate search rankings in ways that are not natural or organic. One of the most common black hat techniques is link building, which involves creating links to your website from other sites in order to boost your search engine rankings.
Gambling Links Are Spammy in Google’s Eye
The problem with gambling links is that they are often associated with spammy, low-quality websites that engage in black hat SEO techniques. This means that if you have a lot of links to your site from gambling-related sites, search engines may view your site as being low-quality or spammy, which can hurt your rankings.
Another issue with gambling links is that they may be associated with sites that are not relevant to your site’s content. For example, if you run a blog about travel and you have a lot of links from gambling sites, search engines may view your site as being irrelevant to the topic of travel, which can also hurt your rankings.
Reasons Website Charge More Pricy For Gambling Backlink?
Websites that offer backlinks for gambling sites often charge more expensive prices for a few different reasons.
Gambling is highly competitive industry. This means that there is a high demand for high-quality backlinks. This increased demand for gambling-related backlinks means that websites that offer these links can charge higher prices.
Furthermore, many gambling sites are willing to pay higher prices for backlinks because they understand the value of these links in helping them rank higher in search engines. This willingness to pay higher prices creates a market for backlink providers, which can drive up the price of these services.
Compensation For Hurting Their SEO
Some websites that offer backlinks for gambling sites may also be operating in a grey area of SEO, using techniques that are not strictly allowed by search engines. These techniques may involve using private blog networks or other tactics that are designed to manipulate search engine rankings.
While these techniques can be effective in boosting rankings, they also carry a higher risk of penalties or even being banned from search engines. As a result, websites that offer these services may charge higher prices to compensate for the risk involved.
What Can You Do If You Have Gambling Links on Your Site?
Bonus: now, what if your website received tons of unwanted backlinks from gambling sites?
The first step is to remove them as soon as possible. This may involve reaching out to the owners of the sites that are linking to you and asking them to remove the links. If they refuse, you may need to use Google’s disavow tool, which allows you to tell Google that you don’t want certain links to be counted towards your search engine rankings.
It’s also important to be proactive about your link building strategy. Instead of relying on low-quality sites to build links to your site, focus on creating high-quality content that other sites will naturally want to link to. This might include creating informative blog posts, producing engaging videos, or offering valuable resources to your audience.
Bottom Line
To summarize, gambling links can hurt your SEO if they are associated with low-quality, spammy sites or if they are not relevant to your site’s content. If you have gambling links on your site, it’s important to remove them as soon as possible and to focus on building high-quality, relevant links through organic means. By doing so, you can help to ensure that your site is viewed as a high-quality, trustworthy source of information by both search engines and your audience.