This is a guest contribution by Emily Garner, Content Specialist at Blueclaw Media. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.
As the global iGaming industry continues to grow, it’s never been more important to invest in digital PR for link building to boost your online visibility, increase traffic and help build brand awareness. But with many aggressive competitors in the market, you may find yourself wondering where to start and what really works – especially as many iGaming brands make the mistake of purchasing links instead of building them organically through campaigns and onsite content.
Here, we reveal our five top tips to successful iGaming link building based on industry best practices and tried-and-tested strategies, to help you up and stay on top of your game.
#1: Create campaigns that are newsworthy and relevant to your brand
When outreaching a campaign – whether it’s a piece of onsite content, an interactive asset, or a data-driven infographic – the first question any journalist will ask is why they should cover it and who’s created it. Although it is possible to see link building success with more off-the-wall campaign ideas, it’s always better to ensure there’s a strong hook and justifiable tie-in to the client so you can field questions as they arise.
If content creation is king, then link building is queen; if there’s not a clear landing page or target keyword for your campaign idea, then it’s likely not relevant enough to your brand. For iGaming clients, it is best to pursue topics that provide plenty of outreach avenues and are centred around gaming, entertainment, celebrity and lifestyle, or finance. Be sure to see what’s trending in the news but avoid tying it into timely events unless you’re sure you’ll be able to effectively outreach the campaign within the limited timescale.
#2: Invest enough time into research and ensure you use trusted sources
The importance of the research stage when creating a campaign cannot be understated – especially for iGaming brands. Although you may have a newsworthy and relevant campaign idea, journalists will still question the sources that went into the research. You can determine the authority of a source by verifying its information against other data points, ensuring it’s coming from an authentic organisation and checking the citation. Journalists often ask about the sources within campaign research or the methodology behind your findings, so always keep a note of this and be prepared to answer any questions.
To increase the authority of your campaign, you can also look to include expert commentary, your own data (if relevant), or third-party survey/poll results. Note that journalists only tend to view surveys as valid sources if they have between 1,000-2,000 responses, but extra material like expert comments from relevant public figures, data visualizations and video content is always appreciated to help enhance the article on their end.
#3: Pay attention to what your competitors are doing and adjust your strategy accordingly
It doesn’t matter if you’ve just created the most beautiful and data-driven asset in the world – if someone has also done it or it’s featured in the news recently, it’ll massively drop in appeal. To ensure you’re staying ahead of the curve and aren’t investing into a campaign that will fall flat in outreach, you should keep an eye on what your competitors are putting out and what their return on investment for any similar concepts is.
Another benefit of monitoring your competitors is that you’ll be able to take advantage of low-hanging fruit by analysing their backlinks and seeing what topics work in your market. After all, if you notice a competitor is offering an exclusive deal or has made a company announcement that has garnered a lot of B2B coverage, then there’s nothing stopping you from sharing your own internal news across the same publications.
#4: Be aware of (and avoid) compliance issues that may hinder appeal
There’s nothing worse than ideating, researching and finalising a costly asset that’s designed to appeal to international markets and discovering that they don’t link to iGaming brands or are unable to view the piece due to anti-gambling email blockers. Unless you have a strong target list of publications who will definitely link to your piece regardless of the brand or are able to provide B2B coverage, it’s best to steer clear of gambling-specific content.
It’s crucial to educate yourself on copyright law and gambling guidelines in all target markets to avoid costly repercussions – especially if your campaign focuses on brands, public figures, or copyrighted characters. As long as you use royalty-free imagery and avoid making sweeping statements that can leave you liable to deformation then you should be fine, but generally, it’s best to stick to light-hearted pieces that will cause minimal upset in outreach.
#5: Build relationships with other sites and brands with targeted press releases
One of the most important pieces of advice when link building is to not put all your eggs in one basket, meaning you should always look to create multiple outreach avenues and hooks in case one falls flat. This is easy to do if you have connections, either in the press or with other brands, who can advise you on what angle would be best suited for them to cover. You can either do this through pre outreach before finalising a campaign or during outreach.
A great way to maximise any external relationships is to choose a digital marketing agency who has an expansive PR team that holds multiple connections to the press. PR specialists have access to media databases that allow them to select the ideal targets for a campaign, and will also have a directory of journalists, influencers and top-tier publications who are interested in receiving pitches based on previous successes.
If you’d like to learn more about the best ways for iGaming brands to build links, sign up to Blueclaw’s Free Webinar on Link Building for iGaming Operators and Affiliates, which will go ahead on Thursday 2nd July at 3pm BST.
