The Dark Reality of Link Building in iGaming, Crypto & Restricted Niches

919: Charles Floate joins the show to reveal what link building looks like inside restricted and gray market verticals like iGaming, crypto, and prediction markets.

This is not a surface-level SEO conversation. It's a practical breakdown of how rankings are achieved, defended, and lost in some of the most competitive and hostile SERPs on the internet.

The discussion covers why ranking is often the easy part - and why maintaining rank has become the real challenge as negative SEO, DMCA abuse, and large-scale link manipulation continue to increase.

Topics covered include: - How link building works in restricted verticals where traditional outreach fails - Reverse engineering SERPs to understand what Google is rewarding right now - Why many competitors rank using identical techniques - and why Google allows it - Subdomain canonical strategies and aged domain leverage - Scaling link building without massive outreach teams using AI systems - The role of human validation and where automation becomes dangerous - Why most large budgets in iGaming are wasted on low-value links - How to identify real topical authority using link gap analysis - Tiered link building and when it actually makes sense - The difference between ranking and maintaining rankings in gray markets - DMCA takedowns as a negative SEO weapon - and how widespread they've become - Why some competitors disappear from Google overnight - The resurgence of PBNs and why they're working again - Link insertions, niche edits, and why Google hasn't stopped them - Beginner-friendly link building tactics that still work - Why statistics pages attract links passively from both humans and AI systems - Common on-page and technical SEO mistakes in iGaming sites - Intent mapping and why page type matters more than keywords - How AI search results change the need for consensus across sources - Link versioning and how authoritative pages replace existing sources - The limits of white hat SEO in international and gray markets - Cloaking tactics that still appear in the wild - and which ones are mostly gone

This episode is intended for experienced SEOs, agency owners, and operators working in highly competitive or restricted niches. If you work in regulated, gray, or high-risk verticals, this conversation reflects the realities you're already dealing with.

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⭐️ Charles Floate on 𝕏 - https://x.com/Charles_SEO ⭐️ Charles Floate on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesfloate/ ⭐️ Charles Floate on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@CharlesFloate ⭐️ Charles Floate on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheCharlesFloate/ ⭐️ Charles Floate's PressWhizz - https://presswhizz.com/

💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/

00:00 Introduction to SEO Attacks and Revenue Impact 00:32 Welcome and Introduction to Charles Floate 01:01 Reverse Engineering and Link Building in Competitive Niches 02:22 Techniques for Ranking in Gray Market Niches 06:15 Scaling Link Building with AI 10:43 Common Mistakes in Link Building and SEO 16:54 Advanced Techniques and Best Practices 23:23 Intent Mapping in SEO 25:14 Challenges in iGaming SEO 25:30 DMCA Takedowns and Negative SEO 28:58 AI and Negative SEO 32:13 Black Hat Link Building Tactics 41:53 Link Building in Restricted Verticals 43:54 Conclusion and Future Episodes

The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/

#blackhatseo #linkbuilding #searchengineoptimization #competitiveseo