About Samira van Diepen
Samira van Diepen is a highly respected link building strategist with deep expertise in the iGaming sector. Over the years, she has helped both affiliates and operators navigate the challenges of building sustainable authority in a niche where link acquisition is expensive, risky, and often misunderstood. Her approach blends technical insight with creativity, focusing on high-quality content, relevance, and trust signals rather than outdated tactics. Beyond her client work, Samira is an active voice in industry discussions, sharing her perspective on how link building in gambling differs from other industries and why the rules of engagement continue to shift.
What sets Samira apart is her ability to see beyond the short-term. She has consistently emphasized that, in iGaming, long-term visibility depends on building authority in a way that balances performance with compliance. Her strategies are helping reshape how affiliates and operators think about link building in 2025 and beyond.
Interview -The New Era of Link Building in the iGaming Industry
Link building in the iGaming industry has always been a high-stakes game. Links are expensive, competition is cruel, and the margin for error is slim. Samira has spent years in the trenches of this competitive niche, advising brands and affiliates on how to earn visibility while avoiding costly mistakes. In this interview, Samira explores the new era of link building for the iGaming industry — discussing what makes a truly valuable link today, how strategies differ for affiliates and operators, and why Google’s evolving stance on link schemes is forcing SEOs to rethink their playbooks. She also shares her thoughts on the role of content in link acquisition, the impact of unlinked mentions, and where link building in Casino SEO is headed next.
Q: Hi Samira, Thank you for speaking to me today. Link building in iGaming has always been one of the toughest challenges in SEO. From your experience, what strategies actually work today for affiliates and operators, and which ones have lost their impact?
A: Links were always an important ranking signal, and this is not changing. But of course there was an evolution in link building. I saw times when any link was good and any link counted. I saw very bad PBNs, even worse anchors and targets. What I recommend these days is a mixture of highly relevant links to the niche, with valuable traffic and long history of presence on the web and of course brand mentions as these are the new, important, not-linked assets that are having an impact.
Q: Looking back at your career, what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about link building in this industry?
A: Don’t fall for the trap – I need this DR and this traffic and not taking into account niche relevancy. As well, not investing in good content and not working with semantic placement of the link and anchor. Keep in mind that Google indexing is becoming more and more difficult, so bad content is not going to be indexed or stay indexed.
Q: With Google becoming more aggressive in fighting link spam, what makes a backlink “safe” and sustainable in the gambling niche?
A: Well, Google is really trying to fight spam with their regular spam updates a few times a year. As well, if you study the Google leaks you will discover that cca ⅓ of Google algorithm is about detecting and fighting spam. So as I said, quality over quantity, relevance, well researched and nicely structured content.
Q: In your view, what makes a truly good link in the iGaming industry — is it all about topical authority and DR, or do factors like relevance, traffic, and trust matter more?”
A: The best link is the one that will bring referral traffic to your site, aka that if people read your article, they want to click on the link as it is interesting to them. Sadly we see this very little. Honestly, picking up links naturally is next to impossible in iGaming, but we can make links look more natural with a good topic, good content, good link placement and good domain.
Q: Mentions, PR, and brand signals are talked about more than ever. Do unlinked mentions carry weight in iGaming SEO, or do links still reign supreme?
A: Unlinked assets are growing in importance and are becoming a must. I highly recommend working with these kinds of mentions on big forums such as Reddit or Quora. We are starting to use ChatGPT, we are seeing AI overviews more and more. If you want to be visible, you need to be mentioned on big sites, big forums and social media. Not all of the mentions will result in links but that is OK. ChatGPT is getting a lot of data from Wikipedia and Reddit. I read that Wikipedia is quoted cca 47% and Reddit, as the 2nd biggest source of information, is quoted 15% of times. But these numbers are not 100% reliable, and as you know, the latest news is that ChaptGPT stopped using Reddit for answers, so all you should think about is that brand mentions on any of the big and important sites are very important and you should include them in your strategy.
Q: The cost of links in gambling is often much higher than in other industries. How should affiliates and operators think about ROI when investing in link building campaigns?
A: Yes, it is a well known fact that iGaming is paying more than other niches. Everyone knows that iGaming has money and they are not afraid to ask for more. How to think about ROI? Is this link going to have a positive impact on my rankings? If the answer is yes, it is good for your ROI.
There are so many factors to consider if the link should be ‘YES’. But in my many tests I found out that a link or a redirected domain of cca DR 30 can increase the DR of the original domain in general by 3 points in DR. Sadly, today’s SERPs are mainly about big DR, big Trust Flow, big LRT… so higher – better unless it is fully manipulated.
Q: Looking ahead, how do you see link building evolving in the iGaming space — especially with AI, stricter regulations, and Google’s increasing focus on E-E-A-T?
A: I am a big advocate for EEAT and yes this comes a lot from off-page. EEAT is all about building a good reputation online and it is happening on document, domain and entity level. Document level is all about the page – content, quality of the content, of grammar, of relevancy, length of the document, links to authoritative sources, frequency of updates and more. Domain – here we have internal links, domain name, business name, topical relevancy, age of domain – now here we have as well brand mentions and links. And entity level covers a lot but as well content citations, publication history and even more importance of links. Now for the iGaming industry great relevant links are – visibility on conferences, being mentioned on conferences’ websites as speakers, industry relevant podcasts, webinars – these are the mentions and links that are beyond important.
As well, you can sponsor a podcast or a stage, all of these are making you stand out and give you EEAT relevancy.
Q: Content is often at the heart of earning links. What type of content actually attracts high-quality links in the iGaming space?
A: LynxS has had a massive success with these types of links. We run great SEO studies, after we publish these on SEO websites where you cannot get links otherwise. We work with the best SEOs to help us with these articles. As well, lawyers for legal niche links, AI experts and more. Of course these links cost more but are worth it.
Conclusion
Samira van Diepen makes it clear that the rules of link building in iGaming are shifting fast. Backlinks remain powerful, but the future is no longer just about who links to you — it’s also about where you’re mentioned. From Reddit threads and Quora discussions to appearances in Google’s AI Overviews, visibility today depends on being part of the digital conversation across platforms that shape user trust.
For affiliates and operators, this means thinking beyond DR scores or volume-driven link schemes. The real winners will be those who blend authoritative links with strategic mentions on forums, social media, and trusted publications — building signals that AI systems and search engines alike recognize as proof of relevance and credibility.
In an industry where the cost of mistakes is high and competition is relentless, Samira’s perspective offers a roadmap: stop chasing shortcuts, start building authority that AI, Google, and users all agree to trust.
