Strict compliance with Google’s “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) standards is no longer enough to secure top rankings in iGaming search results, according to insights shared on the SEO Boardroom podcast.
In a recent episode, host Ivana Flynn spoke with iGaming SEO specialist Maria Sayapina, Director of SEO at Find.co, about the growing gap between Google’s published guidelines and what is currently ranking across gambling SERPs.
Sayapina described YMYL as a “hygiene factor”, essential for user trust and regulatory credibility, but not a ranking advantage on its own.
“It is a requirement for your user,” she said. “But will executing YMYL perfectly get you into the top three? I don’t think so.”
Instead, the episode highlighted how aggressive tactics such as parasite ranking, expired domain networks and canonicalisation manipulation are outperforming standard white-hat strategies in competitive markets. Engineered authority and link leverage are driving visibility, particularly across high-value casino and betting keywords.
The discussion also rejected a simple “white hat vs black hat” narrative. Sayapina distinguished between unethical business conduct and technical tactics that breach Google’s rules but remain common in the sector.
Private Blog Networks (PBNs), for example, were framed as competitive tools rather than moral issues. In current conditions, relying solely on compliant optimisation can result in lost market share.
A second key theme was competitive intelligence. Even brands that avoid aggressive tactics must understand them. Monitoring competitor backlink profiles, domain acquisitions and content structures is critical for both growth and defence against negative SEO attacks.
Flynn suggested that Google is unlikely to prioritise cleaning up spam-heavy gambling SERPs in the short term, as focus shifts toward AI development and monetisation.
The conclusion was direct: SEO is no longer a low-cost acquisition channel. It requires budget, testing capacity and strategic risk management. In high-value verticals like iGaming, standing still is more expensive than controlled experimentation.
