RedditSERMAEOiGaming

Natural Links Case Study: Reddit SERM for a Sportsbook in the Canadian Market

~2 → 37

organic brand mentions per month in target subreddits by end of month three

+310%

referral traffic growth from Reddit to the client's site over the campaign period

Case Study: Reddit SERM for a Sportsbook in the Canadian Market

Client Overview

The client is a sports betting platform entering the Canadian market following the legalization of single-game betting in the country (under NDA). The brand was relatively new to Canadian audiences: the domain was less than two years old, with organic traffic of around 9K visits per month.

The problem wasn't existing negative content - it was a lack of presence: in key Canadian betting communities on Reddit (r/sportsbook, r/CanadianSportsbook, r/hockey), the brand was barely mentioned.

Meanwhile, competitors were actively present in discussions, organically building trust with the target audience. In AI search results for queries like "best betting site Canada," the client's brand was completely absent.

Primary Goals of the Client

Build organic brand presence on Reddit

Achieve regular mentions of the platform in relevant Canadian betting subreddits within the first 90 days.

Enter AI search results for competitive queries

Secure brand presence in LLM search engine responses for "best sportsbook Canada," "top betting sites Ontario," and related queries.

Create authoritative content ranking on Google

Place threads ranking in the top 10 for informational and transactional betting queries with Canada/Ontario geo-modifiers.

Strategy and Implementation: What was done for the client
step-by-step

Competitive Reddit Audit

We analyzed the presence of five major competitors in target subreddits. Identified patterns: which thread formats generate the most engagement, what questions the audience asks most frequently, which topics remain uncovered.

Subreddit Mapping & Account Strategy

Identified seven priority subreddits: r/sportsbook, r/CanadianSportsbook, r/hockey, r/CFLfootball, r/MLS, r/sportsbetting, r/pfl. Matched accounts with relevant activity histories to each. Focus on accounts with real participation in sports discussions, not just betting threads.

Content Plan & Thread Creation

Developed a 12-week content plan: 18 threads broken down by type - comparative reviews (bonuses, odds, withdrawals), event-driven content around major sports events (NHL playoffs, CFL season), and evergreen betting guides for Canadian audiences. The client's brand was integrated as one option among comparisons without aggressive promotion.

Event-Driven Posting

Timed a series of threads to coincide with the NHL playoffs: odds discussions, comparisons of bookmaker offers for specific games. This generated high organic engagement and rapid indexation.

Comment Strategy in Existing Threads

Alongside creating new threads, worked within existing discussions: added detailed comments mentioning the brand where users were asking for recommendations. Comments were informative, helpful and not promotional.

AI Visibility Tracking

Separately tracked brand mentions in Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, and Google AI Overview for target queries. Adjusted content to match the phrasing LLMs most frequently cite when answering questions about Canadian sportsbooks.

Summary of Achievements

In 90 days, the brand moved from near-zero Reddit presence to consistent organic visibility across seven Canadian betting communities. Referral traffic from Reddit grew by 310%, and the platform entered AI search responses alongside competitors who had been active in the market significantly longer.

The event-driven posting strategy around the NHL playoffs proved especially effective generating high engagement signals that accelerated indexation and established the brand as a credible option for Canadian bettors.

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What the client got while working with Natural Links

Results:

18 threads created over 12 weeks, 14 indexed by Google
5 threads ranked in Google top 10 for target queries with Canada geo-modifier
Brand appeared in Perplexity and Google AI Overview responses for 3 out of 5 priority queries
Organic brand mentions in target subreddits grew from ~2/month to 37/month by end of month three
Referral traffic from Reddit to the client's site increased by +310% over the campaign period
Average engagement rate of created threads: 41% above the average for comparable betting threads in the same subreddits

Client Testimonials

Read more reviews on Clutch and Trustpilot

NaturalLinks helps us build high-quality pillow links for different projects we work on (e-commerce, dating, educational, etc.). The partnership helped us to get a large number of quality backlinks within the specified timeframe from quality and relevant resources, which led to boosting the "authority" of website pages in the eyes of Google. Communication is always at its best level. The team works quickly and efficiently, is flexible to any changes or requirements, project deadlines are always met, and if any problems arise during the execution of tasks, they are warned and agreed upon in advance. Over the 2 years of partnership, any problems have been resolved quickly and efficiently with the best possible result.

Sofiia Yanul

Services: Link Building Industry: Digital Marketing

I am very pleased with the ongoing cooperation. They post links at good websites with DR>30. The most impressive is the large base of good domains to be used for improving our results.

NDA

Services: Backlinking Industry: Automation Software

Thanks to NaturalLinks' efforts, we saw an increase in traffic and referral domains, significantly exceeding our expectations and contributing to our business goals. What set NaturalLinks apart was their deep expertise in iGaming, coupled with unparalleled customer service that made them feel more like a partner than a provider. During the cooperation, we've achieved good results and strengthened the site's position through link building, among other things.

NDA

Services: Link Building & Content Writing Industry: iGaming

We used NaturalLinks because they are good for promotion and branding due to the link type and them being cost-effective. We custom ordered 120 links from them, and we ended up with 140, I was definitely happy with the unexpected overdelivery. The campaign was completed on time, and everything looks great! The end result was that we ended up balancing out our NF/DF ratio, balanced out link activity and authority spread across our pages

NDA

Services: Link Building Solutions Industry: Advertising & Marketing