Link Building Guide

Crypto Link Building: Getting Links in a Restricted Niche

Crypto link building explained: which publishers accept crypto links, how financial promotion rules affect content, and why paid news networks disappoint.

Joe DaviesBy · Updated

Crypto link building is the work of earning links for exchanges, wallets, blockchain infrastructure projects, Web3 apps, token projects and crypto media. It shares a problem with gambling: a large share of mainstream publishers won't publish crypto promotions or link to crypto projects, and the ones that will often charge for it.

It also sits under financial regulation. In several major markets, promoting crypto assets to consumers is treated as a financial promotion, and articles and sponsored posts are not exempt.

What works in crypto depends heavily on what kind of project you are. A developer tooling company and a newly launched token face very different publishers, risks and rules.

Factor What it means
Publisher acceptance Many mainstream publishers refuse crypto promotions, especially for tokens
Paid media economy Crypto news sites commonly sell sponsored articles and press release distribution
Regulation Crypto promotions are regulated as financial promotions in markets such as the UK
Volatility of sites Crypto media sites launch, change hands and disappear quickly
Project type Infrastructure and developer tools are far easier to place than tokens
Spam pressure Many "crypto-friendly" link sellers have little real readership

Publisher acceptance by category

Acceptance depends on both the publisher and the type of project. The grid below shows a general pattern, not measured data.

Crypto media Tech, dev sites Finance media News Infrastructure, dev tools Exchanges, wallets New tokens Often Often Sometimes Some Often Sometimes Sometimes Rare Mostly paid Rare Rare Rare The more a project looks like an investment pitch, the fewer editorial publishers will link to it.
A general pattern, not survey data. Individual publishers' policies vary and change.

Financial promotion rules and crypto content

Rules differ by market and change often, so check current guidance for every market you target.

Market Who regulates What it means for linked content
United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Since 8 October 2023, promotions of qualifying cryptoassets to UK consumers fall under the financial promotions regime. They must be communicated or approved through a permitted route, and breaching the rules can be a criminal offence
European Union National regulators under the MiCA regulation MiCA includes rules on marketing communications for crypto-asset issuers and service providers
United States Several agencies, including the SEC The SEC has brought cases against people who promoted crypto assets without disclosing they were paid

In practice, a sponsored article that encourages UK readers to buy a token is a financial promotion, not just content. A link building vendor who can't explain how a placement complies is passing that risk on to the project.

A common crypto offer is the "press release package": one fee for publication across dozens of crypto news sites. These are usually media placements labelled as sponsored or as press releases.

Question Why it matters
Do the sites get organic traffic? Many syndication sites rank for nothing
Are links followed or sponsored? Paid releases should be qualified, so they pass little or no ranking credit
Is it the same text on every site? Syndicated duplicates add little beyond the first copy
Who reads them? Real crypto readers can be worth the fee for awareness, even without SEO value

Treat these as paid awareness, not link building. If the goal is search rankings, the money usually goes further elsewhere.

  1. Developer resources. Documentation, open-source repositories, SDKs and tutorials attract links from developers and technical blogs, especially for infrastructure projects.
  2. Data and research. On-chain analysis, market structure reports and security research get cited by crypto and finance media.
  3. Expert commentary. Founders and analysts quoted on regulation, security incidents or market events, through journalist relationships and request platforms.
  4. Ecosystem partners. Chains, wallets, exchanges and tools that list integrations or ecosystem projects.
  5. Educational content. Clear, accurate explainers that other sites link to as a reference, as long as they don't double as investment pitches.
  6. Events and hackathons. Sponsor, speaker and winner pages.

What to avoid

  • "Crypto-friendly" link lists sold by DR, with no traffic data
  • Exact-match anchors like "best crypto exchange" across paid placements
  • Unlabelled paid placements, which break Google's spam policies and may breach promotion rules
  • Promotional content aimed at markets where the product isn't permitted
  • Renting a section of an unrelated site to rank crypto reviews, which falls under Google's site reputation abuse policy

The buying backlinks guide has a full vetting checklist, and the iGaming guide covers the same publisher-acceptance problem in gambling.

The short version

  • Many mainstream publishers refuse crypto links, especially for tokens, so supply is limited and largely paid
  • Crypto promotions are regulated as financial promotions in markets such as the UK, where the FCA's regime has applied since October 2023
  • Infrastructure and developer projects have far more editorial link options than token projects
  • Treat paid crypto news packages as awareness, label them, and don't expect much SEO value
  • Developer resources, original data and expert commentary are the most durable crypto link sources

As with any regulated niche on the industries hub, the links that last are the ones you'd be comfortable showing a regulator.

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