In March 2019, UniK SEO presented at The European Summit (TES) in Cascais, Portugal. Our CEO Grégoire Lacan led a seminar on link building strategies for adult websites, covering niche opportunities, technical prerequisites, backlink KPIs, and seven actionable link building tactics. The full presentation is available to download below.
About TES Affiliate Conference 2019
The TES Affiliate Conference — also known as The European Summit — is one of the most established networking events in the affiliate and digital marketing industry. Founded in 2009, TES brings together professionals from verticals including adult, iGaming, e-commerce, dating, crypto, forex, and health, creating a focused environment for business development, knowledge exchange, and strategic networking.
The 2019 edition took place from 1 to 4 March 2019 at The Oitavos Hotel, Quinta da Marinha, Cascais, Portugal. Over three days, the event attracted hundreds of international professionals, including webmasters, affiliate managers, platform providers, and digital marketing agencies operating in some of the most competitive and regulated online verticals.
TES Affiliate Conferences traditionally take place twice a year: in Cascais in the spring and in Prague in the autumn, making the Lisbon area edition one of the most anticipated gatherings in the European affiliate calendar.
UniK SEO at TES Affiliate Conference Cascais 2019
For UniK SEO, TES Cascais 2019 was not just an opportunity to attend — it was an opportunity to contribute. As a full-service SEO agency based in Portugal (Lisbon) with a recognised specialisation in Adult SEO services, UniK SEO was invited to present at the conference, sharing hands-on expertise with an audience of webmasters, affiliate professionals, and adult industry operators.
Grégoire Lacan on Stage: Link Building Strategies for Adult Websites
The seminar was led by Grégoire Lacan, then CEO of UniK SEO, who addressed one of the most technically challenging areas of adult digital marketing: link building.
The conference room was filled with a engaged audience of professionals — many of them directly responsible for managing or growing adult websites — and the session generated significant interest among attendees.
The core premise of the talk was straightforward but often overlooked: adult websites cannot follow the same link building playbook as mainstream businesses. No one wants to link to an adult website. Standard outreach methods fail. Guest posting opportunities are scarce. And the competition within adult niches is exceptionally high.
So how do you build authority in this environment?
Why Link Building for Adult Websites Is Different
During the seminar, Grégoire outlined the key reasons why adult link building demands a completely separate approach:
- Most webmasters and publishers refuse to link to adult content, drastically reducing outreach options
- High competition within popular adult niches makes ranking without authority nearly impossible
- Low-quality or risky link building tactics carry severe penalties that are difficult to recover from
- Standard directories, blog networks, and content partnerships are largely off-limits
- Trust signals, niche relevance, and organic traffic percentages weigh heavily in link value for adult sites
These constraints make adult link building one of the most nuanced areas of SEO practice — one that requires both strategic creativity and technical precision.
| 💡 Navigate these complex industry hurdles today by exploring our comprehensive, newly updated Guide to Adult SEO. |
Key Topics from the Seminar
The presentation covered four core areas, each designed to give practitioners a clear and actionable direction for their link building efforts.
Take Every Opportunity — Explore Niches and Emerging Markets
With mainstream link opportunities limited, Grégoire emphasised the importance of focusing on less competitive niches and approaching link acquisition with a broader perspective.
One practical tactic: targeting keywords in other languages, where competition is lower and opportunities more accessible.
The seminar also highlighted the value of emerging markets within the adult industry.
One example discussed was virtual reality content, which at the time was a fast-growing segment with significant SEO potential — projected to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2025. Identifying these emerging verticals early allows adult websites to build authority in spaces where competition has not yet consolidated.
Technical Foundations Come First
Before any link building campaign can deliver results, the target website must be technically sound. Grégoire reinforced this prerequisite clearly: link building on a poorly optimised website is wasted effort.
The key technical checkpoints discussed included:
- Page speed and Core Web performance signals
- Correct indexation and crawlability
- HTTPS/SSL certificate in place
- A responsive, mobile-optimised version of the site
- Clean site structure and absence of technical errors
These are baseline requirements. Without them, even high-quality backlinks will fail to generate the expected ranking improvements.
| 💡 Ensure your website meets these critical baselines by reviewing our comprehensive, newly updated Technical SEO Audit Checklist. |
Measuring What Matters — Backlink KPIs
The seminar placed significant emphasis on measuring link quality through the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Not all backlinks are equal, and in the adult niche, where penalties are unforgiving, understanding link quality is essential.
The KPIs discussed included:
- Link Location — where on the page the link appears
- Domain Authority — the overall strength of the linking domain
- Niche Relevance — whether the linking site operates in a related vertical
- Organic Traffic Percentage — ensuring the linking site has genuine, non-artificial traffic
- Anchor Text Diversity — maintaining a natural and varied link profile
Tracking these indicators consistently is the only way to adapt a link building strategy based on real performance data rather than assumptions.
Tools and Strategies: The Full Presentation
Beyond the strategic framework, the seminar included a curated list of free tools for backlink KPI analysis, Technical SEO, and On-Page SEO — practical resources that attendees could apply immediately.
Grégoire also presented 7 specific link building strategies for adult websites, each illustrated with a real-world example. These ranged from niche-specific directory submissions to guest posting approaches that work within the adult industry’s constraints.
The complete list of strategies, tools, and examples is available in the full presentation PDF below.
Download the Full Presentation
The slides from Grégoire’s seminar at TES Affiliate Conference Cascais 2019 are available for free download.
The PDF includes the complete list of link building strategies, free tool recommendations, and the full framework presented on stage.
UniK SEO at TES Affiliate Conferences: A Continuing Presence
TES Cascais 2019 was the beginning of an ongoing relationship between UniK SEO and The European Summit.
Five years later, UniK SEO returned to Cascais for the TES Affiliate Conference Cascais 2024, where Greg Lacan — now COO — took the stage again to address how adult websites should adapt their SEO strategies to Google algorithm updates and the rise of AI-driven search.
The continuity across editions reflects UniK SEO’s sustained commitment to the adult digital marketing industry and to contributing meaningfully to the conversations that shape it.
For more information about upcoming TES Affiliate Conferences, visit the official TES website.
If you’d like to discuss how UniK SEO can help your adult website build authority and grow organic traffic, get in touch with our team — we’re happy to help.
