---
title: "kotaku.com Backlink Value & Traffic Report"
url: https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com
description: "kotaku.com: a followed link from it is worth $522 by BV 2.9 (link type B). About 9.1M visits a month, 27% organic. 66,173 websites link to it."
site: mxverify
generated: 2026-11-07T04:43:27.650Z
---

# Backlink value and traffic report for kotaku.com

**In short:** A new followed link from kotaku.com is worth about $522 to rankings by BV 2.9 (level B, Site Strength 75 of 100); BV is an estimate, not a price anyone charges. It gets about 9.1M visits a month, 27% from organic search, up 4.7% since Jul 2026. No link placed on it has been audited.

Organisation: Kotaku: blog and video game news website, owned by G/O Media; United States; since 2004. [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1083295?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) · First recorded 07 November 2026 · Last updated 07 November 2026 · [Visit kotaku.com](https://kotaku.com/?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report)

[Compare](https://mxverify.uk/compare/kotaku.com#add)

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## Backlink value · what one new followed link from kotaku.com is worth to rankings

[BV **$522** per link · level B · strength 75](https://bklink.uk/methodology?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report#bv)

reading confidence **Fair, 62 out of 100**

Reading confidence 62 / 100

- What we read 77
- Our model's certainty 42
- Its view of the pages 90

6 of 10 pages read had text · 20 links to other sites seen · posts Aug 2005 – Nov 2026

How much of kotaku.com we read, and how sure our model was about the kind of link it gives. Never higher than what we read. [The full reading](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#reading)

**Priced from our reading of the site.** No reliable sample of checked links yet: its link type comes from the articles mxverify read on the site. Priced 7 Nov 2026 · pages read 7 Nov 2026.

**Relevance to the linked site moves it**

**$261** unrelated ×0.5 **$652** same topic ×1.25

**By the kind of link it gives**

- A editorial $778
- B guest, sponsored $389
- C neutralised $78
- D network $39

Priced on a blend of link types: A 38% · B 57% · C 1% · D 4% → ×0.67.

[How BV is worked out](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#bv-detail) · BV 2.9 · not a price anyone charges

**[9.1M](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#traffic)** monthly visits +4.7% since Jul 2026

**[2.5M](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#traffic)** from organic search 27% of visits

**[66,173](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#links-in)** sites link to it 14,014 of them nofollow

**[2002](https://mxverify.uk/publications/registered/2000s)** domain registered 24 years ago

**[1.4 s](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#tech)** page load for real users (LCP) passes Core Web Vitals

**[0%](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#reading)** of its own links nofollow in the articles we read

## How it compares · among 900 news sites on mxverify

- More monthly visits than 85% of the 900 news sites on mxverify.
- 27% of its visits come from organic search; the median news site gets 36%.
- AI assistants send 0.2% of its visits, about 30% of the 0.7% the median news site gets.
- A new followed link from it is worth more than a link from 99% of news sites.
- Priced at level B, like 11% of news sites; 1% are level A.

Peers are the most specific group of at least 20 sites on mxverify it belongs to: its topic, its category or its kind of site. Figures are third-party traffic estimates and mxverify's BV, as elsewhere on this report.

**Monthly visits**

Jul 2026: 8.7M visits; Aug 2026: 9.3M visits; Sept 2026: 9.1M visits

**Where visitors come from**

Direct 59%, Organic search 27%, Social 8.4%, Referrals 2.9%, Email 1.5%

- [Direct](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/direct) **59%**
- [Organic search](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/organic-search) **27%**
- [Social](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/social) **8.4%**
- [Referrals](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/referrals) **2.9%**
- [Email](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/email) **1.5%**
- Other channels **1.0%**

Organic search, in green, is the traffic BV prices on.

**Top countries**

- [United States](https://mxverify.uk/publications/audience/united-states) 52%
- [United Kingdom](https://mxverify.uk/publications/audience/united-kingdom) 6.3%
- [Canada](https://mxverify.uk/publications/audience/canada) 6.2%
- [Germany](https://mxverify.uk/publications/audience/germany) 3.6%
- Uruguay 1.9%
- Other countries 30%

## Where it ranks on Google

### On the first page 2 keywords

- [rule34dle meaning 5th](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/rule34dle-meaning)
- [awesome indie 5th](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/awesome-indie)

### Cited in AI Overview 2 keywords

- [gamedle](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/gamedle)
- [rule34dle meaning](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/rule34dle-meaning)

Google, United States, English, read November 2026 and refreshed monthly by mxverify. Only the keywords mxverify tracks are read, so kotaku.com may rank for many others.

## Links to this site

Links other sites have made to kotaku.com, from outside link indexes: not the links placed on it that bklink audits.

**66,173** websites link to it 14,014 of them with nofollow links

**4.1M** links in all, from those websites about 62 per website · first seen 2019

**18** spam score of its links 0–100, the linking pages' average

**36,092** IP addresses they link from 15,638 subnets

**Where the links sit:** 54% in the article or main content of the linking page, 4.3% in its header, menu, sidebar or footer · 35% in no page section the index could name, the rest in other sections; of the 3.5M links it sorted by where they sit

**Pages in Google:** about 1,090,000 · the count Google gives for a site: search, its own estimate, which can be far off either way

What Google shows for site:kotaku.com — the first 10 pages

1. [Kotaku en Español - Revisos de Juegos, Noticias, Consejos y ...](https://es.kotaku.com/?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) es.kotaku.com/
2. [Latest](https://kotaku.com/latest?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/latest
3. [Deals Archives](https://kotaku.com/deals?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/deals
4. [Claire Jackson, Author at Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/author/clairejackson?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/author/clairejackson
5. [Undress!](https://kotaku.com/games/undress?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/games/undress
6. [Emberville](https://kotaku.com/games/emberville?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/games/emberville · Jan 28, 2026
7. [Download Psiphon (free) for Windows, macOS, Android ...](https://kotaku.com/download/psiphon?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/download/psiphon · Oct 29, 2026
8. [Mew](https://kotaku.com/tag/mew?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/tag/mew
9. [Sugar Service](https://kotaku.com/games/sugar-service?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/games/sugar-service
10. [Download Purble Place](https://kotaku.com/games/purble-place?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) kotaku.com/games/purble-place

Sources: link counts and spam score from a third-party backlink index, read 07 November 2026; the chart grows by one reading a month; page count and pages from a Google site: search, 07 November 2026. BV prices on one of these only, the page count: when two site: searches at least 7 days apart both find no pages, and nothing on record shows Google indexing the site, a link from it is priced at most level C.

## Links placed here

No link placed on kotaku.com has been audited yet. [An audit on bklink.uk](https://bklink.uk/?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) checks each one — still there, followed or not, where it sits — and marks this report audited.

This report's link to kotaku.com is nofollow. It is followed when the site's owner audits kotaku.com's own backlinks on bklink.uk, chooses to publish it and proves the site is theirs (for 90 days from each audit), or once a one-time payment of $9 is made for it. [When a link here is followed](https://mxverify.uk/methodology#followed-links)

## How it links out

**100%** of its links followed

**20** links to other sites

**10** articles read

Followed 100%

Fair sample Read 7 Nov 2026 · its homepage offers advertising · [the full reading](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#reading)

## Domain and hosting

- **Domain registered**: [05 March 2002](https://mxverify.uk/publications/registered/2000s)
- **Content category**: [news](https://mxverify.uk/publications/category/news)
- **Also about**: [Gaming](https://mxverify.uk/publications/category/gaming) · named by its homepage's title and description
- **Server address**: 172.67.68.158 · CDN edge, shared by unrelated sites
- **Hosting network**: Cloudflare (CDN) · AS13335 · US

## Tech stack

- [Built onWordPress](https://mxverify.uk/publications/cms/wordpress)
- [Served byCloudflare](https://mxverify.uk/publications/tech/cloudflare)
- [AdsGoogle Ad Manager](https://mxverify.uk/publications/tech/google-ad-manager)
- [Ad loadSome ads · 1 ad network](https://mxverify.uk/publications/ads/some)

### Publisher signals

- ✓ Author bylines: marked up on the homepage
- ✓ About page: linked from the homepage
- ✗ Editorial policy: not linked from the homepage
- ✗ Contact page: not linked from the homepage
- ✓ Named editorial staff: editors or authors named with roles, on its own pages

Editorial staff: editors or authors named with roles, on its own pages, read from [about](https://kotaku.com/about?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report), [author/rvalentine](https://kotaku.com/author/rvalentine?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report). A model's reading of those pages ([how](https://mxverify.uk/methodology#newsroom)); BV does not price on it.

Structured data: Article, WebPage, ReadAction, BreadcrumbList, ListItem, WebSite +5. The homepage only; BV does not price on these.

### Page speed

Chrome users, 28 days to 4 Nov 2026: LCP 1.4 s · INP 93 ms · CLS 0.03 — passes Core Web Vitals. Data from the Chrome UX Report (Google), CC BY 4.0.

Devices: 62% phone · 36% desktop · 2% tablet — share of Chrome page loads, same 28 days.

Sources: homepage read 07 Nov 2026; ad load from a web technology index, 07 Nov 2026.

## Social profiles

- [@Kotaku 2.4M ✓](https://mxverify.uk/publications/social/x) [↗](https://x.com/Kotaku)
- [kotaku 961K ✓](https://mxverify.uk/publications/social/facebook) [↗](https://www.facebook.com/kotaku)
- [@kotakudotcom 49.4K ✓](https://mxverify.uk/publications/social/instagram) [↗](https://www.instagram.com/kotakudotcom/)
- [user/KotakuNYC 354K ✓](https://mxverify.uk/publications/social/youtube) [↗](https://www.youtube.com/user/KotakuNYC)

**Combined followers** 3.8M across 4 profiles

| Platform | Followers | On since | Posts / videos | Badge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| X | 2.4M | 2008 | 131,149 posts |  |
| Facebook | 961K |  |  | verified badge |
| Instagram | 49.4K |  | 518 posts | verified badge |
| YouTube | 354K | 2012 | 3,362 videos | verified badge |

**Followers by platform**

Followers by platform: X 64%, Facebook 26%, Instagram 1.3%, YouTube 9.4%

- 64% 2.4M
- 26% 961K
- 1.3% 49.4K
- 9.4% 354K

Profiles kotaku.com names for itself, read 07 Nov 2026 · how these are read

The profiles kotaku.com names for itself, in its structured data or linked from its homepage, read 07 Nov 2026. They are the accounts the site points to, not a check of who runs them. A pill opens the sites with a profile on that platform; the arrow opens the profile. Follower counts as of 07 Nov 2026. A tick: the profile's own website field names this site.

Combined followers adds each profile's count: the same person can follow on more than one platform, and YouTube rounds its figure. The donut splits it by platform, each in its brand colour. On since is the year the account began. Posts and videos are all-time totals. A badge is the platform's own mark, not a check by us. All read from each profile page.

## Similar sites

Matched on the subject the two sites share. Never a site on the same server or network.

- [indiedb.com BV $185 · level B B Gaming](https://mxverify.uk/publications/indiedb.com)
- [thinkygames.com BV $283 · level B B Gaming](https://mxverify.uk/publications/thinkygames.com)
- [sportstar.thehindu.com BV $932 · level A A Gaming](https://mxverify.uk/publications/sportstar.thehindu.com)
- [daily-games.app BV $23 · level B B Gaming](https://mxverify.uk/publications/daily-games.app)
- [roblox.com BV $215 · level C C Gaming](https://mxverify.uk/publications/roblox.com)
- [playlin.io BV $129 · level B B Gaming](https://mxverify.uk/publications/playlin.io)

More like it: [Guest post sites](https://mxverify.uk/publications/level/b) · [High-value backlink sites](https://mxverify.uk/publications/value/500-plus) · [News websites](https://mxverify.uk/publications/category/news) · [WordPress websites](https://mxverify.uk/publications/cms/wordpress) · [2000s websites](https://mxverify.uk/publications/registered/2000s)

How to use this report 3 ways to use these figures

- **Price check.** BV puts one new followed link from kotaku.com at $522 (level B), priced on a blend of link types (A 38% · B 57% · C 1% · D 4%): $261 to an unrelated site (×0.5), $652 to a same-topic site (×1.25). A followed editorial link (level A) would be worth up to $778 before relevance. A quote far above $486 for a level B link pays for what BV does not measure. · [Backlink value](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#value) · [what this means](https://mxverify.uk/guide#use)
- **Qualification and risk.** Its Site Strength is 75 / 100; the link it usually gives is mostly level B — may be discounted (a guest, sponsored or listed link). In the 10 articles we read, 0% of the links to other sites are nofollow, sponsored or ugc. The spam score of its links is 18 (0–100, the linking pages' average), not kotaku.com's own. · [How BV is worked out](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#bv-detail) · [what this means](https://mxverify.uk/guide#levels)
- **Traffic reality check.** Set any traffic claim beside the Sept 2026 estimate: 9.1M monthly visits, 27% from organic search (2.5M). Visits rose 4.7% from Jul 2026 to Sept 2026. Its top keyword by Visits (est.) is “gta 6”, about 120.4K a month; the ad value beside it is the whole market's. · [Traffic in detail](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#traffic) · [what this means](https://mxverify.uk/guide#traffic)

What each figure means, and what it cannot tell you: [How to read a site report](https://mxverify.uk/guide).

Quick answers about kotaku.com 9 questions answered

### What is a link from kotaku.com worth?

BV, mxverify's backlink value, is an estimate of what one new followed link from a site is worth to rankings: by BV 2.9, a new followed link from kotaku.com is worth about $522 (level B). Relevance moves it: $261 to an unrelated site, $652 to a same-topic site.

In short: a link from kotaku.com is worth about $522 to rankings, up to $652 on the same topic.

Source: [mxverify BV 2.9 methodology](https://mxverify.uk/methodology)

### Is a link from kotaku.com worth placing?

That depends on the kind of link: by BV 2.9, a link from kotaku.com is worth $778 as an editorial citation (level A), $389 as a guest, sponsored or listed link (level B), $78 as a press-release, syndicated, profile or forum link (level C), $39 as a network link (level D), before relevance. A price far above $486 for a level B link pays for something BV does not measure, such as the site's own readers.

Source: [mxverify BV 2.9 methodology](https://mxverify.uk/methodology)

### How does kotaku.com's BV compare with other sites?

At about $522 a link, kotaku.com is in the “$500 or more” value band, with 52 of the 4,471 sites valued on mxverify. No site is in a higher band.

In short: kotaku.com is in the highest value band of the 4,471 sites valued on mxverify.

Source: mxverify's own directory, counted at the last daily update

### How much traffic does kotaku.com get?

kotaku.com gets about 9.1M visits a month (Sept 2026), by a modelled estimate of all its visitors, not analytics measured on the site. 27% of them (2.5M) come from organic search. Visits rose 4.7% from Jul 2026 to Sept 2026.

In short: kotaku.com draws about 9.1M visits a month, up 4.7% since Jul 2026.

Source: [third-party traffic estimate, Sept 2026](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#evidence)

### Does kotaku.com pass Core Web Vitals?

Yes: real Chrome users see kotaku.com's largest content load in 1.4 s (LCP), and every vital reported for it is at Google's good level. The figures are from the Chrome UX Report (CC BY 4.0), the 75th percentile of real visits. Core Web Vitals describe how a page feels to its visitors; BV does not use them.

In short: kotaku.com passes Core Web Vitals on real-user data.

Source: [Chrome UX Report, 28 days to 4 Nov 2026](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/crux); [web.dev: Web Vitals](https://web.dev/articles/vitals)

### Does kotaku.com link out with nofollow?

In the 10 articles we read, kotaku.com made 20 links to other sites, and 0% of them were nofollow, sponsored or ugc; the other 100% were followed. BV prices a nofollow link at level C (×0.1), whatever the site is otherwise worth.

Source: [mxverify's reading of 10 articles, 7 Nov 2026](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#reading); [Google Search Central: qualify your outbound links](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/qualify-outbound-links)

### How old is kotaku.com?

The domain kotaku.com was registered in 2002, 24 years ago.

Source: the public registration record; [RFC 9083: RDAP JSON responses](https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9083/)

### How many sites link to kotaku.com?

66,173 websites link to kotaku.com, each counted once. 14,014 of them (21%) link with nofollow.

Source: [third-party backlink index, Nov 2026](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#evidence)

### Has kotaku.com been audited?

No link placed on kotaku.com has been audited yet, so this report shows no rates for how its links behave. Its backlink value comes from site-level figures (its authority rating, traffic and our reading of its articles), not from audited placements.

In short: kotaku.com's report is valued, not audited.

How BV is worked out Site Strength 75 / 100 · level B · each factor and link type

A followed editorial link from kotaku.com would be worth up to $778 under BV 2.9, before relevance: its Site Strength is 75 out of 100. The link it usually gives is level B, worth about $522 — and relevance to the site it points to moves that between $261 and $652.

- **Site Strength**: **75** / 100 ([how Site Strength is worked out](https://mxverify.uk/methodology#reading-a-report)). Traffic: 2.5M estimated monthly organic visits, as of 7 November 2026.
- **Worth up to**: $778 · before relevance — [how it is calculated](https://mxverify.uk/backlink-value#how)
- **Usual link type**: Mostly level B — may be discounted · A 38%, B 57%, C 1%, D 4% → ×0.67 (each level's factor below, weighted by those shares) Read by Jev from our own reading of kotaku.com's homepage and 10 articles. No link placed here has been audited yet.
- **Relevance to your site**: ×1 · neutral here ([range in an audit](https://mxverify.uk/methodology#reading-a-report))
- **BV score**: **$522** per link
- **Domain registered**: 5 March 2002 · shown for context ([how age is used](https://mxverify.uk/methodology#reading-a-report))

### A link from kotaku.com, by link type

A link from kotaku.com at each level. [What each level means](https://mxverify.uk/methodology#link-levels).

| Level | Factor | Value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A — Counted | ×1 | $778 |
| B — May be discounted | ×0.5 | $389 |
| C — Usually neutralised | ×0.1 | $78 |
| D — Network | ×0.05 | $39 |

How kotaku.com links out: the full reading 10 articles read · each link counted

Read by mxverify on 7 November 2026: the homepage and 10 articles (4 from its feed, 6 from across its sitemap). This is our own reading of the site, not a vendor's figure, and it is what places a new link on the A–D scale until links placed here are audited.

Fair sample 20 links to other sites across 10 articles published Aug 2005 – Nov 2026. Strong takes six or more articles and thirty or more links, spread over at least two months where the articles are dated.

**Links its articles make to other sites**

- Followed 100%
- Nofollow 0%
- Sponsored 0%
- User-generated (ugc) 0%

20 links to other sites across 10 articles, share buttons left out.

**What its homepage offers**

- **Advertising** · “Advertising”

Runs on WordPress.

### Articles read

| Article | Published | Words | Links out | Followed | Says |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Three Games You Can Play For Free This Weekend On PC](https://kotaku.com/three-free-games-you-can-play-for-free-this-weekend-on-pc-2000754769?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Nov 2026 | 768 | 4 | 4 | — |
| [This Is One Of My Favorite Stupid Details They Kept In The Ocarina Of Time Remake - Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/legend-zelda-ocarina-of-time-remake-iron-boots-cutscenes-2000754765?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Nov 2026 | 640 | 3 | 3 | — |
| [A Much-Requested Battlefield 6 Feature Revealed Last Spring Won't Arrive In 2026 After All - Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/a-much-requested-battlefield-6-feature-revealed-last-spring-wont-arrive-in-2026-after-all-2000754757?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Nov 2026 | 738 | 5 | 5 | — |
| [Dad Abandons Daughter In Line For Pokémon Cards At Target](https://kotaku.com/dad-has-6-year-old-daughter-save-his-spot-in-line-at-target-for-pokemon-cards-and-then-leaves-2000754745?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Nov 2026 | 646 | 3 | 3 | — |
| [Brian Ashcraft Bio - Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/brian-ashcraft-bio-1151936907?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Aug 2005 | 550 | 0 | 0 | — |
| [The Bread Pub Brawlers - Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/games/the-bread-pub-brawlers?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Feb 2018 | 71 | 1 | 1 | — |
| [Zombie Lane Survival - Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/games/zombie-lane-survival?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Feb 2018 | 98 | 1 | 1 | — |
| [Word Search Game - Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/games/word-search-game?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Feb 2018 | 563 | 1 | 1 | — |
| [MiniBikers: The game of mini racing motorbikes - Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/games/minibikers-the-game-of-mini-racing-motorbikes?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Feb 2018 | 50 | 1 | 1 | — |
| [My Daughter In Family Ai: Outfit DLC 2 - Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/games/my-daughter-in-family-ai-outfit-dlc-2?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) | Nov 2026 | 140 | 1 | 1 | — |

Jev, the model that judges every link in a bklink audit, reads these pages as a site whose links are mostly level **A** — A 98%, B 1.0%, C 1.0%, D 0%. Put together with what kind of site it is, how established it is, whether it sells placements and how it links out, a new link here is priced as A 38%, B 57%, C 1.0%, D 4.0%.

Jev reads it as a publication (95%), established as a source (69%), and selling guest, sponsored or paid posts (57%).

Traffic in detail engagement, top keywords, AI assistants · AI crawler access

Modelled estimates for Sept 2026, as of 7 November 2026: site-wide, all visitors, not analytics measured on the site itself.

- **#7,898** global rank
- **#2,862** rank in US
- **47%** bounce rate
- **2.4** pages per visit
- **2m 03s** time on site

**Every channel**

- [Organic search](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/organic-search) 27%
- [Direct](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/direct) 59%
- [Referrals](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/referrals) 2.9%
- [Social](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/social) 8.4%
- AI assistants 0.2%
- [Email](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/email) 1.5%
- [Paid](https://mxverify.uk/publications/traffic/paid) 0.8%
- Affiliate and other 0.0%

Share of all visits. Organic search is highlighted: it is the traffic BV prices on.

**Top search keywords**

| Keyword | Searches / mo | CPC | Ad value / mo | Visits (est.) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [gta 6](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/gta-6) | 11.1M | $0.21 | $2.3M | 120.4K |
| [kotaku](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/kotaku) | 110K | $0.91 | $100.1K | 110.8K |
| [youtube video downloader](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/youtube-video-downloader) | 13.6M | $1.56 | $21.2M | 44.9K |
| [wow forever](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/wow-forever) | 3.4M | $0.35 | $1.2M | 35.8K |
| [pokemon center](https://mxverify.uk/keywords/pokemon-center) | 2.7M | $0.18 | $493.2K | 32.2K |

Searches, CPC and ad value: Google Ads, worldwide, its latest month, where it has the keyword; † third-party traffic estimates where it does not (the two often differ several times over). Ad value: what a month of the keyword's searches would cost as search ads (searches × cost per click) — what advertisers pay for it, not how hard it is to rank for. Visits (est.): the traffic estimate's own figure for the keyword on this site, which behaves like visits a month, not an amount of money. Each keyword opens the list of sites where it is a top search keyword.

### AI assistants

AI assistants sent about **21K** visits in Sept 2026 — 0.2% of all visits. Each assistant's share of those visits, by month:

[ChatGPT](https://mxverify.uk/publications/ai/chatgpt) [Gemini](https://mxverify.uk/publications/ai/gemini) [Claude](https://mxverify.uk/publications/ai/claude)

ChatGPT: Jul 2026 41%, Aug 2026 67%, Sept 2026 32%; Gemini: Jul 2026 16%, Aug 2026 25%, Sept 2026 26%; Claude: Jul 2026 4.0%, Aug 2026 1.9%, Sept 2026 1.2%

| Assistant | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 | Sept 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ChatGPT | 41% | 67% | 32% |
| Gemini | 16% | 25% | 26% |
| Claude | 4.0% | 1.9% | 1.2% |

**AI crawler access**

kotaku.com's robots.txt asks 3 of the 10 AI crawlers below not to read the site, all of them ones that collect training data.

| Crawler | robots.txt |
| --- | --- |
| AI searchCrawls when an assistant searches the web for an answer |  |
| ChatGPT OAI-SearchBot | ✓Allowed |
| Claude Claude-SearchBot | ✓Allowed |
| Perplexity PerplexityBot | ✓Allowed |
| AI trainingCollects text to train AI models |  |
| OpenAI GPTBot | ✓Allowed |
| Anthropic ClaudeBot | ✓Allowed |
| Google Google-Extended | ✓Allowed |
| Apple Applebot-Extended | ✓Allowed |
| Meta Meta-ExternalAgent | ✕Disallowed |
| ByteDance Bytespider | ✕Disallowed |
| Common Crawl CCBot | ✕Disallowed |

Read from kotaku.com/robots.txt on 7 November 2026. robots.txt is a request that crawlers choose to follow; a site can also refuse crawlers at its server, which this card does not see. Google's AI Overviews use Googlebot, so Google-Extended does not affect them.

Third-party traffic estimates. BV uses only the organic-search figure.

Server and network a CDN edge, shared by unrelated sites

Its domain was registered in 2002.

mxverify looked up kotaku.com's address: it is served through Cloudflare (CDN), a content delivery network. Its address is shared edge infrastructure used by unrelated sites, so it cannot show who else runs on the same server, and sharing the network is no sign of a connection.

Cloudflare (CDN) fronts millions of unrelated sites, so sharing it says nothing about who runs a site. The count is shown; the sites are not listed.

Where each figure comes from 8 figures, their sources and dates

| Figure | Source | What it covers |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Backlink value](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#value) | BV 2.9 | Site Strength × link type; link type from our reading of the site |
| [Links placed here](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#links) | bklink audits | None audited yet |
| [How it links out](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#reading) | Read by mxverify | 20 links to other sites in 10 articles, published Aug 2005 – Nov 2026; read 7 Nov 2026 Fair sample |
| [Traffic](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#traffic) | Third-party estimates | Modelled estimates for Sept 2026, site-wide and for all visitors, as of 7 Nov 2026 |
| [Links to this site](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#links-in) | Third-party backlink index | 66,173 linking sites, read 7 Nov 2026; one reading a month |
| [Authority](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#value) | Ahrefs Domain Rating | Half of Site Strength, shown in steps of 5, as of 7 Nov 2026; the rating itself is not shown |
| [Server and network](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#server) | mxverify's DNS and ASN lookup | 172.67.68.158 · Cloudflare (CDN) · a CDN edge, shared by unrelated sites |
| [Domain age](https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com#hosting) | Domain registry (RDAP) | Registered 5 Mar 2002 |

Limitations: what this report does not show 3 stated plainly

- No link on this publication has been audited yet, so nothing here describes how its links behave.
- A CDN address is shared by unrelated sites, so it says nothing about ownership; no neighbours are listed for it.
- kotaku.com gives more than one kind of link (A 38% · B 57% · C 1% · D 4%), so BV prices a blend of them: an editorial link there would be worth $778 and a guest or sponsored one $389, before relevance.

What every report's figures can and cannot tell you: [how to read a report](https://mxverify.uk/methodology#reading-a-report).

Compiled from [bklink.uk](https://bklink.uk/?utm_source=mxverify.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=site-report) audits · maintained by [Palash Bagchi](https://mxverify.uk/about) · updated 07 November 2026

---

Source: mxverify, "kotaku.com Backlink Value & Traffic Report", https://mxverify.uk/publications/kotaku.com (retrieved 2026-11-07). How every figure is worked out: https://mxverify.uk/methodology