The place of a website in the search engine results depends, in particular, on the number of incoming links from other Internet resources. To ensure the growth of link mass SEO-specialists take various tactics and strategies, one of which is the use of a private blog network – PBN, which allows you to achieve an artificial increase in the number of links to the promoted resource.

What is a PBN

PBN is a group of websites created with one main goal – to place links to other online resources to improve their organic visibility in search engine results. The main idea is that the sites included in the PBN network transfer link weight to the promoted resource, thus increasing its authority and ranking indicators for search engines.

It should be noted that the use of a private network of blogs is considered by Google as an attempt to unauthorized manipulation of the search algorithm. Google treats such a method of link building as a violation of the recommendations for webmasters, which may lead to the imposition of sanctions on the promoted site. Thus, the use of PBN-strategy of external promotion can be classified as a practice of “black” SEO.

Backlinks to a website are one of the most important ranking factors for Google. With their help, search engine robots assess the level of trust of Internet users to a certain resource. Accordingly, the search engine interprets a large number of links as the fact that people like the content of the site and, as a consequence, they share it with other users.

A private blog network allows you to simulate the legitimacy of earned links to the promoted website. By placing links to the main website from PBN resources, an SEO specialist or webmaster artificially creates the appearance of usefulness for search engine robots in the hope that Google will perceive them as genuine and increase the ranking of the promoted website in SERPs.

In turn, Google engineers implement various improvements to existing search algorithms in order to detect unnatural links. Nevertheless, evidence is regularly published in black-hat communities that the private blog network is still a relevant tool for promoting many online resources. When creating a PBN, experts undertake tactics and tools to hide “traces” that could indicate to a search engine robot the unnaturalness of link building.

Pros of a PBN network

Building an effective private blog network requires a relatively large amount of time and financial outlay. In addition, this activity involves a number of significant risks. Despite this, many professionals continue to use this practice. Let’s consider the main reasons for using PBN.

Simplify backlink building

The ideal option involves building backlinks organically through white-hat tactics, such as buying links from reputable bloggers. However, in practice, this option doesn’t always work as well as it does in theory. Regardless of how much time, finance and effort is invested in creating organic link content, in the end, the authority of the promoted resource still depends on unintended links from other authoritative resources. Thus, a positive result of link procurement is never guaranteed one hundred percent.

Website owners can spend weeks and months organizing a public relations advertising campaign, send thousands of emails, but never get new backlinks. Utilizing a PBN network allows you to achieve a number of benefits, including:

• reducing reach. An external website promotion strategy involves a long-term investment. Obtaining external links involves spending on social media, authority services, professional sites, online exchanges, etc. A private blog network allows you to minimize the use of third-party resources and third-party services, provided that the domains included in the PBN are sufficiently authoritative;
• time saving. Despite the labor-intensive nature of creating a private blog network, a ready-made PBN saves a lot of time that would have been spent on establishing new links, writing guest posts, email newsletters, etc.;
• direct control. One of the most frustrating aspects of linkbuilding is the lack of complete control over obtaining link mass. “White” methods of obtaining links involve nuances on third-party sites and other factors that can cause additional difficulties. Own network PBN allows you to get full control over link promotion.

Ability to change anchor texts

Control of link texts is another advantage of using a private blog network. Anchor texts are a tool that allows the search engine robot to determine the purpose of a web page. In this way, Google ranks the page for specific keywords. As an example, let’s consider a web page selling stuffed toys. Let’s try to determine which of the following anchors will be the most effective:

1. Beautiful stuffed animals.
2. Go here.
3. Best protein powder.

Obviously, the correct answer is the first option. It tells the search engine robot that the subject of the page is related to soft toys. The second option does not talk about the specific topic of the web page, and the third – completely irrelevant, so, such a link is likely to be ignored by the search engine.

Therefore, SEO-optimization specialists tend to use backlinks with relevant anchor texts. This helps to increase the recognizability of the web resource and increase its position in the SERP for targeted queries. Often outreach promotion does not allow you to control and change the anchor text. However, this allows you to do PBN.

Minuses of a PBN network

As mentioned earlier, using a private blog network violates Google’s guidelines for webmasters, which entails certain risks. Let’s take a look at the main ones.

Ignoring unnatural links by the search engine robot

Search engine algorithms are set up to detect and ignore unnatural links. If the search engine robot realizes that a PBN is used to promote the target web resource, the incoming links will be completely discarded and, as a consequence, they will not have any effect, including negative.

At first glance, this option is not a complete loss. Nevertheless, given that creating a private blog network requires a significant financial investment and time investment, ignoring links is a wasted effort that will not lead to any result.

Google penalties

Although in most cases unnatural links are simply ignored by the search algorithm, sometimes Google applies harsher measures and penalizes websites that, in the search engine’s opinion, intentionally manipulate the ranking list. The penalties can be of two types:

1. Suddenly ignoring PBN-links, which entails a significant subsidence of a web resource in search results.
2. Imposing a manual penalty. Such penalties are imposed by real human reviewers. If a website has been penalized, the owner receives a corresponding warning in Google Search Console.

The result of such measures can be a downgrade of the resource or its complete deindexing. The only way to remedy the situation is to fix the backlink profile. After the link mass has been corrected, it is necessary to send a revision request to Google. However, this does not provide a hundred percent guarantee of success. Given that search algorithms are constantly improving, the use of PBN entails the risk of suddenly losing an unfair advantage over other web resources.

Types of PBNs

It is accepted to distinguish several types of private blog networks. Let’s consider the main ones.

1. Social network. It is used to promote web resources in areas with relatively low competition. Among the advantages of using this approach it is necessary to emphasize small time costs and financial investments. The principle of creating a PBN-network is based on the deployment of blogs or sites with relevant content on free constructors, which include WordPress, Blog.com, LiveJournal and others. Once the resources are filled with relevant material, links to the target website are placed on them. Links are added on a predetermined schedule to avoid search engine robot detection of manipulation. In addition, PBN members should contain links to third-party authoritative resources and thematically differ from each other, but not cardinally.
2. Reconstructed PBN. This option implies the use of web resources restored from the web archive. The use of this option involves an additional risk, which is associated primarily with the fact that the restored sites may be in Google’s ban list or additional filters may be imposed on them.
3. Niche networking. The use of this scheme involves the purchase of websites, the subject matter of which is similar to that of the target web resource. Before the purchase of the site owner, webmaster or SEO-specialist check the main search indicators, in particular, the indexation of pages and the absence of sanctions from Google. The transaction is made in the case of compliance with all requirements.

It is necessary to choose a particular type of PBN based on various factors. As a rule, SEO-optimizers evaluate the required time of resource’s appearance in the top of the output, financial capabilities of the owner, thematic features, the level of competition and other parameters.

Buying a ready-made PBN

Buying a PBN-domain is practically no different from buying an ordinary website, which, in most cases, it is. The purchase process begins with a search for a resource with the required rating and other profile indicators of search ranking. The next stage – communication with the owner of this resource and the conclusion of the deal. But the direct execution of the transaction is quite rare. For this purpose, third-party sites that provide relevant services are used, in particular:

• thematic forums. On online forums of webmasters and SEO-specialists there are often sections on selling PBN-sites. The main disadvantage of searching on such resources is the price. As a rule, site owners are well oriented in the market, so to acquire an effective PBN-domain for a small cost – an almost unrealizable task;
• auctions and site exchanges. The meaning of the transaction in this case does not change. Only the site changes. To participate in the auction, as a rule, you need to register in the system, indicating your actual data. Examples of such sites are: Telderi, Megagroup, Flippa,Pr-cy.

Before buying, it is recommended to determine exactly the maximum budget, regardless of the site on which the transaction is planned. With proper depth of search, spending some time, there is a chance to find a site with optimal parameters for an acceptable amount. In addition, there is always the possibility of bargaining with the owner.

Other recommendations for purchase

Thematic orientation. When choosing a domain for a private network of blogs, it is necessary to pay attention to the general theme of the resource. It should be similar to the theme of the target website, otherwise the purchase may be meaningless

1. Analysis of SEO-indicators. It is necessary to carefully analyze the main indicators of search engines. You can do this in any convenient service, such as Semrush.
2. Verification in the web-archive. This activity is necessary to make sure that for a long time on the site has not been drastically changed text and other content that can lower its ranking in the search engine.

It is imperative to check for sanctions and filters that may be imposed on the domain by search engines at the time of purchase or have been imposed in the past. In addition, experts recommend to avoid outgoing links to sites with pharmacological content, adult content, spam and so on.
After payment and obtaining credentials from the owner, it is recommended to change all contact information, email addresses, passwords and other sensitive information. The last step is to edit the existing content, including removing irrelevant outbound links, adding text content with anchors to the target resource and large authoritative sites. It is recommended to add at least two domains to the blog network each month to maximize promotion.

PBN creation

As noted earlier, web resources that are planned to be used as PBN domains must be of high quality and attractive to the end user. Creating a private blog network can be relatively time-consuming. Let’s consider the four main stages of preparing and deploying PBN domains:

1. Domain Registration. Acquiring domains can be accomplished in any number of ways. Online auctions or exchanges, for example, can be used for this purpose.
2. Website creation. For high-quality creation of an online resource, professional specialists are involved. In addition, modern technologies allow you to create a website on your own without professional knowledge in the field of back-end development. To do this, you can use existing content management systems, such as WordPress, Joomla, etc.
3. Filling with content. The created pages should be filled with relevant content for proper indexing and increasing the rating of the resource.
4. Adding external links. On the pages of the PBN-domain are placed text materials with links to the target resource to transfer link weight and, as a result, increase the authority of the promoted site.

To date, there is no universal scheme that allows you to create an effective PBN network, protected from search engine filters. According to some experts, the best option is to use archive sites and domains with history. Others believe that private blog network domains should be created from scratch, and then fill them with new content.

Both methods are characterized by their advantages and disadvantages. Before making a final choice of strategy, it is recommended to analyze two main factors:

1. Available budget. First of all, it is necessary to assess the available financial costs. Depending on the promoted Internet resource, the budget costs may differ. It is recommended to evaluate all ranking factors before making a final choice of strategy.
2. Thematic features. An important selection factor is the subject matter of the promoted website and the target audience. For example, if it is necessary to increase the ranking of a narrowly focused site, the strategy of creating new domains can be chosen. In the case of promoting a site with a focus on a wide audience, it may be appropriate to purchase existing domains.

The two options described above are characterized by a common feature – web pages should be filled with unique content, including text materials. Creating unique thematic text materials can be entrusted to professional copywriters, purchase on text exchanges or make a deep rewriting of existing texts of competitors. This helps to attract new traffic, which can be monetized.

Rules for working with the network

Financial experts, experienced SEO specialists and investors agree that the budget for external website promotion should be allocated wisely. The basic idea is to invest financial resources not in one specific tactic to increase the ranking of an online resource, but in a wide range of different practices. This allows for financial stability and ensures that there is a “safety cushion”, for example, if investing in a particular tactic does not work.

Linkbuilding strategy also involves budget allocation. A single financial investment in a certain tactic of building inbound links can jeopardize the planned result of promotion. Accordingly, exclusive use of PBN entails significant risks. To achieve a guaranteed result, it is recommended to use a private blog network in conjunction with other “white” options for external promotion of the Internet resource.

Combining the purchase of incoming links in authoritative resources to the promoted site together with the use of a private blog network allows you to maximize the effect of promotion of the target website. In each individual case, the combination of tactics should be chosen in accordance with the resource development plan.

Whether to use PBN