What is a PBN in SEO?

A PBN, or “private blog network,” consists of creating a network of high-authority websites that are all meant to push a main target site. Through the links you create, the goal is to help the reference site rank better in search engines thanks to the other interconnected websites, mostly blogs. Some experts adopt this technique because of its effectiveness. Others denounce a practice they consider dangerous for organic search. Some call the PBN outright spam made of low-value blogs. Others argue that there are good PBNs and bad ones. So what does a PBN actually consist of? Here is this controversial ranking method.

Definition of private blog networks

PBNs are groupings of several sites that belong to a third party. Some PBNs are created with free blogging platforms, notably wordpress.com, tumblr.com, and blogger.com. A PBN is generally built from an expired domain name. That term refers to an existing domain that belonged to someone else and that another person can buy.

The PBN is a strategy for optimizing SEO. To do that, the owner develops backlinks on the networks of sites. Creating links on websites toward a particular site helps its organic search. This strategy still requires a prior check of the quality of the links.

The objectives of a PBN are threefold:

• first, to raise the money site in Google’s search results. The money site is the site you want to rank at the top of search-engine results. A PBN site can in fact become a money site thanks to a good ranking strategy.

• second, to generate more traffic. With a better Google ranking, a good reputation on social networks, and the right keywords, a site pushed by a PBN network generates a high traffic rate. In that case, it is possible to redirect the site toward the money site.

• finally, to optimize the brand’s image. To do that, companies create advice blogs and promote their activity on social networks. These strategies reach new audiences and retain visitors.

How PBNs work

A PBN is built on a fairly simple operating model. The basic principle is that the quality and quantity of backlinks are ranking criteria for websites in search engines. Ranking your website on the first page requires good backlinks. The PBN lets you bring in those many quality backlinks without having to do overly tedious work. Thanks to PBNs, you therefore have total control over the links, because you yourself own the websites that link to you. In other words, you have to design a considerable number of different websites. Those sites receive several links that redirect to the money site.

To simplify, a PBN is like a site covering a topic that redirects to a reference site. How the links are distributed is an important point of a linking strategy through a PBN. Those links have to look natural to Google so it does not treat them as spam. The risk of a Google penalty is in no way an obstacle to adopting this organic search strategy.

A PBN involves creating links that go against Google’s guidelines. Google is therefore entitled to sanction you if it discovers that you own a network of websites linking to your main site. You then risk deindexing of your PBN sites.

Methods for finding expired domain names

A good expired domain name has interesting metrics (indicators used to estimate the effectiveness of a digital marketing campaign). Some expired domain names also have strong SEO potential thanks to their backlink profile. That is a set of external links that search engines judge to be natural. Those links can be of good quality.

If you have earned backlinks on authority sites, you will necessarily have a head start relative to your expired domain name. Some domains, however, contain dubious links. In the worst case, you can land on a domain name used as a link farm to inflate the site’s SEO illegally. Reusing a backlink profile for another online project also depends on the quality of the link. Several tools on the web were designed specifically to judge the quality of a site’s full set of links.

One method for finding an expired domain name is to crawl complete sites and note every external link that points to a domain that does not respond. Once all those domains are recorded, you can check whether they are available. Done manually, this work is rather tedious and requires many hours of research. You can perfectly well use APIs to check quickly and directly whether those domain names are available.

If you notice that the domain name in question is not being renewed, it can then be purchased on a registrar such as OVH. To benefit from the SEO power of that domain name, you need to recover it quickly so you avoid Google deindexing.

There is no qualification criterion for the best domain names. The internet offers a wide choice of sites, including ExpiredDomains, Dynadot, NameJet, and SnapNames, for identifying expired domain names. ExpiredDomains displays a list of expired domain names.

Other tools, including PBN Premium, also offer a search for expired domain names. You still have to stay cautious about certain domain names used to spam visitors.

Using a PBN to create sites

How do you use a PBN and create sites? A few precautions are necessary before you start building a PBN-type website.

The first operation is to run a complete assessment of the site’s netlinking (the number of hyperlinks on the site). You also need to determine the type of PBN to build.

The different types of PBN

There are three types of PBN:

• single-page sites (made of two to three pages)

• sites made of around ten pages focused on a specific theme

• sites with more than 10 pages, not necessarily themed. These were set up to increase traffic and optimize the ranking of the money site

After you locate and buy the expired domain names, you need to establish the content and the semantic angle.

Practical tips for building a PBN network

When you create your PBN sites, you need to apply certain rules.

• avoid publishing on all the sites at the same time

• maintain links between only a few sites, not across the entire set of sites

• weave URL and image links into some of the pages. Links pointing to authority sites are recommended. As far as possible, vary the types of links as well as the content

• avoid any sitewide links, and use only links integrated in the text

• each page should contain a maximum of 5 outbound links in order to keep a natural link profile and avoid raising suspicion

• all outbound links on one and the same page should point to authority sites whose topics are relevant to the content

• create several pages first before weaving a link between the domain and your money site

Why content matters when you build PBNs

The articles on a PBN site must treat the same theme as the money site the link will point to. A site of this kind requires original text, with no duplicate content. Content spinning (a method that rephrases a sentence to keep exactly the same main idea) should also be avoided. Google easily detects articles with spun content, and the method also damages the quality of the text.

The texts should look as natural as the site itself. Regular publication is essential. Infographics, videos, and images make reading easier, help understanding, and are also interesting from an SEO point of view. Finally, a few pages are also needed to enrich the sites, notably “About,” “Contact us,” “Advertising,” “Events/Workshop,” “Advice,” “Resources,” “Privacy policy,” “Terms of use,” “FAQ (frequently asked questions),” and so on.

Technical details of building a PBN site

The various construction settings of a PBN site concern the technical details of building a PBN-type site. Those settings include:

• Setting up a server. This first step hosts the site, and the server puts the content online. Some servers are paid, while others are free. Hosting prices depend on the quality of the host’s services and on the site’s needs.

• Installing and configuring the PBN. This second step consists of installing and configuring the PBN. Configuration includes setting up the IP address and the CMS. The number of sites also depends on the server’s capacity.

• Managing the PBN private site network. Managing the private site network implies a regular update of the entire network. You therefore need to publish articles in a staggered way over time, look after site maintenance, change the sites’ themes according to new trends, and so on.