Do PBNs work?
If you’ve looked into building backlinks, you may have heard of Private Blog Networks (PBNs).
But:
- Are PBNs worth investing in?
- And will they genuinely increase your website’s rankings?
In this guide, you’ll learn whether PBNs are worth building, if they actually work and the pros/cons of PBN backlinks.
Table of Contents
Does Private Blog Network (PBN) Link Building Still Work For SEO?
What Is A PBN?
PBN stands for Private Blog Network.
This is where you buy expired URLs and link them to the money site you want to rank.
For example:
Some of these websites are abandoned projects by people who’ve already spent time building the authority of these URLs.
How do PBNs work?
- The PBN becomes an expired domain
- You buy the URL
- Then you link this URL to the money site that you want to rank
Why does this work?
It’s an easy way to get links to your site.
In theory, PBNs add authority to your website, making it easier to rank.
But there are some major issues with this link building technique.
The main problem is that Google does not like PBNs.
Why?
Because PBNs go against Google’s webmaster guidelines:
It’s basically manipulating Google’s algorithm to increase your website’s rankings.
You see, Google’s algorithm is like a voting system.
The more votes (AKA backlinks) you have, the higher your website’s going to rank.
With PBNs, you’re corrupting the system and buying votes to increase your website’s rankings.
And if you get caught, you could receive a harsh algorithmic penalty to your site.
This means that your time, hard work, and energy disappears overnight.
Can you get you away with PBNs?
Honestly, it’s just a matter of time before you get caught:
Because Google continually updates its algorithm to penalise black hat backlinks.
Here’s the worst part:
Many link builders won’t tell you they’re using PBNs.
But they’ll build PBN links to your site, without caring about the consequences.
So be careful when you buy backlinks:
Understand exactly how your link builder gets backlinks to your site.
See Also: Top 3 Best Link Building Strategies
What Are The Advantages Of PBNs?
Honestly, I don’t recommend them.
But here’s a couple of reasons why people still use PBNs:
1. In some cases, PBNs still work and can still increase your website’s rankings:
In fact, some blackhat SEOs who specialize in this do know how to hack the system and grow their website’s rankings with PBNs.
But it’s rare!
2. Using PBNs is a quick way to get links to your website without earning the links.
You can just build PBN links to your website without any outreach, marketing, or networking involved.
So it’s very low maintenance.
Disadvantages Of Building PBNs
Here are the disadvantages of using PBNs:
1. You need to spend additional time and money to build PBNs.
Creating a PBN isn’t easy!
It requires investing your time, money and energy – and the costs can rack up.
2. You can get caught and be penalized by Google:
This means that all the time, hard work, energy, and money you have put into your website can go to waste.
All of your efforts can immediately disappear overnight.
Do you really want to worry about the future of your site?
What are the alternatives to building PBNs?
Instead of PBNs, invest your time and energy into whitehat link building techniques.
Whitehat link building is far more sustainable and ethical in the long run.
You could use techniques like:
In Conclusion
PBNs are a way of buying expired URLs and then linking them to your money site.
This can potentially increase your website’s rankings.
The problem is that Google doesn’t like Private Blog Networks.
They’re blackhat:
So you’re building your business on a foundation that could crumble at any time.
However, there are loads of link building alternatives to boost your rankings instead!
