What is a PBN? Comprehensive guide

Ranking on top of Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is a priority for most leading industries, seeing as how it brings them several benefits, but since you’re here, you might probably already know what they are.

However, if you would ask, a major reason why it is so would be for the average organic CTR (click-through-rate) that businesses generate while being on top of the Google SERP, regardless of the industry they’re in.

“As of 2023, the average CTR for the first position of top-ranking companies in Google SERP is over 30%, while the second page of the google SERP receives less than 16%.”

What we can take from this is that it gives that business a certain authority over the rest since it’s the first thing anyone sees when they search for something specific, regardless of any niche. 

Moreover, people don’t really have the time or the interest to scroll down past the third result if they find the answers they’re looking for at the top.

But again, ranking high on the Google search page is certainly not the entire game that goes into the success of any company, but it is one of the most crucial ways to drive sales and have that competitive edge in the market.

That brings us to the question: how do people rank on top of the Google SERP? By using various SEO strategies like PBN (Private Blog Network). 

PBNs have long time been practiced and used by leading companies to increase their money site’s organic visibility and boost SERP rankings without fail.

Today, in this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve deeper into everything you should know about PBN and how you can use this strategy to improve your money site’s visibility and rank higher in the Google SERP. Read on!

What Is a PBN?

A PBN, short for Private Blog Network, is a network consisting of several websites, usually with authority, owned by a single owner or individual, designed only for the purpose of adding backlinks.

These backlinks are added in order to lead customers in your niche or just anyone in general to your money/main site strictly with the motive of bringing in organic traffic to your site, ultimately boosting it in the Google SERP.

In layman’s terms, you can create or buy multiple websites with relevant content just for the purpose of using backlinks that lead straight to the website that you want to boost in the Google SERP, which is usually called a money site.

How Does A PBN Work?

If you didn’t know, backlinks play a crucial role when it comes to the algorithms of search engines. With the tools search engines are equipped with, they determine the quantity and quality of the links that lead to your money site, rule them as informational or useful, and rank you higher in the Google SERP.

In a way, backlinks are like a vote of confidence, and as such, the more “votes” you get, meaning the more backlinks your money site has, the higher you will be ranked on the results page.

That being said, a PBN leverages this strength backlinks come with and incorporates them to boost your money site. In simple words, when you’ve added backlinks directing to your main site on your PBN sites, it casually sends all its credibility and authority to it.

And since the more relevant and high-quality backlinks your website has, the more you’ll be ranked higher on Google SERP.

A PBN: Are They Worth Investing In?

PBNs have long time been an open secret successful SEO strategy among most of the leading companies in the market you see today, and they are irrefutably among the top when it comes to boosting money sites.

However, even with all the benefits a PBN brings to your website that we’ll be covering today, there are certainly some cons that come with this strategy if you do not proceed with caution. 

Here are some pros and cons that you’ll want to know if you’re investing in a PBN.

Pros Of A PBN 

Faster Approach

Surely, there are other ways to help you boost the rankings of your money site using backlinks, like reaching out to various bloggers in your niche. However, this can be extremely time-consuming, and it can take months until you see results or increased organic traffic on your target site.

With a PBN, you wouldn’t have to deal with the hassle of outreach and directly start building links since you’re the sole owner of the several sites that will have backlinks to your target site.

Increased Search Rankings 

PBNs are immensely capable of boosting your Google SERP rankings, and all you have to do is place your backlinks strategically. Once you’re done placing the links on high-quality PBN websites that focus on sending credibility and authority, you’ll see increased search rankings and visibility.

Get Full Control Over Keywords

Since you own several PBN sites and are managing them, you’ll have full access to the content you use and, as such, strategically place and optimize any targeted keywords.

We’re talking about desired keyword phrases, anchor text, and relevancy that all lead back to your money site, adding more authority to it and getting ranked higher in the Google SERP.

Potential To Earn More Using A PBN

PBNs (Private Blog Networks) have the potential to transform into public blog networks once they’ve achieved a certain status of authority and credibility. You can then monetize your public blog networks or get additional earnings by renting your PBNs out to people who need quality linking or assistance as well.

Cons Of A PBN

While you can see the potential benefits that usually come with using PBNs the right way, it is only fair that we shed light on the drawbacks or risks that are associated with the improper use of this SEO strategy.

High Risk Of Penalties 

It is important only to use high-quality PBN domains since you’re liable to various penalties that come with using spammy or low-quality PBNs. Since Google has specific tools to detect such mentioned PBNs, you risk:

• Demotion In SERP- Google’s tools, such as Penguin or Panda, can easily detect low-quality or spammy PBNs. As such, the website that has been backlinked by these PBN sites, which is your target site, will be liable to a demotion in SERP.
• Loss Of Credibility- The penalty affects not only your sales but the trust of your consumers and future business partners since the demotion causes a call for concern and ultimately leads to loss of credibility. 
• Complete Deindex- Google punishes websites that are suspected of unusual activities, and in this case, getting traffic or low-quality backlinks from spammy websites. You are bound to get lowered in SERP, and in the worst-case scenario, your money site is liable to get completely deindexed and will not appear in Google’s SERP anymore.

Cost And Maintenance 

While PBNs might be one of the best at enhancing your money site’s Google SERP rankings, it’s not usually the most cost-efficient and has a lot of maintenance to keep up with.

Since Google’s tools are increasingly getting upgraded, detecting and penalizing websites that are backlinked from spammy websites is on the rise. Hence, it is important to build and maintain only high-quality PBNs. 

However, finding high-quality expired PBN domains with authority and age can take quite the time and effort, and they usually don’t come cheap. 

In addition, managing these PBN sites can get quite troublesome since you need to manually update valuable and relevant content on each of these sites regularly to avoid detection and loss of effectiveness. 

Vulnerable To Detection

As mentioned, Google and its tools are increasingly getting upgraded to better versions solely to detect complications and unusual activities such as using PBNs. 

So, despite your best efforts at keeping your PBNs hidden, you are still vulnerable to detection and are liable to the penalties that we’ve recently talked about.

Once Google detects that your targeted site or money site is using PBNs for its organic traffic and the recent boost in SERP rankings, your links, and sites that you’ve put a lot of money and effort into will surely lose their potency. And in the worst-case scenario, getting penalized, making your investment in building, managing, and maintaining these several networks pointless. 

So, is a PBN still worth the investment? Absolutely! Even though PBNs have risks and cons, the pros outweigh them, and they can be avoided by practicing good PBN building methods such as:

• Only building or purchasing high-quality PBN domains with authority, age, and relevancy.
• Investigating a PBN domain’s history, checking for penalties, etc.
• Updating regularly with relevant content to make sure the backlinks stay high-quality.

Conclusion

A PBN is still one of the most sought-after SEO strategies for most marketers and business owners, with the goal of improving search visibility, traffic and outperforming competitors by enhancing their ranks on the Google SERP.

While PBNs have certain risks and drawbacks associated with them, they can be easily avoided by following correct procedures when building and managing them.