Private blog networks are a powerful SEO tool.
No matter what anyone says or writes – a proper PBN always gives any site an advantage over competitors.
The only thing that matters is that the network is really PRIVATE – that is, yours, and yours only.
If you can buy PBN links – that BN is not P at all, you know?
This post will explain how you can make an effective private blog network using content planning.
If you wish to get ahead of any competition with a bulletproof asset that is a PBN – read on.
First things first, we need to cover some of the PBN basics here.
Browse through these PBN FAQs if you don’t know what a PBN is or how it works:
What is a private blog network
A Private blog network is a set of sites that are created specifically for link building. These sites serve as link donors – basically that is an SEO blog network. These sites are also called satellite sites.
Why use a private blog network
PBNs give you powerful links that none of your competition will get – because you won’t place links to them, obviously. A proper PBN grows in authority with time and gives a great ROI.
Are private blog networks ethical?
Sure, why not.
You are competing for “free” traffic from Google, Google wants you to purchase ads, and your competitors want your site to fail.
Creating a content asset and maintaining it for the sake of your own website promotion is as ethical as it gets.
Are private networks safe?
If they are really private – yes, they are safe. There is nothing illegal in having a website online.
If you can buy the PBN links – no, they are not private, and therefore not safe.
The seller will maximize profits and sell links to pretty much everyone with money (and will deny it).
As a result footprints appear and the network gets detected eventually, with all the domains later getting completely devalued.
How to build a private blog network?
That’s the right question. In a nutshell, to build a PBN you need to
- Find and buy new & expired domains
- Create sites on different hosting accounts
- Maintain the network and place links to your site.
The process is pretty straightforward and you can find a lot of other guides online.
Read the rest of this post however, to learn how to build and grow an actually effective PBN.
How many sites do you need for a private blog network to work?
It depends on how competitive your niche is.
If the keywords you target are relatively easy then several satellite websites will be enough.
If you are working in competitive niches, you could grow your network to 150 sites and above.
How to tell if someone is using a private blog network site?
The most obvious and irritating sign is – they consistently rank higher than you with mediocre sites and mediocre backlinks.
If the network is hidden from bots like Ahrefs, Semrush, SEO SpyGlass and the like – you will not find it in backlink reports.
However, if the PBN is not hidden, you may notice PBN sites in your competitors’ backlinks.
How to recognize a private blog network site?
Usually, they look like shit. Especially the ones you can buy online (the “public” blog networks).
Short gibberish content, a promotional link in every post, posts on every topic imaginable – all in all most PBNs scream SPAM.
How to evaluate a private blog network?
If it’s sold in public – stay away no matter how much the seller hypes up the privacy.
If you are hiring someone to build a network for you – read the rest of this post first.
Now that we’re done with the PBN FAQs, let’s get to the most important thing out there:
Build a PBN that does not look like a PBN and goes further than anything your competitors will ever do.
Here’s the main secret to an effective, undetectable PBN:
A Quality PBN is made by great content and the way it’s published.
Assuming you’ve done the domain selection right (aged, good backlinks, clean web.archive.org history, brand new domains mixed in), content is what matters the most during PBN creation.
In order for your PBN to be safe and effective you need to do the opposite of what regular PBN creators do.
Here’s how most lousy PBNs get their content – they either:
- scrape it from web.archive.org
There are techniques that allow you to extract text content from cached versions of expired domains using the Web Archive and re-publish it on your PBN sites. Many issues come along with this method – from copyright to quality and relevance. This content is cheap though.
- or generate it automatically
A lot of SEOs use scrapers, spinners, and article builders to generate gibberish content for their PBN sites. Most of the time if you are buying “cheap PBN links” on forums and marketplaces – that’s exactly what you get. This is the cheapest content option and it has most chances to harm your promoted site in the long run.
- or order “SEO content”
“SEO content” is usually a code name for just “bad filler content written for word count”. We’ve explained in depth why buying “SEO content” is not a good investment.
Basically, to build a great PBN you need to do neither of that.
In order to create a SEO blog network that’s powerful, safe, and undetectable, you need to
Treat every PBN site as if it’s your little money site.
A “money” site is a website that is cared for.
A money site has an “about me” page, it’s got a face to it, it’s got social profiles, comments under posts, ads, internal links, opt-in forms, and much much more that most PBN creators skip.
But most importantly, a money site normally has some kind of a content plan.
Each “legitimate” blogger is interested in having readership, getting traffic, and therefore blogging about things that get traffic and engagement.
This is exactly the step that sets you ahead of other PBN makers: have a content plan and blog according to it.
Here’s what your PBN content plan helps achieve:
- your PBN site looks natural
- your PBN site accumulates traffic.
The two effects are extremely important, because the PBN site with a content plan no longer looks like a PBN site and passes any possible review.
Moreover, because you publish content that’s SEO optimized and relevant, the PBN site actually brings value.
How to plan content for a PBN site
There are many types of content planning for websites, and with PBN sites, you can do the bare minimum to still get ahead of all your competitors.
Here’s how you map out content for your PBN:
- Figure out early on what kind of anchors your money site will be eventually getting from each PBN site. Scrape keywords for that topic and determine good matches for post titles.
E.g. if you want to grow PBN site X to promote your money page on boxing gloves – harvest keywords related to boxing gloves and see what can be turned into post titles.
Why? Relevance rules the Internet. Google wants to understand relevance, and does it pretty well in 2023.
- Find competitors, use Ahrefs or SemRush to find their top traffic content -> turn that into your PBN blog post titles.
- Once your PBN is live – install Google Search Console and use the data you harvest great new search phrases -> turn those into blog post titles.
Do all that and BOOM – you have a content plan to build a PBN website that will outperform most of your competitors’ PBN sites.
If you do not feel like spending a couple of hours putting together a content plan for each of your PBN sites – order content plan creation from our content research team. You will get a massive amount of lucrative blog post ideas so good that some of them will end up on your money site!
Another great perk of having content plans for each of your PBN domains – you always have a clear vision of what content to order and when. A content plan is basically a ready assignment for your writer or a copywriting agency.
Is all of this 2024-proof?
In 2023, this makes more sense than ever.
What would you rather build – 200 PBN sites with gibberish content that get devalued within a year, or 7 domains that look legit, attract long-tail organic traffic, and grow in authority year after year?
The answer is obvious to us and it should be obvious to you if you want your site to rank.
Building a SEO blog network of satellite sites is a great competitive advantage, so start doing it today!
Have further questions? Get content marketing consulting from us.