How to Create a Private Blog Network That Works

Updated August 19th, 2018!

What is a PBN Site?

PBN stands for Private Blog Network which a network of websites built for the specific task to rank a money website to the top of Google. This is achieved by creating a group of websites with domain names that have powerful search engine metrics such as Majestic TrustFlow and Moz DA/PA (domain and page authority). These sites then have article posts on them that link back to the money site. Some techniques including images and videos embedded into the articles linking back to the website we are trying to rank. Also, you can link back from the PBN site to a so-called authority domain to make to post look more authoritative. For example, if the article posted is talking about weight loss, besides linking the website we try to rank, we link back to a website that’s authoritative in the niche such as Yahoo News article.How to Start a Private Blog Network?

Private blog network (PBNs) has become a huge buzz in last year and a half. The main advantage of them is you can control your backlinks at any given time and moment. But to achieve something like this you must spend a lot of time and ultimately money. Building a private blog network is not something you do on a sunny afternoon. From my experience with dealing with all kinds of backlink types, PBNs are something I don’t like a lot because I’ve seen more losses than wins by using them. Especially if you are planning to buy PBN links sold on fiverr.com – just forget it, you will most likely get penalized. But for the guys and gals who want to do it, have the finance and will, please read below.

In this blog post, I’m going to sketch out how to create a successful PBN network that runs smoothly without Google giving you a slap on the back.

First and foremost, treat every site of your PBN as your money site! Each property of the network is nothing more but a controlled buffer website. So, running spammy links directly to a site of the PBN is a big NO-NO.

Buying Expired Domains and Hosting for Private Blog Network

Buy expired domains that are aged not solely because they have “backlinks”. See if they have way back machine archive and if they do – buy the domain. Always use reliable registrar such as Internetbs.net where you can setup custom name servers such as NS1.PBNDOMAIN.COM / NS2.PBNDOMAIN.COM pointed to different IPs.

From what I’ve read in reviews online, the best PBN hosting is Easy Blog Networks.

Best experience I’ve had with buying an expired domain is using DomCop.com. Everything in one place. There are even ready to use filters for finding expiring, expired and archived domains. I love digging into the archived domains. This is where I found the best domains for money sites and PBNs.

Using WordPress and WordPress Themes

When building a website for your PBN if unless is restored from an archive, use premium WordPress themes. DO NOT use premium themes downloaded from the Internet. You never know what are you going to get as “bonus” with them. Make sure the WordPress theme of your choice is mobile friendly. Using different CMS platforms like Joomla and Drupal is always an advantage. Also, each site from the network shall use a different premium theme. Do not just use one time on all of your site from the network.

Legal Terms

Make sure each site has pages as About, Privacy Policy, Contact page, Terms of Services and so on using unique content. No copy-paste page from one site and using it for all of your sites. Always stay up to date with the latest trends in our industry. It is out of a question to achieve success online and keep it that way for long(er) time possible.

Posting Articles, Images, and Videos to The Private Blog Network

Each post shall have a unique handwritten content and images in it! Videos are welcome too, make sure they are related to the subject of your article as well. Use Photoshop or any editing software to make a picture unique. Google how to do that there is numerous tutorials on youtube as well. When you link in an article to your money site, make sure you link to an authority source with similar content like CNN/BBC/Wikipedia and so on. Ideally, your home page should be a landing page, not a post. Use your footer for metadata such as latest posts, not the sidebar. Always use social widgets on your property like G+ page, Facebook and Twitter widgets.

Disabling Services on Your Private Blog Network Website

It is a crucial step. You MUST disable pinging and email sending from your PBN website. If you are using CDN like CloudFlare – disable commenting and trackbacks because they leak your real IP. I suggest you read this blog post on Easy Blog Networks. I didn’t know that Cpanel will leak your real IP, but there we go it does that.

How to Do Backlinks to Your PBN Websites

Always start with creating social profiles for each private blog network website – like a Google+ page, Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram account, Youtube channel and whatever else comes to your mind. Buy some social signals for them to boost the presence.

After that start doing Web 2.0s for each of your PBN property. The best way would be to use some expired Web 2.0s like Tumblr and Weebly. On them, you can post super spun articles or use articles created with WordAI. It is what most people do but read below how I do it!

Now, here I have a more different approach than most people in our industry. I use expired Tumblrs, buying them from this guy on Source Market. They are great without any spam backlinks and reliable metrics. So far all properties I’ve done have stuck. I post original handwritten EXPENSIVE articles to each Tumblr. In most cases, I use two articles for each property. In the article on Tumblr, you can link to your PBN site. Even though these links are meta refresh they still pass link juice. Here is a little trick which still works. When editing your theme, you can backlink it to your property by adding HTML code manually in the blog description such as <a href=”pbnsite.com”>money keyword or brand</a>. Then you can point SAPE links to your Tumblr or any other backlinks you do.

One thing that most people miss doing and getting “manual review penalty” to a private blog network site is not getting backlinks from Google for their money site, the master himself. How do you do that? Very easily, create a Google+ page and join communities in your niche. Once you post in those communities, the post gets shared even once, and it pops all over the community. So, when Google employee goes (Hello, Kal here 😀 ) and visits your money site search console profile all they see is genuine quality backlinks. Google+, Facebook, Twitter and so on. The more backlinks you got from Google+, the better.

I think this is the best way to keep a Private Blog Network up and running smoothly without any penalties to your money site and the network itself. Here is a blog diagram on how it would look like if you build it the way described in the article.

I do not embrace PBNs as much just because they cost tons of money to create, keep and maintain. You need to outsource a lot, pay for quality articles like $15-$20 for each. Hiring VAs as well is a hard task. Never easy to find skilled employees. But I achieve close to that by using SAPE network. I have projects with SAPE links up and running for over 2.5 years without issues.

If you are looking to buy PBN links you can try Hatred on Source Market. The guy has very strict requirements but he knows what is he doing.

How to Create a Private Blog Network

 

Build A Private Blog Network With Web 2.0 Sites

If you want to cut the cost of building a private blog network by purchasing expired or auctioned domains you can use Web 2.0 sites for that. This is a great way because you will be leveraging the power of the Web 2.0s which is really strong and liked by Google. You can also purchase expired Web 2.0s properties or scrape and use them to build the network.

List of top 10 Web 2.0s to create a FREE private blog network (PBN):

  1. Tumblr.com
  2. Blogger.com
  3. Google Sites
  4. WordPress.com
  5. Over-Blog.com
  6. Strikingly.com
  7. Diigo.com
  8. Weebly.com
  9. LiveJournal.com
  10. Caringbridge.org

How to Scrape for Expired Tumblr Blogs

Expired Tumblrs are the best source for building a free PBN because they usually have great metrics such as Majestic Trust Flow and Moz DA/PA. Some time ago I wrote a blog post on how to scrape for expired Tumblrs and you can read about it here.

And here is the video tutorial on how can you do that by yourself:

SEO Tools to Scrape for Expired Tumblrs And Other Web 2.0s:

  1. ScrapeBox
  2. Hrefer (part of the Xrumer)

If you want to purchase expired registered Tumblrs you can do it from Legiit.com and here is a seller that I recommend:

legiit.com

Cons and Pros for Using Web 2.0s for Building a Private Blog Network:

Pros:

  1. You don’t have to buy domains because you are using free platforms.
  2. No need to buy hosting because the Web 2.0 platforms provide you with free space.
  3. Scrape or purchase expired Web 2.0s with great metrics.
  4. No need to buy expensive articles as you can post spun content.

Cons:

  1. Hard to maintain, you need to login to each website to post.
  2. Can get banned if you abuse the Web 2.0 by posting to often.
  3. Competitors can report you and get you banned (yeah snitches are everywhere).
  4. You have to use VPN or proxies if you have multiple properties on the same platform.

Overall this is really the most comprehensive guide and ideas I could come up with. I will keep updating the guide as the time goes by.

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