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How to build Private Blog Networks with 4 steps
Why people build Private Blog Networks?
No matter what others say but PBNs work like charm! People do build their own PBN to give link to their main website in order to get high rankings. That is the only reason people build it. Also, having own resources for link building has its own advantages, such as you have all the controls over your backlink profile, whenever you want to do any changes like links, anchor text or anything, you can do it at your ease.
How to build a Private Blog Network?
So now you know the need of building PBNs. Lets learn how to build in a better way. Basically there are 4 steps to follow to build the network:
Building Content, Relevant Niches and on Target
Building backlinks for these blogs.
1. Choosing a Domain Name
We will be utilizing expired domain names for our network, domains that have existing back-links and domain authority. Remember we are creating a high quality network of sites, so the domain names themselves should also be decent.
We don’t want to be buying domains that are obviously junk, or ones that have porn or pharma type words in them. We don’t want anything that will make the domain name stand out negatively, and I personally only ever consider .com, .net or .org extensions, as well as country specific ones if they come up and you can register them.
Where to Find Expired Domains?
Visit Expired Domains and sign up for an account. These guys publish daily lists of domains that have just expired, and you can use their filters to find a good domain.
Do a search for all the .com domains that have dropped in the past 24 hours with 100 links minimum. Here is a snapshot of the settings I use.
On the second tab of the search form, make sure you select “only available Domains” as there is no point spending time researching a domain if it is unavailable.
I generally then order the results by the DA (Domain Authority) column, which show how authoritative Moz thinks the site is. You’ll want to look out for domains that have a DA of above 20 and more than 10 linking root domains.
The higher the DA of your blog network’s sites, the better for ranking your money sites!
Have a scan down the list and pick out a few that take your fancy. No need to spend too much time worrying about the actual text of the domain name, it’s the domain authority that we are after, not a catchy URL. Once you have picked a few head on over to Open Site Explorer to check the DA of the domains you are looking at.
Remember to check both the domain.com and www.domain.com versions of the domain you are interested in.
The higher the DA the better (it’s far more important than Pagerank, which hasn’t been updated in months, and is basically dead).
UPDATE: Google has confirmed that they will no longer be updating the toolbar page rank, so as mentioned above it’s properly dead, so feel free to ignore it.
You’ll ideally be looking for domains with a DA of 15 or higher. Once you find a good strong domain, you need to check out the back-link profile. Checking the existing back-links can be done easily at Ahrefs, Majestic or Open Site Explorer.
This is a very important step, and you’ll want to make sure that the back-link profile is genuine and not a load of crap, as a crap back-link profile could cause the domain to be penalized, and we don’t want that.
This method of finding a domain name requires a little bit of effort, but can pay off. If you are short on time and don’t mind paying up for domain names, then you should look at the following resources, which will potentially save you time, but will cost more.
private sellers on BHW, WF, DP etc – but be extra vigilant
Please be wary about buying domains from Godaddy Auctions, not only are the auctions very well subscribed (pushing the price higher) but it has recently come to my attention that Blackhat guys are sending extortion emails to people asking for money to keep their domains private or they will be forwarded to various members at Google.
From what I have heard the scammer watches Godaddy Auctions, waits for a domain to be won and for a new site to be placed on that domain, and then they email the owner.
Don’t forget though no matter where you buy your domains from, you have to exercise caution, and perform your due diligence checks, otherwise you are just wasting your time and money.
When you purchase the domain name, you’ll want to enable whois privacy. This is an extra step required to ensure the anonymity of your blog network.
If you are purchasing an available domain, then I can whole-heartedly recommend Namecheap. The domain itself will be about $8 and they include free domain whois privacy for the first year, which is a great deal.
After buying the domains, say 10 domains to start with, they need to be hosted as well. Here is one thing you need to take care of and that is, you must host all the domains on different C class IP. Suppose during Google’s manual review, if they find 10 links to your main website from 10 blogs hosted on same C-class IP, then it raises a red flag and you might be caught and Google can de-index your whole blog network.
Many SEO hosting companies offer separate C class IP but there is also a problem because most of PBN owner get hosting from this kind of SEO hosting companies and Google can figure out a large amount of backlinks going out from particular C class IP. So in such case, I would advise to host each domain with different hosting providers and it’s good if the servers are from Different geo locations. Such as, 1 blog is hosted with abc hosting company, server location: Denmark, 2nd blog is hosted with xyz company, server location: USA and so on.
If you do this way then there will not be any red flag from Google and you will be doing great with your own PBN.
Blocking Bots to Protect your Sites
There are many back link discovery services out there that can reveal your money site back-links to your competitors. You can use a premium plugin like Spyder Spanker, but you can achieve the main blocks with a simple bit of code in your .htaccess files (if you have modrewrite installed and enabled on your server).
If you would prefer to use a plugin, I have found a very good one called Link Privacy which is completely free and is working for me very well at the moment. I’d suggest this is the best solution to protect your back-links.
If you prefer to use the .htaccess method, the code is below.
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent .*rogerbot.* bad_bot SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent .*exabot.* bad_bot SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent .*mj12bot.* bad_bot SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent .*dotbot.* bad_bot SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent .*gigabot.* bad_bot SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent .*ahrefsbot.* bad_bot SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent .*sitebot.* bad_bot <Limit GET POST HEAD> Order Allow,Deny Allow from all Deny from env=bad_bot </Limit>
This will stop the back link checkers like Ahrefs, Open Site Explorer and Majestic SEO from spidering and indexing your PBN sites in their index.
3. Building Content, Relevant Niches and on Target
Because we are looking to actually build real sites, you’re going to want real content. The content should be unique and relevant to your niche. If your money site is all about red apples, then your blog network should all be related to red apples in some way.
You should try and keep the sites that you build for your network as generic as possible, so that they remain relevant, but not too niche that you can only ever use them once.
The content doesn’t need to be stunning quality but it needs to be decent and provide some value to the visitors, so we definitely don’t want to be publishing spun crap on our sites.
For content, I use a variety of sources including iWriter (where a decent writer creating a 500-700 word article will cost you about $3-$5), oDesk, or from someone offering content generation in the BHW marketplace.
Recently I have been using HireWriter to very good effect, I always pick an article length of 300-500 words and tell the writer to make sure that they write the full 500 words – this means you can get an article written for about $2.75 (the quality has been excellent by the way, much better than the writers on iWriter) – and if you utilize the introductory offer of 25% extra for your first deposit, it brings the price down to about $2.20 for 5-600 words.
Linking To Your Money Sites
Each PBN site should only link to your money site ONCE in an appropriate article (one that is both relevant to your PBN site and to your money site.
Ideally you structure your PBN site with sticky posts on the homepage (full text) so you get the benefit of an in content, in context link.
Normal sites don’t just have five 500 word articles, they have a mix of stuff, so try and replicate this by not only varying the length of article that you are ordering, but buy publishing shorter posts yourself. Ask your writer for a 200 word article as well as an 800 word one.
While you are waiting for your articles to be written, create some of those inspirational quote images, and publish a couple of them – along with a short summary. It would also help to blog about a couple of YouTube videos that are relevant to your niche just to keep everything looking natural.
Of course, to save money you can completely write all your own articles if you so desire, but this method of outsourcing will definitely save you time.
4. Building backlinks for these blogs.
I put this strategy here first because it’s the one I’d be most worried about, based on the latest trends.
This strategy involves adding links that point back to your site (with the appropriate anchor text) on profiles of accounts in authoritative forums.
Like with blog networks, this strategy works way too well (I’ve tried it myself) and doesn’t add any value to anything whatsoever. At least with article marketing and the tools related to it, you’re publishing articles on sites that have visitors that could read those articles and benefit by learning more from your niche site.
Forum profiles are just spammy, “hidden” links.
I remember reading an SEO research article by Glen Allsop where he inspected the links pointing to some of the top websites in some of the most profitable niches.
His conclusion: spammy profile links work.
Glen followed up by saying, “I think this is a real shame because there are sites which deserve to rank above these, but the Google algorithm is still very easy to manipulate.”
I agree, although if I were Google, these kinds of links would be the next to go.
I’m not going to tell you what to do – but remember, Google is on the prowl and you should think about how the links you’re building prove that your site is worth ranking.
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend doing any of this from this point forward.
Blog comments for SEO is typically associated with spam, but that’s because most people abuse it and use tools to automate the process.
Although comments from blogs are less powerful than they used to be, leaving comments that are helpful and add value to the post that you’ve read can be great both for link diversification and also for getting direct traffic too.
A link in the “website url” field is all one would need, and as far as nofollow vs. dofollow, to me – it doesn’t matter – it’s natural to have both.
Guest posting is considered an “old school” form of link building, but it’s still one of the most powerful and more ethical methods available.
Some people I know use guest posting as their only strategy, to a great degree of success.
The issue is, with so many tools out there that seem to make backlinking “push-button easy”, methods like guest posting, which require a lot of hard work, have become less popular.
Maybe it’s time we start working for our rankings again.
The great thing about guest posting is that you can get links from highly authoritative sites, while getting in front of an audience that is perfectly suited for your content.
Guest posting for an authoritative blog that you own – sure, that’s what a lot of people do.
But guest posting for a niche site? Is that even possible?
In obscure niches, it’s harder to find websites to publish on, so you may have to get a little creative with the type of articles you publish.
To me, any site that’s worth ranking should have an owner who has the ability to write (or research and write) a post that’s worthy on another website, and he or she should use that ability – if at all possible.
For some excellent advice about guest posting, check out Glen Allsop’s Ultimate Guide to Guest Blogging.
If you’re having trouble finding blogs to guest post on (or even if you’re not), how about flipping the switch and contacting those who are trying to find you instead?
There are several sites that bridge the gap between journalists looking for sources, and vice versa.
Often times, when a connection is made, a link back to your site is created. Furthermore, you might see a surge of traffic when their articles are published too.
Here is a shortlist of websites where you can signup (for free) to become a “source” and select from several different journalists and bloggers who seek information about a topic you might have a website about:
HARO (Help-a-Reporter-Out)
5. Build Linkable Relationships
Let’s say you have a niche site about coffee. More specifically (just for the purposes of this example), it’s a site all about making French Press coffee.
You spend a good amount of time making your site the ultimate resource about French Press coffee. Your site has:
Amazing content dedicated to the several aspects of making French Press coffee. The techniques, the equipment, tips, the history – everything.
Gorgeous pictures that make the site fun to look at; and
Incredible videos demonstrating French Press coffee techniques and equipment.
Your site dominates all of the other French Press coffee sites out there, but it’s relatively new and you’re still working on building links to your site.
Side note: as much as possible, this is what you should aim for no matter what kind of linking strategy you want to pursue. Dominate is the key word.
At this point, you (or a virtual assistant) do some research and compile a list of all of the coffee blogs out there.
Maybe it’s as simple as typing “blogs: coffee” in Google.
Now, not only do you have a list of sites to potentially guest post on (and since you’re in a niche within a niche, your unique content and amazing site about French Press coffee might more widely considered), but you also have a list of sites where you can start to build a relationship with the owner.
Connect with them on Twitter.
Become an active fan of their Facebook Page.
Hook up with them on LinkedIn and Google Plus.
Leave thoughtful comments on their articles.
Send a very short but thoughtful email that asks for nothing in return.
Over time, you will get noticed – it’s inevitable.
As a blog owner myself who receives hundreds of comments, emails and messages a day – certain people do stand out and those are the people who I’m more likely to do favors for and potentially link to, or share.
A friend of mine who started a niche site a year ago quickly got to #1 in Google by developing relationships with the top players in his industry. He used his specialization within that niche to become someone who these top players could link to and talk about on their own sites.
Do you know the top players in your niche?
Again, for more obscure niches, you might have to be more creative, but even if you have a website about lipstick, if you have a website worth ranking you should be able to develop a relationship with some of the top make-up artist blogs and YouTube personalities, right?
Short and sweet: all sites should be connected to social media accounts. It is known that SEO is becoming more social.
For niche sites, you might not have to keep them as active as you might with a more community-oriented authority blog, but if you’re building connections with players in the same niche that you’re in, these accounts could come in handy.
The issue I have with social media is that if Google is going to add things like +1’s, Shares, Like and Retweets into their algorithm, is there anything that can detect whether or not they are genuine?
I take notice of this because my security guard training site has recently been going back and forth at the top spot in Google the with a competitor that has an abnormally large number of Facebook likes (among other weird things). I’ll be talking more about this and why I’m not too worried in my March income report, but my point here is that if +1’s and likes and those sorts of things are added into the algorithm, we’re going to get to a point, again, where we feel like we need to pay for those things in order to keep up.
