What is PBN in SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the focus of every digital marketing strategy. Without an optimized website, making your business visible on Google SERP is impossible. Digital marketers use various techniques to enhance the SEO of a website. One of the most recommended methods is generating backlinks.
Backlinks are links from a third-party website to your website. These may seem promotional but if added correctly, they are useful. Adding backlinking to your SEO strategy is like providing your website with a vote of confidence. However, generating sufficient backlinks is not a simple task. This is why PBNs have become so popular.
What are Private Blog Networks (PBNs)?
A private blog network is a network of websites or WebPages belonging to a single domain. They are created specifically to generate backlinks to the primary website. For example, if you wish to create backlinks to your website, you would open several other websites with no connection to yours. You can then post blogs or articles that link to your services.
Even though this network consists of seemingly unrelated sites, they’re owned and operated by a single parent firm. Not all the articles on the website need to promote your company. Instead, you can allow guest posts that will populate the network.
How do PBNs work?
The Google algorithm ranks websites on the SERP on various factors. One of which is the number of backlinks the website has. This metric is used to verify the website’s authenticity and the relevance of the content. Therefore, the higher the number of backlinks, the more trustworthy the website. This ensures the website ranks higher in the SERP.
Acquiring authentic links is expensive since most websites require some form of payment to publish a guest post. Therefore, marketers often buy existing websites with original, published information. They can then embed links to their website in this content. Over time, you can continue to populate your website with more backlinks.
Is using PBN for SEO a good practice?
The answer to this question is entirely up to you. No rule states you cannot use private blog networks for your SEO. However, Google does consider PBNs as an unethical practice. Therefore using PBNs for SEO is considered as manipulating Google’s search algorithm. If you do plan to set up a PBN for your SEO requirements, read through the risks, pros, and cons of setting up a Private Blog Network for SEO.
What is the risk of using a PBN for SEO?
Since private blog networks are considered unethical practices, there is a greater risk involved in setting up the network. While setting up a PBN may improve your website’s SEO ranking, there is a greater harm. If you’re found using PBNs for SEO purposes, your website may be suspended.
Google considers using PBN as a serious offense. Using PBN means you are making the search bots believe your website has credibility and relevance when it doesn’t. As a result, when the user searches for the keywords and finds your website, they trust it wholeheartedly. This is, in other terms, hoodwinking the user.
Therefore, if you’re finding using a PBN to generate inauthentic backlinks, your website may be suspended. For serious offenders, the domain may be banned completely. While you’ll still be able to operate the website, your business may not rank in Google’s SERP.
Once this is done, you’ll have to restart the process of creating your business’ digital identity, by setting up all the accounts again. This can be tiring and frustrating. For many marketers, PBNs hold more risk than reward.
PBNs were a popular SEO technique used by various marketers. Setting up PBNs requires time and effort but it can pay off. With a successful PBN, you can enjoy a higher SERP ranking and more viewers. However, as more people become aware of the risks of setting up a PBN, they aren’t being used as often. While there are still PBNs on the internet, they are fewer and less preferred.
Ultimately, the decision to use or not use PBN is in your hands. However, we do recommend doing thorough research on how setting up a PBN may affect your website’s reliability. Since PBNs are essentially a manipulation of Google’s algorithm, setting up PBNs involves a certain level of risk. While setting up PBNs may help you meet your SEO requirements, it can be costly. We recommend deciding to set up a PBN based on your competitors and your current SEO position.
