One thing I get asked a lot and that I see pop up in forums and Facebook groups pretty often is “Do private networks still work?”
The TL;DR version is yes. Absolutely yes!
I use the term ‘private networks’, but you will more often see people say PBNs. In my mind, there is a difference between the two.
PBN stands for Private Blog Network, but let’s be honest. When people are talking about PBNs they rarely are talking about something that is private. PBNs to me are Public Blog Networks.
These sorts of networks are the type that are advertised on lower tier marketplaces and easy to spot. The sites typically get posted on daily or even multiple times a day, each post has at least one link to another site, they usually cover a wide range of topics, they rarely have any kind of social presence, and they almost never have any kind of internal linking between their posts.
A private network, on the other hand, is a network of sites owned by you. Links are not sold on the site. You will not find anywhere advertising the selling of links for the site. They get posted to much less frequently (usually), and they are typically more tightly themed around a topic, but can still be fairly broad too if done right.
What’s the difference?
To me there are a couple of huge differences.
*Risk. The most obvious difference between these two types of networks is risk. A PBN is fast and easy to get a link off of, but that convenience comes with more risk. As I mentioned above, these sites are easy to identify, and once you identify one of them, it is very easy to unravel the rest of the network.
There was once a popular link seller on Warrior Forum claiming to have a “safe” network of about 5000 sites that Google would never target or be able to identify. I uncovered 3500 of those sites in about 45 minutes using nothing more than Scrapebox on a tiny laptop. It is much like a ball of yarn. One you have the end of one string, you can unravel the whole ball.
Now just imagine what Google can do with all of their resources.
A truly private network is much more difficult to identify. The way I describe a site that is part of one of my private networks is that it looks just like any other site you might come across on the internet. It just happens to link to where I want it to.
Diminishing Link Equity
The other major difference between a PBN and a private network is that PBNs will provide diminishing returns. They are posting frequently, and as they post older posts get pushed deeper and deeper into the site. Over time, that makes the page with your link on it weaker.
Anyone who has used public blog networks will tell you that it’s kind of like going to the chiropractor. Once you start going, you have to keep going.
The same thing happens with PBNs. Once you start buying links off of them, you will find that you have to keep ordering regularly or else you will see a deterioration of rankings.
With a private network, you have complete control over how the link equity flows across the site. You don’t have to publish daily, or even weekly. You can set up internal linking to keep your post pages stronger.
Yes, they are typically more expensive to set up and maintain, but the ROI is much, much greater. I could even make the argument that they are less expensive in the long run because, as I already mentioned, you have to keep buying PBN links over and over in order to maintain rankings.
Why do they work so well?
This is an easy one. Because links are still a significant ranking factor. Google has previously stated that the top 3 ranking factors in their algorithm are links, content, and RankBrain, in some order. I would argue that links are still the #1 ranking factor out there, but even if you do not believe that, there is no denying that they are a major ranking signal.
One of the most popular, and often fruitless, tactics for trying to build links is outreach, guest posting, whatever you want to call it.
Back in 2006, the thought occurred to me, “What if I could do ‘guest posting’ without ever having to beg someone for a link? What if I just built the kind of sites I would want links from?”
I have been building private networks ever since.
If it is a topic that interests you, next week we will talk about how I go about evaluating and selecting sites for a private network.
