All I will say is that this is a case of "You're doing it wrong."
Of course, PBNs work and they work really well. There are just so many different variables to take into consideration that it makes it pretty hard to have one that is Google proof.
It's true that once you trigger a manual review, you are pretty much screwed. That's when Google will complain about your content, but in reality, it doesn't even matter what they say because when a human at Google looks at some of your sites, they will immediately see what's going on.
The idea is to be thorough and not cut corners, e.g.: actually hire quality writers to write your articles, use different web hosts that are not "c-class IP" or the so-called "SEO hosts", etc...
the 'quality content' will not help you much. must people are like bigfoot when it comes to footprints. the biggest footprint are the outgoing links. a lot of people are hosting all their moneysites on one reseller account somewhere. even if you don't link to all your sites from all your blogs you will still link to the same ip(s) all the time. i think even with no mathematical background you will see that this is an easy to exploit footprint.
that being said, it's also about the right mindset. nothing in seo is forever. you can be lucky if something is working for 12 months or a bit more. if you expect your pbn(s) to work for you until you retire in 30 years you are definitely on the wrong track. it's about spending your money, and especially your time in a clever way and adapt fast to changes. if it takes you one year to setup a pbn with 100 domains you are not doing it in a clever way because others are already (ab)using this pbn method since 11,5 months to the max.
hit me up if you want to handle your pbn business in a clever way
I already read that article and I think it 100% alarmist. The article is well written, and the guy is pretty sharp. I just think he completely reached the wrong conclusion.
I wish I had $1 for every person that screamed out about some new google conspiracy. That guy probably had all sorts of footprints and didn't even know it. Did you notice he never explained exactly what this PBN was made of, or how it was constructed, or how many links are on each website, and whether there were the same set of links on more than one website????? Not a peep.
OK, so I have a PBN and I use all that juice to power one link per moneysite. Please explain how I can get busted if every one is on a different host?
There are so many variables that this guy could have screwed up. I never believe anyone when they said "they did everything right". Yeah, everything based on their limited understanding.
I have seen the fire alarm pulled way too many times like this. In fact, I am really starting to hate the phrase PBN. Now we have guys who have a few web2.0's saying they have PBN's. Sheeesh! That's not a PBN. If you start spending money on domains and hosting, that is a PBN. But I digress.
One of the biggest footprints Spencer from that site did was to tell everyone for the past 12 months on his blog that they had been using PBN's from Rank Hero for one of their sites. It was in your face on every blog post he did, in fact it got so annoying I stopped reading his blog posts some time ago.
It doesn't take a genius to go to the site "apennyshaved" and check the links. I think Google did this to scare people away from using PBN's, What better way to send a message to the gullible followers than to take down one of the biggest and over promoted PBN networks (Rank Hero) out there.
Spencer had/has a big following (beit many clowns from the warrior forum and similar sites), Now everyone is shaking in their boots and want nothing to do with PBN's .. exactly what Google wanted!
we all know that Google works on patterns. So think about a second. What is the biggest pattern in PBNs.? (I am talking about most people's own Very simple.... They all have 2-3 even max 5 page articles. İf your money site's main links are from PBNs like this it is a huge print. Like most people my own PBNs work good, but we all must know since PBN is the hot word these days, soon it will lose its importance.
^^ @MorphMan - Thank you for completing my thoughts by adding in that stuff about Rank Hero. He implied he had something else going (his own PBN) beside Rank Hero. Or so I thought. If he didn't, and this was all about Rank Hero, then I take back what I said about him being a smart guy.
This is why I hate the term PBN. I think of the "P" as being *MY* PRIVATE Blog Network. I never used that term to describe someone else's paid network. I would never refer to a paid network as my PBN. How many public paid networks have been taken down in the last 3 years? Too many for me to count.
Public does not equal Private.
And Web2.0 does not equal PBN. At least in my mind.
Lots of good advice in this thread guys. I definitely agree its about footprints. I would add its also a good idea to NOT link to the same money sites and to host your money sites on different IPs. Variation is key here so you do not create a repeating pattern. And don't just use keyword rich anchor texts. Add articles that add value so it looks like a real site. Use other links sources, (GSA, Web 2.0s., etc) so if you do lose your network your sites are still being supported by strong links. If Google is doing this algorithmically then you want your pumper sites to have the same common merits of real quality sites.
Luckily, all 50 of my domains are indexed but I did lose a couple this summer and quickly battered down the hatches to avoid the same fate.
Even though it can be done with algo. No algo is needed...LOL.
Go to all seo forums, blogs, groups, etc. that offer PaidBN posts and spend around $20k buying largest packages from all PBN suppliers and Google can make massive impact devaluing sites.
Google wipes its ass with $20k...thats nothing for them.
jpvr90 Agreed. This is why I much prefer having my own network for my personal use. If done correctly, it's much safer and gives you all the control you need.
Comments
Why would anyone add their PBN sites to webmaster tools?
the 'quality content' will not help you much. must people are like bigfoot when it comes to footprints. the biggest footprint are the outgoing links. a lot of people are hosting all their moneysites on one reseller account somewhere. even if you don't link to all your sites from all your blogs you will still link to the same ip(s) all the time. i think even with no mathematical background you will see that this is an easy to exploit footprint.
that being said, it's also about the right mindset. nothing in seo is forever. you can be lucky if something is working for 12 months or a bit more. if you expect your pbn(s) to work for you until you retire in 30 years you are definitely on the wrong track. it's about spending your money, and especially your time in a clever way and adapt fast to changes. if it takes you one year to setup a pbn with 100 domains you are not doing it in a clever way because others are already (ab)using this pbn method since 11,5 months to the max.
hit me up if you want to handle your pbn business in a clever way
So think about a second.
What is the biggest pattern in PBNs.? (I am talking about most people's own
Very simple.... They all have 2-3 even max 5 page articles.
İf your money site's main links are from PBNs like this it is a huge print.
Like most people my own PBNs work good, but we all must know
since PBN is the hot word these days, soon it will lose its importance.
My rankings are fine and i dont use any pbn or web 2.0.
Can only be called Paid Network Blogs.
http://searchengineland.com/google-targets-sites-using-private-blog-networks-manual-action-ranking-penalties-204000
Go to all seo forums, blogs, groups, etc. that offer PaidBN posts and spend around $20k buying largest packages from all PBN suppliers and Google can make massive impact devaluing sites.
Google wipes its ass with $20k...thats nothing for them.