Are PBNs still valid and a good long term low cost strategy?

Are PBNs still valid and a good long term low cost strategy?
First of all sorry, if this is not the right forum to raise this question. Please accept my apologies beforehand as I didn't find any forum to seek advice.
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I am new to BHW, though I have been working on SEO stuff for a while as a side hustle during the last couple of years. Since the lockdown, I started thinking of spending more time on my hustle and making it a more long term sustainable revenue path which can become a lifeline to me in the years to come. That said I have a couple of questions, I'd like to have inputs from the experts, which will help me craft and more long term strategy and stick to that.
1. I am looking for the long terms wins, so instead of buying links etc. I see its best if I start building my own PBN. But are PBNs still valid and can be used to improve SERPs when Google is smart enough to spot them in no time.
2. If PBNs are still effective, do you have any recommended courses, video or forums I can refer to before I make it part of my long term strategy
3. How can I monetise and make my PBN profitable? I hope opting for Google ads and other ad networks could just be risking your efforts. In that sense what other options I have to motorise my PBN sites and at least cover all my costs (would love to know if there are any profitable options obviously).
Thanks in advance and I look forward to hear from you all—the expects and the brilliant minds!
First of all sorry, if this is not the right forum to raise this question. Please accept my apologies beforehand as I didn't find any forum to seek advice.
I am new to BHW, though I have been working on SEO stuff for a while as a side hustle during the last couple of years. Since the lockdown, I started thinking of spending more time on my hustle and making it a more long term sustainable revenue path which can become a lifeline to me in the years to come. That said I have a couple of questions, I'd like to have inputs from the experts, which will help me craft and more long term strategy and stick to that.
1. I am looking for the long terms wins, so instead of buying links etc. I see its best if I start building my own PBN. But are PBNs still valid and can be used to improve SERPs when Google is smart enough to spot them in no time.
2. If PBNs are still effective, do you have any recommended courses, video or forums I can refer to before I make it part of my long term strategy
3. How can I monetise and make my PBN profitable? I hope opting for Google ads and other ad networks could just be risking your efforts. In that sense what other options I have to motorise my PBN sites and at least cover all my costs (would love to know if there are any profitable options obviously).
Thanks in advance and I look forward to hear from you all—the expects and the brilliant minds!
Click to expand...1. Yes, of course. A well-structured PBN can be an incredible assett in your SEO portfolio. But you have to avoid all commong footprints and have a meticulous hosting setup to stay relatively safe.
Most importantly, hosting. Hosting is the essence, the bread and butter of any PBN. Don't cheap out on it.
In my opinion, there’s only one secure and safe way to host your PBNs. That is cloud hosting.
The biggest provider of robust cloud hostings that we use frequently for our PBNs are:
Digital Ocean (starts at $5 / month for a small droplet)
Vultr (starts at $5 / month for a small droplet - sometimes you can grab droplets for 2.50$ even, but they are rare)
Linode (starts at $5 / month for a small droplet)
Rackspace (starts at $10 / month for a small droplet)
Atlantic.net (starts at $10 / month)
Cloudways (managed DO/Vultr hosting, more expensive at starts at $10 / month - but it's easier to set up and managed, which is a big plus).
They are cheap, "relatively" easy to set up and easy to scale & manage. But the biggest advantage of cloud hosting is that you can host each PBN site on a truly unique IP that is not shared with any other sites. Cloud hosting can offer huge IP diversity without footprints. You get truely unique A, B, C-Class IPs that are not shared with any other website or even worse another PBN site.
Few more footprints to avoid:
Don't use any custom nameservers
Register your domain with a variety of reputable registrars (not all on the same date and not with dropcatch providers, they should use big ones like GoDaddy, Namecheap, Name etc.)
Build niche relevant sites (broad niche in mind)
No thin or spun content - unique content all the way.
Customizd with a unique logo
Customize with unique about us, contact us and legal paper (privacy policy / ToS)
Customize with a cookie banner (no GDPR compliance = big footprint in my opinion, but others may differ)
Using a variety of themes with unique designs for each site
Don't block bots, unless you have an up to date IP list, don't use spiderblocker et al.
Use Whois Privacy (in times of GDPR this is a privilege and not a footprint)
Don't interlink your sites
Using the right homepage version (root or www not both)
Use internal links on your posts
Rebuild inner pages that have links to them, don't 301 everything to root.
Use SSL (it's free via LetsEncrypt)
Don't neglect maintenance, keep the sites up to date to avoid hacking attempts.
Use caching plugins like WP Rocket (optional)
TAKE BACKUPS!
2. There are quite a few decent threads in the forum, I recommend you use the search function or refer to my signature.
3. Don't monetize, unless you plan to drive traffic. But then it's not really a PBN anymore, but rather a money site that you aim to grow over time. If you can't afford the hosting/content/maintenance costs for a small scale PBN, then don't bother building one.
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1) Pbns are effective yes, building them and maintaining them is a pain in the ass, you cannot monetise you’re pbns because if you then they’re not private. You can however link to your money sites and earn from those money sites. You can use search button to find more guides on pbns
?

1. Yes, of course. A well-structured PBN can be an incredible assett in your SEO portfolio. But you have to avoid all commong footprints and have a meticulous hosting setup to stay relatively safe.
Most importantly, hosting. Hosting is the essence, the bread and butter of any PBN. Don't cheap out on it.
In my opinion, there’s only one secure and safe way to host your PBNs. That is cloud hosting.
The biggest provider of robust cloud hostings that we use frequently for our PBNs are:
Digital Ocean (starts at $5 / month for a small droplet)
Vultr (starts at $5 / month for a small droplet - sometimes you can grab droplets for 2.50$ even, but they are rare)
Linode (starts at $5 / month for a small droplet)
Rackspace (starts at $10 / month for a small droplet)
Atlantic.net (starts at $10 / month)
Cloudways (managed DO/Vultr hosting, more expensive at starts at $10 / month - but it's easier to set up and managed, which is a big plus).
They are cheap, "relatively" easy to set up and easy to scale & manage. But the biggest advantage of cloud hosting is that you can host each PBN site on a truly unique IP that is not shared with any other sites. Cloud hosting can offer huge IP diversity without footprints. You get truely unique A, B, C-Class IPs that are not shared with any other website or even worse another PBN site.
Few more footprints to avoid:
Don't use any custom nameservers
Register your domain with a variety of reputable registrars (not all on the same date and not with dropcatch providers, they should use big ones like GoDaddy, Namecheap, Name etc.)
Build niche relevant sites (broad niche in mind)
No thin or spun content - unique content all the way.
Customizd with a unique logo
Customize with unique about us, contact us and legal paper (privacy policy / ToS)
Customize with a cookie banner (no GDPR compliance = big footprint in my opinion, but others may differ)
Using a variety of themes with unique designs for each site
Don't block bots, unless you have an up to date IP list, don't use spiderblocker et al.
Use Whois Privacy (in times of GDPR this is a privilege and not a footprint)
Don't interlink your sites
Using the right homepage version (root or www not both)
Use internal links on your posts
Rebuild inner pages that have links to them, don't 301 everything to root.
Use SSL (it's free via LetsEncrypt)
Don't neglect maintenance, keep the sites up to date to avoid hacking attempts.
Use caching plugins like WP Rocket (optional)
TAKE BACKUPS!
2. There are quite a few decent threads in the forum, I recommend you use the search function or refer to my signature.
3. Don't monetize, unless you plan to drive traffic. But then it's not really a PBN anymore, but rather a money site that you aim to grow over time. If you can't afford the hosting/content/maintenance costs for a small scale PBN, then don't bother building one.
Click to expand...Thanks janist for the detailed reply and sharing your guide. I'll go through that comprehensive resource.
BTW what are your thoughts on https://www.easyblognetworks.com/ for hosting? They do most of the leg work and management looks quite easy based on what I have seen so far, but I am a bit sceptical as it could leave any footprints.
Also, what's the recommended number of sites for a PBN for it to become effective, as having a couple of them won't make sense anyway. :)

1) Pbns are effective yes, building them and maintaining them is a pain in the ass, you cannot monetise you’re pbns because if you then they’re not private. You can however link to your money sites and earn from those money sites. You can use search button to find more guides on pbns
Thanks Mate. Just a couple of more questions, if you don't mind me asking.
1. How frequently can you link from your PBN sites to your money site (in other words sending more links to from a PNB site to the money site may look SPAMY in the eyes of Google, isn't it)?
2. Is there a risk to link from all the PBN sites to the money site even when you have a decent backlink profile for the money site already?
3. Interlinking between the PBN sites must be totally eliminated?

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Read this guide by @tiiberius https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/how-many-times-should-i-link-from-a-pbn.1168951/page-6#post-12955094 he’s written more about pbns so check his profile and you’ll find more knowledge about pbns

What's bad about using custom nameservers?
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Read this guide by @tiiberius https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/how-many-times-should-i-link-from-a-pbn.1168951/page-6#post-12955094 he’s written more about pbns so check his profile and you’ll find more knowledge about pbns
Thanks for sharing that link. I think those couple of links can resolve all my doubts and help me get on the path super fast.
low cost lol.
low cost pbn crap resources .
proper pbn use loads of over 200 da domains.
silly little da domain dont work unless you got hundreds .
each pbn around 2.5k month to get a good return

What's bad about using custom nameservers?
there on the same ip set .
you need a domain from all different registers not one must clash

there on the same ip set .
you need a domain from all different registers not one must clash
Ah I thought he meant if you use custom for every domain though. Example two domains abc.com and xyz.com - abc.com uses ns1.abc.com ns2.abc.com and xyz uses ns1.xyz.com ns2.xyz.com

What's bad about using custom nameservers?
low cost lol.
low cost pbn crap resources .
proper pbn use loads of over 200 da domains.
silly little da domain dont work unless you got hundreds .
each pbn around 2.5k month to get a good return
Click to expand...Just to clarify, I meant low cost as compared to spending on buying links and other means of paid traffic over PBNs. That said, are you saying PBNs aren't effective unless you have 200 or so domains? Given your numbers, do you think a PBN with 200 sites can be maintained for $2.5K per month (i.e. $12.5 per site)? Just curious to have some insights on the actual costs, etc. before deciding on the strategy and the next steps. Thanks in advance.

They do work but you need to be extremely careful especially since you plan to build it for the long term. You also need to keep in mind that a PBN is black hat seo and therefore it always carries a risk.
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Thanks janist for the detailed reply and sharing your guide. I'll go through that comprehensive resource.
BTW what are your thoughts on https://www.easyblognetworks.com/ for hosting? They do most of the leg work and management looks quite easy based on what I have seen so far, but I am a bit sceptical as it could leave any footprints.
Also, what's the recommended number of sites for a PBN for it to become effective, as having a couple of them won't make sense anyway. :)
You're welcome.
Not a big fan of PBN hosting companies. While many of PBN hosting vendors like to boast with footprint free cloud hosting, most of the time you'll share the resources (the server droplets) with other PBN sites, which is a no-go (just my opinion and experience). I would recommend to go with Digital Ocean, Vultr and Linode directly for your PBNs so you'll have a truely dedicated IP that is not shared with any other site.
Regarding quantity: Sure, having just a couple of PBNs at your disposal can be enough. It depends on your niche and target keywords.
Heck, even 2-3 really good auctioned domains with a proper PBN setup can already give you a nice push. Of course having a network of 50+ powerful auction domains will give you quite some leverage in medium to high competitive niches. But it's not cheap to set up a structure like that. A really good auctioned domain (RD100+, DR30+, clean history, clean link & anchor profile, niche relevant, top TLD) will easily run you $150 a pop, most of the time much more.
If you are new to PBNs you could start out with expired domains, they are usually easier to come by and will cost your between $30-100 bucks. Start out with 5-10 of those and see where that'll take you. Handle your PBNs like you would your money sites and don't leave any footprints in the proverbial dust for Google to find.
It's not rocket science, just tedious work. Whatever you do, don't cheap out on the basics of a powerhouse PBN (hosting, content, domains, relevance) and you'll be golden.

You're welcome.
Not a big fan of PBN hosting companies. While many of PBN hosting vendors like to boast with footprint free cloud hosting, most of the time you'll share the resources (the server droplets) with other PBN sites, which is a no-go (just my opinion and experience). I would recommend to go with Digital Ocean, Vultr and Linode directly for your PBNs so you'll have a truely dedicated IP that is not shared with any other site.
Regarding quantity: Sure, having just a couple of PBNs at your disposal can be enough. It depends on your niche and target keywords.
Heck, even 2-3 really good auctioned domains with a proper PBN setup can already give you a nice push. Of course having a network of 50+ powerful auction domains will give you quite some leverage in medium to high competitive niches. But it's not cheap to set up a structure like that. A really good auctioned domain (RD100+, DR30+, clean history, clean link & anchor profile, niche relevant, top TLD) will easily run you $150 a pop, most of the time much more.
If you are new to PBNs you could start out with expired domains, they are usually easier to come by and will cost your between $30-100 bucks. Start out with 5-10 of those and see where that'll take you. Handle your PBNs like you would your money sites and don't leave any footprints in the proverbial dust for Google to find.
It's not rocket science, just tedious work. Whatever you do, don't cheap out on the basics of a powerhouse PBN (hosting, content, domains, relevance) and you'll be golden.
Click to expand...Thanks for taking the time to share these insights with great detail.
A related question with the hosts and the domain providers. If I am to use multiple hosts/domain providers, should I create separate accounts for each PBN site I host with them? For example, can I maintain a few domains within a single account from Godaddy, NameCheap, etc. and use the same for hosting too? I read in one of the threads that its always good to create a separate domain registrar account and a hosting account for each PBN domain without adding more to the same.
BTW I really appreciate all your inputs and truly glad that I came here and joined this forum, though I've been an occasional visitor before. I will not hesitate to chase after you from time to time to clarify some of the issues while I get moving and hope you won't mind? :blush:

If you refer to hosting your PBNs with GoDaddy, Namecheap etc., then you're talking about so called "shared hosting" providers. While shared hosting can be used for really small scale PBNs (<20), I wouldn't recommend it, as management is a nightmare. In addition they can't really match the prices for cloud hosting, so there's no reason to ever use shared hosting for a PBN. With Digital Ocean and Vultr you can easily manage all your PBNs with just one account for each provider.
For domain registrars, just spread out your PBN domains over a few good ones, like Dynadot, Name.com, Namesilo, Gdaddy, Namecheap et al.. You don't need a separate account for each domain.

If you refer to hosting your PBNs with GoDaddy, Namecheap etc., then you're talking about so called "shared hosting" providers. While shared hosting can be used for really small scale PBNs (<20), I wouldn't recommend it, as management is a nightmare. In addition they can't really match the prices for cloud hosting, so there's no reason to ever use shared hosting for a PBN. With Digital Ocean and Vultr you can easily manage all your PBNs with just one account for each provider.
For domain registrars, just spread out your PBN domains over a few good ones, like Dynadot, Name.com, Namesilo, Gdaddy, Namecheap et al.. You don't need a separate account for each domain.
You answered my question when you said "You don't need a separate account for each domain." So my understanding is that I can have an account each with the domain providers and the hosts you recommended but maintain several PBN sites without leaving any footprints.

Pbn is good strategy, but need decent plan to sustain it. and i don't think pbn is anyway low cost, you need to sustain website put content there, to keep the da etc.
You answered my question when you said "You don't need a separate account for each domain." So my understanding is that I can have an account each with the domain providers and the hosts you recommended but maintain several PBN sites without leaving any footprints.
Yes, basically. Though, I'd really reocmmend to spread the PBN domains over at least a few registrars, they all run different promos throughout the year allowing you to save a few bucks on renewals etc.
What's everyone's PBN route? Is the best practice to recreate the expired domain, wait 6 months+ with GSC, then slowly start adding content/relevant anchor texts? Any other method that people use?