{"id":4019,"date":"2021-11-24T18:28:53","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T18:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/?p=4019"},"modified":"2022-05-19T19:37:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T19:37:44","slug":"are-pbn-backlinks-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/are-pbn-backlinks-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Are PBN Backlinks Bad? | What You Need To Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"4019\" class=\"elementor elementor-4019\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-section-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-28499a0 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"28499a0\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4f40e9c\" data-id=\"4f40e9c\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2b11829 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2b11829\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I often get asked <strong>whether PBN backlinks are bad<\/strong> and how much impact they can have on a websites backlink profile.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Backlinks, along with your content, are two of the key factors when it comes to ranking your web pages in Google.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this article, we will talk specifically about <strong>PBN backlinks<\/strong> and <strong>whether they are a bad thing as a part of your link building strategy<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-644f78f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"644f78f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"what-are-pbn-backlinks\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2><b>What are PBN backlinks?<\/b><\/h2><ol><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"#what-are-pbn-backlinks\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are PBN backlinks?<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"#do-pbn-links-still-work\">Do PBNs still work in 2021?<\/a><\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#why-people-buy-pbn-backlinks\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why do people buy PBN backlinks?<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li><li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"#should-you-remove-toxic-backlinks\">Should you remove toxic backlinks?<\/a><\/span><ol><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#does-google-ignore-toxic-backlinks\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does Google ignore toxic backlinks?<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#how-to-know-if-backlinks-are-toxic\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do I know if my backlinks are toxic?<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#should-you-invest-in-pbn-backlinks\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Should you invest in PBN backlinks?<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#conclusion\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conclusion<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ol><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Private Blog Networks are hyperlinks constructed from a network of connected sites and blogs.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e2f22bb elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"e2f22bb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"950\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/What-is-a-PBN-backlink.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"What is a PBN backlink\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/What-is-a-PBN-backlink.jpg 950w, https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/What-is-a-PBN-backlink-500x296.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/What-is-a-PBN-backlink-768x454.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-42988ca elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"42988ca\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PBN links are essentially unnatural links that are coming from websites (or link farms) designed only for the sole purpose of linking to other sites.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can often spot a PBN very easily and it is important to be aware of what to look out for when building backlinks.<\/span><\/p><p><b>In terms of how to identify a PBN, the telltale signs are often as follows:<\/b><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No contact information<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blog content covering a broad range of topics<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No identity or photos of people on the website<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A disproportionate ratio of outgoing links compared to incoming links<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using PBN&#8217;s as a primary link building tactic is something that is frowned upon and the discussion as to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/are-pbn-backlinks-good\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">whether PBN backlinks are good<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or bad continues.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7724061 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7724061\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"do-pbn-links-still-work\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2><b>Do PBNs still work in 2021?<\/b><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to PBN link building, I often get asked whether it still works as an effective SEO strategy.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generally, PBN link building refers to the spammy methodology of building links from websites where their sole purpose is to build links. This is of course something that you need to avoid if this is all you are relying on to rank in Google.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PBN&#8217;s can also be very expensive to build and manage. It can take years to build up a network of sites that have authority and can pass relevance from one site to the next.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google&#8217;s algorithm is far more sophisticated than it was 10 years ago and there are so many more factors that go into ranking a website. Badly built PBN&#8217;s linking directly to your money site is a penalty waiting to happen.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2005f11 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2005f11\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"why-people-buy-pbn-backlinks\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2><b>Why do people buy PBN backlinks?<\/b><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When people buy PBN links, they often do so unknowingly. Websites that are just starting out in SEO or beginners can also fall for this type of scam because it&#8217;s hard to know any better when you&#8217;re new to the industry.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may also see some immediate improvements when building PBN links just for the fact that they are often sites with a lot of authority. However, this is often temporary and a ticking time bomb in terms of the long term impact it can have on your website.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding a\u00a0 backlink is complex and people often do not carry out their due diligence when analysing a link&#8217;s quality.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-217a10e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"217a10e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"should-you-remove-toxic-backlinks\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2><b>Should you remove toxic backlinks?<\/b><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/2648487?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you should only remove backlinks if there is a considerable amount of them and you believe they are harming your website. If you can&#8217;t remove the links yourself, or get them removed then it&#8217;s best to disavow the links from the relevant URL&#8217;s. But you should only consider a disavow if you believe the links are harming your site&#8217;s rankings.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-817a06c elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"817a06c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"950\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/google-disavow-tool.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"google disavow tool\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/google-disavow-tool.jpg 950w, https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/google-disavow-tool-500x296.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/google-disavow-tool-768x454.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f5de5c0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f5de5c0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"does-google-ignore-toxic-backlinks\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3><b>Does Google ignore toxic backlinks?<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google assesses which links to trust without additional guidance, so most sites will not need to resort to backlink disavowals. You should only use this tool if your site has a considerable number of spammy or artificial inbound links pointing at it or you believe your site may be hit with a penalty as a result.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Toxic links from unnatural or spammy sources can hurt your site&#8217;s search engine rankings, and if Google notices that the number of these links on a website is high it will exclude them from their database. You should ensure to evaluate your link building strategy to make sure the links you are building are coming from genuine relevant sites.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3d98d46 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3d98d46\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"how-to-know-if-backlinks-are-toxic\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2><b>How do I know if my backlinks are toxic?<\/b><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a number of ways in which you can analyse whether the backlinks within your websites link profile are toxic or not. Some of the main things to look out for include:<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A sudden drop in website traffic.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You have received a warning in Google Search Console relating to a manual warning.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Checking links one by one and analysing the quality of the page.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check if the link is relevant to what it is you are offering with your website.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysing your links using SEO tools.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Checking ratio of inbound to outbound links. You can often spot a PBN backlink by the number of outbound links it has compared to inbound.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most toxic and PBN links come from websites where their sole purpose is to build links.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The content is often poorly written and they will tend to link out to many other websites whilst not having many links coming to the website.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4ffcbfa elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4ffcbfa\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"should-you-invest-in-pbn-backlinks\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2><b>Should you invest in PBN backlinks?<\/b><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whilst PBN backlinks can sometimes provide results in the short term for ranking improvements, as a long term strategy it is not something we would advise.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are so many other ways in which you can build genuine links from sites that are getting real traffic. You can build links on other relevant sites within your industry which will be read by people that may not be aware of your business.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A well-placed link within a quality piece of content can be more valuable as a pose to just building links with the sole purpose of increasing the authority of your website.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I get asked &#8220;are PBN links bad&#8221;, my response is that you should not be focusing on one strategy to help increase the visibility of your website.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7ed5205 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7ed5205\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"conclusion\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To summarise, PBN links are not necessarily a bad thing if you are building directly from a website that is relevant and looks fairly natural.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, to rely on this as your only link building strategy is something that you need to avoid and having a more rounded approach to your SEO will benefit you far more in the long term.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I often get asked whether PBN backlinks are bad and how much impact they can have on a websites backlink profile. Backlinks, along with your content, are two of the key factors when it comes to ranking your web pages in Google. In this article, we will talk specifically about PBN backlinks and whether they &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/are-pbn-backlinks-bad\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Are PBN Backlinks Bad? | What You Need To Know<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[15,82],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4019"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4342,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019\/revisions\/4342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshuageorge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}