Are Private Blog Networks Considered BlackHat SEO?
Introduction
Over the past 12-18 months, everyone in the black hat scene has been talking about private blog networks and how powerful they are for pushing you up the SERP's and it's one of the reasons Google are so focused on cracking down on them. This begs the question are private blog networks considered blackhat sEO?
To try and get to the bottom of this question first let me explain what a private blog network is. A private blog network is a collection of sites that you may own or a pool of people own. These sites have Page Rank and sometimes good SEO metrics such as inbound links and domain age. By being in control of the content that gets posted to these blogs you can give Google the 2 most important quality factors in a link, Authority and relevance. Strictly speaking this method works best when you control each site in the network so the overall theme of the site is related to your target niche.
This all sounds new and exciting, imagine never having to find and build links again and with a bit of starting capital you can be on your way to ranking stardom.
Why do Google Target Private Blog Networks?
Google hate any form of link building strategy that specifically designed to improve rankings for any site. Private Blog Networks are a link strategy that allows you to almost cheat your way to the top by providing high quality links that would normally be obtained naturally from a recommend site. It's also considered a form of link buying since you are paying for domains with history, building the site around your niche and then adding the links you choose.
The reality is, it's very easy for Google to spot a site using this strategy but to be perfectly frank this activity has been going on a good few years now. In fact when i started in SEO 5/6 years ago i saw this activity happen regularly by White Hat SEO companies. They would buy domains, build a site around the niche and link back to the clients site. What the Back Hat scene and white hat scene don't have in common is the quality of their work.
Staying Under The Radar
The reason white hat companies get away with this method is due to the quality they put into each domain. Black hats tend to just buy a domain, install WordPress and plug a few spun articles on. This is a perfect example of why Google dislike this tactic. You end up with a pretty boring site with duplicate content that probably doesn't make sense to any visitor. White hat SEO companies on the others hand have a team of content writers and web developers who can create stunning websites with awesome content that provides much more value to any users browsing the site.
This is an acceptable form of link building since you are providing quality content on the site related to your niche; You just happen to be linking to another resource you own that the user will find valuable.
To put it more bluntly, if I created a blog about affiliate marketing that was a valued resource would it not make sense to link to IMSoldiers since they share a similar niche? Should Google penalize me for interlinking just because I own both sites?. This is why you must maintain quality if you are going to be successful in this linking strategy. Treat each site like they are separate sites and aim to provide value. This is how you not only build great blogs that can increase your traffic, but also gain long term SEO benefits.
Conclusion
In the end, it comes down to how much time and effort you are willing to put into each blog. If you want the blog to perform only for SEO purposes then I would consider this blackhat seo as you are trying to cheat the system. If you take a bit of care and consider any new blogs an extension of your original site then, I feel, this is white hat and a safe link strategy.
Over the past 12-18 months, everyone in the black hat scene has been talking about private blog networks and how powerful they are for pushing you up the SERP's and it's one of the reasons Google are so focused on cracking down on them. This begs the question are private blog networks considered blackhat sEO?
To try and get to the bottom of this question first let me explain what a private blog network is. A private blog network is a collection of sites that you may own or a pool of people own. These sites have Page Rank and sometimes good SEO metrics such as inbound links and domain age. By being in control of the content that gets posted to these blogs you can give Google the 2 most important quality factors in a link, Authority and relevance. Strictly speaking this method works best when you control each site in the network so the overall theme of the site is related to your target niche.
This all sounds new and exciting, imagine never having to find and build links again and with a bit of starting capital you can be on your way to ranking stardom.
Why do Google Target Private Blog Networks?
Google hate any form of link building strategy that specifically designed to improve rankings for any site. Private Blog Networks are a link strategy that allows you to almost cheat your way to the top by providing high quality links that would normally be obtained naturally from a recommend site. It's also considered a form of link buying since you are paying for domains with history, building the site around your niche and then adding the links you choose.
The reality is, it's very easy for Google to spot a site using this strategy but to be perfectly frank this activity has been going on a good few years now. In fact when i started in SEO 5/6 years ago i saw this activity happen regularly by White Hat SEO companies. They would buy domains, build a site around the niche and link back to the clients site. What the Back Hat scene and white hat scene don't have in common is the quality of their work.
Staying Under The Radar
The reason white hat companies get away with this method is due to the quality they put into each domain. Black hats tend to just buy a domain, install WordPress and plug a few spun articles on. This is a perfect example of why Google dislike this tactic. You end up with a pretty boring site with duplicate content that probably doesn't make sense to any visitor. White hat SEO companies on the others hand have a team of content writers and web developers who can create stunning websites with awesome content that provides much more value to any users browsing the site.
This is an acceptable form of link building since you are providing quality content on the site related to your niche; You just happen to be linking to another resource you own that the user will find valuable.
To put it more bluntly, if I created a blog about affiliate marketing that was a valued resource would it not make sense to link to IMSoldiers since they share a similar niche? Should Google penalize me for interlinking just because I own both sites?. This is why you must maintain quality if you are going to be successful in this linking strategy. Treat each site like they are separate sites and aim to provide value. This is how you not only build great blogs that can increase your traffic, but also gain long term SEO benefits.
Conclusion
In the end, it comes down to how much time and effort you are willing to put into each blog. If you want the blog to perform only for SEO purposes then I would consider this blackhat seo as you are trying to cheat the system. If you take a bit of care and consider any new blogs an extension of your original site then, I feel, this is white hat and a safe link strategy.