PBN Backlinks in 2025: To Use or Not to Use?

PBN backlinks can't boost your site performance as they used to. In fact, they can hurt it. And yet, SEOs still use them.

In the article, you will learn why they're still a popular link-building tactic, why they're risky, and why, in my opinion, they aren't worth the effort. I will also show you how to find them and suggest alternative link-building methods to boost your SEO efforts.

What Are PBN Backlinks?

Let’s break it down.

PBNs, or Private Blog Networks, are website networks controlled by one person or organization. They are created with one goal in mind: to improve another site’s rankings by boosting their authority with backlinks.

Here's how it works:

Simple and used to be effective. Until search engines started cracking down on link-building schemes.

However, it doesn't mean SEOs don't use them. They're still popular in niches where it's difficult to build links with white-hat methods, such as gambling or adult content.

Last year, we studied over 9.3k expired domains—and what happened to them. 15,5% of them were used for PBNs and 27% for casino websites.

What Google says about PBN backlinks

Nothing. Not directly, anyway.

However, the fact that Google doesn't explicitly mention PBN sites in its webmaster guidelines doesn’t mean it approves of them.

Its stance on manipulative link-building practices is clear.

Its 2012 Penguin update was designed to clean up spammy, low-quality backlinks, and Google started dishing out manual penalties to websites that manipulate search rankings.

Since then, Big G. has been steadily improving its algorithms to reliably detect unnatural link patterns. Here's an example of a website that got absolutely hammered by the 2020 core update that Marie Haynes shared on X:

Most recently, the 2022 Link Spam update introduced SpamBrain, an AI-powered spam detection system. Its rollout changed how Google deals with websites using PBNs to improve their performance. It doesn't penalize them; it just ignores suspicious links.

This is a good development, and not because it reduces the risk for websites gaming the system. It protects you from negative SEO attacks from dishonest competitors.

But it isn't just algos and bots. People report PBNs, and Google has access to all the disavow data submitted by webmasters. This helps them detect dodgy schemes.

Is It Worth Using Private Blog Networks? (Pros and Cons)

Getting hit with a penalty or wasting your resources on getting links that make no positive impact on your SEO performance is just one downside of using a PBN.

There are a few more.

PBN cons

What are the downsides of using PBNs? There are two key things to consider.

❌ Domain acquisition and maintenance isn't cheap

Building a PBN is expensive.

Expired domains with strong backlink profiles can cost anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.

For example, a domain in marketing with 50+ referring domains, DR30+ can easily cost you between $2,000 and $3,000 each.

Now imagine building a network of 10 sites. Just the domains alone will set you back $20,000–$30,000, and these aren’t even premium-grade domains.

What’s more, the prices are constantly growing: a domain that cost $62 in 2015 sold for $1,025 in 2024—a 10x increase in under a decade. As more people hunt for expired domains with high link equity, prices will only continue to climb, further increasing the cost of building PBNs.

And buying the domains is just the start.

Add hosting fees, content production, SEO software subscription fees, and regular maintenance, and the expenses pile up quickly.

❌ Nobody wants to buy sites ranking through PBNs

If you're planning to monetize your website by selling it one day, using PBNs to prop up its rankings will seriously reduce its value.

Think about it: a website like this is like buying a sand castle. It may look impressive, but one wave is enough to reduce it to nothing.

You can hide your backlink profile from your competitors, but potential buyers will want to see how solid it is. They won't part with their hard-earned coins for something that can lose its rankings overnight.

PBN pros

Now you must be wondering: Given all the risks and costs, why bother with PBNs?

There are four main reasons why SEOs get tempted by PBN links.

You get quick results

Building a PBN is hard, but building backlinks via white-hat tactics is even harder. The research, prospecting, outreach, negotiations, and content creation all require considerable resources and time. And the results are unpredictable.

If you get hooked up to an existing network, on the other hand, it starts passing link equity immediately.

You have full control over sites and link placements

When you own a PBN, you’re in the driver’s seat. You decide where links go, which pages to target, and how many links you create.

No need to negotiate anything—everything is on your terms.

You can customize anchor texts

With a PBN, you can craft the perfect anchor text for every link. A keyword-rich anchor? Something slightly more natural-sounding? Sorted.

This is hard to achieve with other link-building methods or through organic link acquisition, where the link placement is often out of your hands.

Competitors can’t detect or reverse-engineer your links

As the name suggests, PBN links are private.

You can easily hide them from backlinks analysis tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush by modifying the robots.txt file.

You do it by adding these commands to the file.

Another way is by modifying the .htaaccess file using the RewriteCond and RewriteRule directives. It’s more effective because it doesn’t rely on the tools respecting the robots.txt commands.

Even if your competitors managed to dig them out (and wouldn't report it), they can't reverse-engineer your backlink profile and replicate your results because the network belongs to you.

Is It Hard to Build PBN Links?

You already have an idea that building a PBN isn’t as easy as some Reddit wizards make it sound. It’s a resource-heavy, time-consuming, and downright expensive process.

Let's unpack what it takes.

1. Finding the right domains

The first challenge is finding relevant domains.

As mentioned, expired domains with decent authority and a clean backlink profile come with a hefty price tag. Most high-quality expired domains are auctioned off on sites like GoDaddy, and the competition for them is fierce.

That's just the beginning of the process.

2. Rebuilding the websites

Once you’ve got your domains, you've got to restore them to a semblance of a legitimate website.

Using the same generic template won't fly. To be credible and avoid detection, each site in your PBN needs to look different. So that's a unique theme, color palette, and layout.

You also need different providers to host each PBN website. Why? If you use the same IP address across your network, Google will pick it up in no time. You also need to make sure the WHOIS information for each site is different or private.

That’s not all.

To appear authentic, each of these sites needs standard pages like “About Us,” “Contact,” and “Privacy Policy.” Without these, even a casual visitor could spot your PBN.

3. Creating and updating content

Now for the meat of any website: the content.

Each site in your PBN network needs to offer content that aligns with its niche. If a domain is a former tech blog, the new articles need to stick to tech topics. If it’s a marketing one, you add marketing posts. You can’t just fill them with generic content.

Now, think about the sheer volume of content required. You’ll need dozens of posts per site. That’s a lot of words—and a lot of work.

Sure, AI can speed up the writing process. But it often produces content that feels generic and repetitive. So, you need an editor to manage this process and make every article at least readable.

And you can't just put it up there and leave it. If you don't want your site to look abandoned, you need to publish new content regularly and update old articles.

4. Maintaining the network

Content updates aren't the only maintenance jobs you have to undertake.

You must also stay on top of the domain renewals and hosting packages. Most of these jobs can be automated, but you need to put in some effort to set it all up initially.

Can You Buy PBN Backlinks?

Hell, yes.

You can buy every possible kind of link. Don't believe me? Just ask on LinkedIn and get your inbox ripped within seconds.

Seriously though, here are three main sources of PBN links.

Freelancer marketplaces

Platforms like Legiit or Fiverr are popular for selling PBN backlinks.

You can find listings ranging from $15 to $150 per link, depending on the promised domain authority and the number of links. Sellers often tout "the highest quality links" or "guaranteed rankings," but can you really expect it for 15 bucks?

Forums and niche communities

Forums like BlackHatWorld are another hotspot for buying PBN links.

Here, links can go for as little as $1 each. Sounds like a bargain, right?

While the low price might seem appealing, think about the quality and the risk. These sellers often operate in bulk, providing links from networks with questionable authority and footprints that Google can easily detect.

Collective domain purchases

A newer trend in the PBN space involves pooling resources to buy high-value domains collectively.

Imagine a group of SEOs splitting the cost of a $10,000 domain. Each gets links from the domain, leveraging its existing authority.

Here's an example:

The usmemorialday.org was purchased from GoDaddy for $10,750 in 2020.

Now, it has a website honoring American service personnel who died in armed conflicts. It also supports veterans and helps them transition to civilian lives.

One way to support them? Promote veteran-run businesses. And offer them dofollow links to their websites 😉

While this may appear like a cost-effective way to get premium links, it doesn't always work out that way. After all, somebody still needs to rebuild the website, populate it with content, and maintain it.

How to Detect PBN Backlinks?

Spotting PBN backlinks is a crucial skill for any SEO. Why?

Whether you’re auditing a new client's site, vetting link prospects, keeping an eye on competitors, or buying an established website, identifying these links can save you from wasted investments and Uncle Google's wrath.

Here’s how to detect them.

Use SEO tools for backlink analysis

There are a few handy tools that can help you identify PBN links. Their effectiveness depends on the effort the owner has put into protecting their site, and not all of them 'detect' PBN links, so you need the right skills to interpret the data.

1. Semrush Backlinks Network Graph Report

If you're a Semrush subscriber, it's super easy to spot unnatural link patterns, like those from PBNs via its Network Graph.

Can you see the bundle of red dots at the bottom linking to the main site? That can be a PBN.

Perfect, right?

Not quite. PBN owners often hide their backlinks profiles from SEO tools by disabling their crawlers in the robots.txt. If that's the case, popular tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz won't cut it.

2. IP check in Ahrefs Site Explorer

PBN sites are often hosted on the same servers or share IP addresses. You can find them using tools like the Referring IP report in Ahrefs Site Explorer.

Here’s an example of a bunch of domains with the same IP address. Most were created around the same time; they have no traffic and don’t rank for any keywords. And have millions of outbound links.

Just like the Semrush link network graph, this tactic works only if Ahrefs can crawl the website. If it’s blocked, no sausage for you. So keep reading!

3. Bing Webmaster Tools

With Bing Webmaster Tools, you can view links even if the site blocks SEO tool crawlers. The tool allows you to see the links to your site (after importing your Google Search Console profile) and compare the backlink profiles of other websites.

It's a free tool, and it works because nobody blocks search engine bots from crawling their sites. However, it only gives you a list of domains, not links, and all of them, not just PBN links, so finding them requires experience.

One way to narrow the domains is by cross-referencing them with auctioned domain lists.

4. PublicWWW

PublicWWW allows you to search the source code of websites to find links or common patterns, such as the same affiliate codes or scripts, across a network of sites.

Technically, you could block it from crawling your site, but it isn't a very popular tool, so most PBN owners don't do it.

The main limitation of the tool is that it only gives you a list, just like Bing Webmaster Tools. You still need to figure out which links come from PBNs because it doesn't detect them as such.

5. Linxact

This tool specializes in uncovering hidden links that competitors might use to artificially boost their search engine rankings.

Linxact boasts a database of 1 billion URLs of PBN sites only. When you run the search, it returns only PBN links in the results, not all links, making it quicker and easier than other solutions.

Linxact is quite intuitive to use, but it isn't free.

Look for common PBN footprints

Here are some other telltale signs of a PBN:

✅ Private WHOIS information

Many PBN owners hide their domain ownership details using privacy protection services. While this isn’t always a red flag, when combined with other patterns, it’s worth investigating.

✅ Low-quality or spun content

PBNs often use mass-produced, spun, or AI-generated articles. Look for poorly written or nonsensical content that serves no real audience.

✅ Over-optimized anchor texts

A disproportionate number of exact-match keyword anchors is a dead giveaway. Natural backlink profiles include a mix of branded, generic, and keyword-rich anchors.

✅ Unnatural linking patterns

PBNs often have links pointing to unrelated niches or a single target site. If the outbound links feel forced or unnatural, you’re likely looking at a PBN.

✅ Lack of organic traffic

Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to analyze the domain’s organic traffic. A site with a high domain authority and little organic traffic is suspicious.

✅ Identical designs across sites

Reused templates or themes across multiple sites in the network are a clear sign of a PBN.

✅ Outdated elements

Broken links, old updates, and abandoned pages are standard on poorly maintained PBNs.

Alternatives to Private Backlink Network

While a black-hat link-building tactic, like using PBNs, can quickly boost your DA and improve SERP performance, from my experience, this doesn't last long. Sooner or later, the search engines will catch up. And your rankings will tank.

My recommendation? Use reputable link building services like Editorial Link that use white-hat tactics only.

Here are five we use regularly to deliver high-quality links for our partners:

🚀 HARO link-building

Respond to journalist queries through HARO-like services (Featured, Qwoted, HelpB2BWriter, SourceBottle) to earn backlinks from trusted websites and media outlets. It’s an easy way to boost your site’s credibility and showcase your expertise.

🚀 Broken link-building

Find broken links on high-authority sites and offer your content as a replacement.

🚀 Editorial links

Work with established websites to secure contextual links within existing, relevant content. These links drive traffic and pump link juice from day one.

🚀 Guest posting

Create valuable guest posts for niche blogs in exchange for backlinks. It’s a straightforward way to expand your audience while improving your backlink profile.

🚀 Building linkable assets

Develop unique, shareable content like infographics, guides, or tools. These assets naturally attract links from sites looking to enhance their content.

Wrapping It Up

If you use PBN backlinks to improve your SEO performance, bear two things in mind:

• PBNs, like other link schemes, don't drive sustainable results. Especially, the cheap ones off Fiverrr. 
• A more complex scheme, like collective domain purchase, can be as resource-intensive to set up as other legitimate link-building efforts.

So, instead of taking dodgy shortcuts, take your time to build a solid backlink profile. Yes, it does require a robust SEO strategy and money, but it's a long-term investment.

If you don't have the necessary expertise in-house or would rather your team focused on other mission-critical tasks, get in touch with the Editorial.Link!

PBN Backlinks FAQs

Before I let you go, here are responses to some common questions about PBNs.

What is WHOIS?

WHOIS is a public directory that stores information about domain ownership, including the owner's name, contact details, and registration dates.

Many PBN owners use private WHOIS services to hide their identities and make their networks harder to trace.

What is the difference between a PBN and a link farm?

Both PBNs and link farms are schemes designed to manipulate search rankings.

As discussed, a PBN is a collection of interlinked websites designed to pass link authority to your main site. PBN owners use a range of tactics to conceal the nature of the links, for example, by blocking crawlers or hiding links on the page.

A link farm, on the other hand, is a bunch of low-quality websites linking excessively to other sites, typically without trying to disguise their manipulative intent.

Should I disavow PBN backlinks?

Generally, no. Search engines will normally ignore links if they suspect they come from a PBN, a link farm, or a similar scheme. Bing has even sunset its disavow tool for this reason.

Moreover, disavowing links can hurt your rankings, as shown by the experiment conducted by Joshua Hardwick of Ahrefs.

If you see this message in Google Search Console, that's another story.

When you receive a manual penalty, disavowing can help you restore your rankings. You can do it by creating a list of links to disavow manually or through your SEO tool, and then submitting it via the Google disavow tool (Bing has sunset theirs).

Once you upload the list, submit a reconsideration request. Which is basically begging the Google gods to revoke their punishment (sacrificing live animals isn't recommended.)

Are all website networks PBNs?

No, not all website networks are PBNs.

There are legitimate website networks that serve a valid purpose and add value to users.

Take Gizmodo Media Group, which owns multiple websites like Gizmodo, Lifehacker, and Kotaku. These sites frequently link to one another, but their links make sense contextually.

For instance, the Lifehacker article about streaming services references a detailed article on Gizmodo about this specific service.

These links provide value to the reader and are editorially placed—not manipulative.

In contrast, PBNs are specifically designed to boost search engine rankings by linking sites in an unnatural and controlled manner and without generating any value for readers.