How to Assess Backlink Profiles of PBN Domains

High-quality domains are the building blocks of all successful Private Blog Networks (PBNs), but a domain is only as strong as its backlink profile.

A solid backlink profile will increase your PBN’s ability to boost traffic and increase rankings, but a poor backlink profile will sabotage your SEO efforts.

This blog post will teach you how to assess backlink profiles of PBN domains and advance your SEO strategy.

Why are Backlinks Valuable?

A backlink is a link from one website that links to another website.

A Backlinko study showed that the most vital factor for ranking on Google was the number of domains that link to a page, with the #1 result having 3.8x more backlinks than all other results on the first page. 

Each backlink shows that a website is vouching for your content. This vote of confidence tells search engine algorithms that the content is informative, reliable, and trustworthy. The more votes your website receives, the greater the rewards the search engines give in terms of ranking, increased traffic, and overall authority.

However, for PBN backlinks to be effective, they should satisfy two significant conditions: 

• It must come from a highly authoritative website because it has link juice to pass onto other domains. 
• The page or website linking to your website must be topically relevant because search engines consider links from related websites more valuable.

Before we explore how to assess backlink profiles of PBN domains, let’s look at the tools you need to set up.

Tools for Analyzing Backlink Profiles of PBN Domains

Here are the tools you need to conduct any backlink audit for PBNs: 

SEO Tools

You need tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to give you a comprehensive backlink audit for domains so that you can make better decisions for your PBN strategy.  

Common Features

• Backlink Audit: Tools like Ahrefs give insightful data about the state of your domain’s profile so you can interpret the data and identify toxic links that can affect your SEO strategy.
  
• Backlist History: These tools also allow users to see how a backlink profile for a particular domain has changed over time. This feature is vital because it helps you to know the domain’s strengths.
  
• Content Explorer: This feature shows the best-performing content in a particular niche, allowing you to find great link-building opportunities. 

Here’s how to use an SEO tool like Ahrefs to assess a backlink profile: (Note: There are several tools for assessing backlink profiles in the market, but we’ll only use Ahrefs for this demonstration)

Step 1: Sign up for Ahrefs and subscribe to a paid plan to get full access to a domain’s backlink profile

Step 2: Enter the domain or URL whose backlink profile you want to assess. It’s under ‘Site Explorer’ in the paid version. 

Step 3: Click on the search icon, and the domain’s full backlink profile will appear.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console, best known as GSC, is a free tool that allows SEO experts and webmasters to monitor their domain’s performance and see how Google indexes their websites. This tool also tracks the website’s SERP impressions, traffic, CTR, clicks, and other vital data.

However, you should NEVER add your PBN domains to GSC, as it will create a footprint that links all your PBN domains to your account, which defeats the aim of building a PBN in the first place.

Also, you need to own the domain first before reviewing it with GSC. You can’t use this tool to assess other people’s domain.  

Common Features: 

• Backlink Insights: Google Search Console (GSC) helps users to know the number of backlinks and referring domains that link to the main domain.
  
• Search Performance: You can use GSC to view and export data on your website’s performance in SERPS. It also enables you to monitor metrics like clickthrough rates and clicks.
  
• Manual Actions Report: This report will notify you if the target domain has received any penalties due to guideline violations.
  

Key Metrics to Consider When Analyzing Backlinks

Here are some vital metrics to monitor when assessing a backlink profile:

Referring Domains

This is the number of unique websites that link to your PBN domain. When a domain has a diverse set of referring domains, it shows more credibility and trust, increasing your PBN’s ranking chances over time. 

However, quality beats quantity every time. A 50-domain high-quality backlink profile can be much more powerful than a 500-domain low-quality one. You need to analyze these backlinks yourself.

Backlink Relevance

A link from a domain in a similar niche has more credibility than that from a domain unrelated to your niche. It tells the search engine that your website is a trusted voice in the industry.

Anchor Link Distribution

The quality and diversity of the anchor texts showcase the PBN domain’s authenticity and organic growth better. A good backlink profile should combine generic, keyword-rich, and branded anchor texts so search engines don’t see the domain as manipulative or spammy. 

Backlink Type

A good PBN domain should have a mix of NOfollow and DOfollow links, with several links to authoritative sources in articles. Contrary to popular opinion, almost 50% use NOfollow links as part of their link-building process. Google has made some changes to the ‘NOfollow’ attribute so that it provides more SEO value than before.

Link Velocity

This metric measures the rate at which a domain gets a new backlink. A spike in new backlinks or a reduction is not good because it suggests poor backlinks or link-building practices. 

Now that you know the vital metrics to watch out for when evaluating backlink profiles for PBN domains, let’s see how to spot low-quality or toxic backlink profiles. 

Signs of Low-Quality or Toxic Backlink Profiles

Here are the red flags that signify low-quality or toxic backlink profiles:

Over-Optimized Anchor Text

This involves an unusual distribution of anchor texts, including using excessive exact-match keywords or spammy anchor texts like Viagra, casino, betting, or free iPhones. These links are bad because search engines might see them as attempts to rig the ranking process.

No Link Diversity

Using too many links from the same type of backlinks, like forum profiles or blog comments, or the exact anchor text might signal a low-quality backlink profile. Search engine algorithms may think that those backlinks are artificially created.

Links from Irrelevant or Low-Quality Websites

If the PBN domain gets backlinks from unrelated websites, the link-building process might not be authentic. Also, any backlink from low DA or badly maintained websites can suggest a toxic backlink profile and should be avoided at all costs. 

Links from Previously Penalized Domains

Links from domains already penalized by search engines can harm your SEO strategy in the long run because they can transfer those negative signals to your PBN. 

Top 3 Considerations when Assessing Backlink Profiles of PBN Domains

Here are some considerations to keep in mind to avoid any prominent PBN mistakes: 

Buy Expired Domains from Reputable Marketplaces

The first step to building a solid PBN is to acquire high-quality domains from vetted marketplaces like Odys Global and seo.domains. 

These marketplaces focus on gathering domains that offer tangible SEO value, so these domains already have clean backlink histories. 

Hire an Expert to Screen Domains 

If you have already acquired a PBN domain, you should hire experts like those at Odys Global to vet the domain for you.

As search engine algorithms continue to evolve, you need these experts to manually check the domain’s history and see if it’s already had any previous penalties or been involved in any shady practices. 

Buy from Auction Sites

If you feel confident in buying a good domain for your PBN, auction sites like GoDaddy Auctions, Dynadot, and Namejet offer great deals for quality, expired domains. However, you must conduct a thorough PBN backlink quality check before buying any domain because they may not have been screened like those on trusted marketplaces. 

Final Words

Knowing how to assess the backlink profiles of PBN domains is highly needed for building a thriving PBN.

When you use tools like Ahrefs and monitor vital metrics like backlink relevance, link velocity, and anchor text distribution, you can avoid toxic profiles that will obstruct your SEO strategy. 

However, your high-quality domains need high-quality hosting services like Priority Prospect. A reliable hosting service will enable your PBN domains to run effectively by improving user experience and ensuring your websites stay safe, as many hacks come from the website’s administrator mistakes.

Priority Prospect is a premier hosting service specifically for PBNs that provides dedicated, footprint-free IP addresses for each website within your network. That way, you can host your PBN while maintaining its integrity and anonymity. 

Sign up for our hosting services and increase your online visibility today.