If you are careful, how would Google ever find a Private Blog Network?

I am not a super SEO genius, but it seems to me that it is a very small possibility that google could ever find a well planned private blog network.
What do you think?

Thats the whole idea behind having a PBN.

Ok cross purposes.

Find for indexing is one thing
Discover it was a private network is another.

Yes - it could - or at least make an assumption that it was based on evidence that a less than thorough set up might leave behind.
A 20 node network using 20 cheap hosting accounts with domain privacy (Google are not allowed to scrape ICANN or WHOIS for commercial reasons - neither is anyone else - but privacy is still a good precaution)

Each node costing say $60 a year for they domain and the hosting. Not using the same CMS on them all, not starting them all in the same month, not posting the same content on them all (or spun versions of the same) creating outbound links to sites other than your own, rarely selfishly linking. Updating now and then, adding multimedia - being consistent.

If you do all that Google SHOULD never know. The way I'd do it would be to build a node a week for 20 weeks, spread the cost and the footprint. Use mostly aged domains some new ones. It's not rocket science but it does take some application and consistency, and is worth it if you are use 1 or 2 sites to make your cash. Obviously this is not really a tactic for micro site or churn and burn guys really. Though I wouldn't be surprised if some did a variation on this somehow. Over time you could add some good free sites to it as well (Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress.com), maybe end up with a 30 node network? Worth considering.

Scritty

What scritty said. I must add:

- you need a management system or u go insane
- automated backups are a must
- update each site as often as u can (ideally auto) - at least once a month
- build good links to them, not crappy. without links the network is just added cost with no benefit. whole point is a net is to have each site super strong.
- a 10-20 site network is manageable, a 100+ net without 99% automation is a nightmare.
- most important thing if you must have sites look 100% natural - then invest time in that. most pvt nets scream "pbn" at you
- use fake whois on same of the sites, not privacy. not mandatory but looks more natural
- use as many registrars as u can
- keep it 100% private. nobody should know. dont brag, dont disclose shit.

For BH:
- content quality isn't a must if u do it for BH purposes and dont expect manual inspections from G or competitors. if u want it to look as real sites than it is.
- you can cut corners a lot but u also risk a lot. i personally do it fot BH projects because i still profit.
- can be automated 100% except site setup. super low maintenance.

if ur not making constant $3000/mo already forget about it, is not worth it. for serious pbn u need in excess of $10k/year just to cover the pbn.

also read my super old guides on this topic - "link networks interlinking madoctopus site:blackhatworld.com"

Most PBN's are completely CRAP content, offensively ugly, and horribly over spammed. Especially the ones that sell slots. Unless they're cheap 99.99999% of them are wastes of money. All it takes is a single slip up and then the human review will blast it away and all the other high PR links that the culprits have.

Thanks for the great insights Scritty & Madoctopus!

I have a small PBN, 5 sites but already ranking #2 for my top keyword.
2 registrars, different hosting company for each site. What is the likelihood that google will find my PBN you think?

randybishop said:

I have a small PBN, 5 sites but already ranking #2 for my top keyword.
2 registrars, different hosting company for each site. What is the likelihood that google will find my PBN you think?

Click to expand...

Do not worry ... Google is busy in catching big sharks.

5 websites PBN will not come even their radar. So
enjoy.

Google can find you PBN
1. Gmail Accounts and all Google Products
2. Other Cookies, google.com and others products

You Can hit 2 PBN websites those coincidences of life.. but it is very difficult for the same computer daily hits all of PBN and other websites your money site

When I was planning my PBN, I did an analysis of all the risks I could think of.
The single biggest risk I arrived at, and one which is hard to mitigate against, is a competitor reporting your money site (whether rightly or wrongly) and triggering a manual review.

It would surprise me greatly if G hadn't already built themselves a tool to crawl and analyze 2nd tier backlinks and look for links in common between your link source and other sites, and then through a pretty simple process of cross-checking, figure out the entire network in a few minutes.

I don't think what the sites look like are particularly relevant - it's what they link to that will be the nail in the coffin.

VaLeRyA said:

You Can hit 2 PBN websites those coincidences of life.. but it is very difficult for the same computer daily hits all of PBN and other websites your money site

Click to expand...

Unless google was your ISP, they'd never know. Or, you were stupid enough to enter each URL in the search box.

by accident

IP
Cookie
Browsing History
Domain Register Info
Content Footprint
Backlink Footprint
Referrer
Diversify these and your PBN will be safe. At least for a while.

tony_d has a great point .. the main risk of Google finding your PBN is a competitor reporting not only your site but reporting your network .. in the link spam report form Google asks you for examples of spmmy links where you can report the whole network and add a comment saying I believe those links are owned by the spammer

The most important thing for you is to block all link reporting tools crawlers (Majestic, Ahref and Open site explorer) so those tools can not list them as inbound links to your money site

Even the blog posts seller here at BHW (Public blog netwok owners) they should all do that I am surprised that most of them did not do it yet