Blog networks actually still okay to use??

20 replies
  • SEO
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I know with all the SEO news about Google deindexing blog networks, most people would say that you shouldn't use them any more.

But, if you look at all the blog networks that got deindexed, they are all blog networks that are solely owned by 1 person (e.g. Build My Rank), which is why it was easier for Google to find their footprint and shut them down.

But what are your thoughts on user owned blog networks where all the blogs in the network are owned by individual users all over the world. Do you think these are okay to use since there is less of a "footprint" for Google to find. The majority of these networks are still in business.

I'm not coming to any conclusions here, but any thoughts on this?

Thanks
#blog #networks
  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    Any public network is vulnerable. Networks with user submitted blogs were hit as well.

    Really private networks still work. But they are private. You can build your own, or check around forums like these.

    A better, long term solution would be to do quality guest posts on high PR sites which are related to you. They are harder to come by and require providing quality content, building relationships and doing genuine outreach. On the plus side, you'll need less of them to rank as compared to random blog posts on unrelated sites with a dozen or links to other un-related sites.

    Throw in a couple of High PR links from top directories and resource lists and you'll be set as long as your on-page SEO is good.

    I also suggest to look at the 50 changes google announced for March, particularly the ones related to relatedness and anchor text.
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    • Profile picture of the author quercus5
      You're definitely safer using private networks if you can build one or use someone elses. I'm still using Linkamotion and it hasn't seem to have been affected yet, but they have shut it down to new users as of a few weeks ago, so I'm in the process of moving to a private network just to be safe in case Google comes after it.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Originally Posted by hobokook View Post

    But, if you look at all the blog networks that got deindexed, they are all blog networks that are solely owned by 1 person (e.g. Build My Rank), which is why it was easier for Google to find their footprint and shut them down.

    But what are your thoughts on user owned blog networks where all the blogs in the network are owned by individual users all over the world. Do you think these are okay to use since there is less of a "footprint" for Google to find. The majority of these networks are still in business.
    ALN was largely user owned blogs.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hossain
    But, if you look at all the blog networks that got deindexed, they are all blog networks that are solely owned by 1 person (e.g. Build My Rank), which is why it was easier for Google to find their footprint and shut them down.
    This is not the fact. In fact I think blog networks are deindexed manually and this job is damn easy. First of all you just need to get an account in BMR or any other blog network you want to deindex. After using the service for some days you would get a good list of websites that are pumping link juice to your site. Now you need to check these donor webpages to generate a list of client sites using the blog network service. Once you have list of some client sites you can check backlinks of client sites and then easily find out culprit sites of that particular network. Repeat the same work and you would be able to deindex even the complete network.


    But what are your thoughts on user owned blog networks where all the blogs in the network are owned by individual users all over the world. Do you think these are okay to use since there is less of a "footprint" for Google to find. The majority of these networks are still in business.
    I think you are talking about PBNs owned by a single SEO or SEO firm. If yes then yes Private Blog Networks would work if owners know how to swipe away tracks. Internet is like a big sea of websites. So it would be near impossible for google to find out all unnatural websites to hang from cottonwood trees.
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  • Profile picture of the author dp40oz
    Private networks are the way to go these days. Only use public networks for 2nd tier link building.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
    Blog network still works..........................like every other thing that got hit by the big G.

    People who own private blog network still continue to enjoy the ride because is personal.
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  • Profile picture of the author RyanLewis
    I would shy away from Blog networks. Yes they may work for a limited amount of time, but once Google catches up to them, the fun and games are all over.
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    • Profile picture of the author scottmacair
      Blog Networks work - that's why Google have gone to so much trouble to take them out lately.

      Since the unnatural links detected penalty i don't link PBN links directly to my site and point them to a tier 2 firewall instead. I make sure the tier 2 buffer is unique content and mix in links to other relevant authority sites.

      The only PBN links i would risk linking to my sites are the type that Mike Anthony runs i.e. well build and totally private.
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      • Profile picture of the author piinc
        Originally Posted by scottmacair View Post

        Blog Networks work - that's why Google have gone to so much trouble to take them out lately.

        Since the unnatural links detected penalty i don't link PBN links directly to my site and point them to a tier 2 firewall instead. I make sure the tier 2 buffer is unique content and mix in links to other relevant authority sites.

        The only PBN links i would risk linking to my sites are the type that Mike Anthony runs i.e. well build and totally private.
        I'm in the process of improving search rankings for my 2 offline businesses. I want to be extremely cautious with outsourcing a ton of backlinking/bookmarking services given the nature of Google.

        Please correct me on the following. My understanding is...

        1. I need to create a few firewall sites (how many per offline business and what kind and how much management will they need going forward once setup?? Do they need to be setup up on different servers?)

        2. I can then proceed with serious seo backlink/bookmarking services to these firewall sites.

        3. The firewall tier 2 sites will backlink to my money sites - passing on any link juice generated from the SEO backlinking.

        What am I missing here? Does the content of the firewall sites need to be similar in nature to the money site? What is working now?

        Thanks and look forward to your comments!
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        • Profile picture of the author scottmacair
          Yes that's along the right lines.

          I create a bunch of tier 2 firewall sites that buffer my main site from unnatural links. You can use any dofollow site - for example Wordpress, Weebly, Tumbler etc.

          I make sure the tier 2 sites have decent unique content and I link out to authority sites on the tier 2 sites for example Wikipedia, Youtube, authority similar niche sites. I write the content for my main site myself but for the firewall sites I outsource this to iwriter. The subject of the firewall content is the same / similar to my main site.

          I then try to limit the number of high risk links pointing to the firewall site because if the firewall / site receives: the unnatural links detected penalty, the link juice is greatly reduced but if this does happen you are protected from penalty by the firewall. When linking to the tier 2 firewall sites I use natural anchor text like 'click here' 'visit site', URL etc. The purpose of the firewall sites is not to rank but to pass link juice so you can be much more natural with the anchor text.

          When linking to my main site from the firewall I include my keyword in the anchor text but I mix it up i.e. 'info on blue widgets', 'blue widget review', 'blue widgets'. Add in a few image links where the name and alt text of the image contains your keyword.

          Rinse and repeat varying the type of firewall site used for IP diversity.
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          • Profile picture of the author piinc
            Originally Posted by scottmacair View Post

            Yes that's along the right lines.

            I create a bunch of tier 2 firewall sites that buffer my main site from unnatural links. You can use any dofollow site - for example Wordpress, Weebly, Tumbler etc.

            I make sure the tier 2 sites have decent unique content and I link out to authority sites on the tier 2 sites for example Wikipedia, Youtube, authority similar niche sites. I write the content for my main site myself but for the firewall sites I outsource this to iwriter. The subject of the firewall content is the same / similar to my main site.

            I then try to limit the number of high risk links pointing to the firewall site because if the firewall / site receives: the unnatural links detected penalty, the link juice is greatly reduced but if this does happen you are protected from penalty by the firewall. When linking to the tier 2 firewall sites I use natural anchor text like 'click here' 'visit site', URL etc. The purpose of the firewall sites is not to rank but to pass link juice so you can be much more natural with the anchor text.

            When linking to my main site from the firewall I include my keyword in the anchor text but I mix it up i.e. 'info on blue widgets', 'blue widget review', 'blue widgets'. Add in a few image links where the name and alt text of the image contains your keyword.

            Rinse and repeat varying the type of firewall site used for IP diversity.
            Hi Scott.

            Do you have your firewall sites on different servers you'd recommend? Lastly, how many barebones firewall sites would you recommend for a money site.

            Thanks all!
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            • Profile picture of the author scottmacair
              It depends on the keyword i'm trying to rank but generally i'll start by creating a Wordpress.com blog (free) with a 500 word unique article. I'll make sure the article includes an image and links out to generic authority sites like Wikipedia and at least one authority sites in the same niche as my money site.

              I usually create a few initial social bookmarking links to the firewall site using social ADR and then a week or two later drip feed a few Private Blog Network Links to the firewall site.

              Then i'll start the same process again with another firewall site - maybe using Tumbler this time etc. Each firewall site is on a different IP.

              I don't always stick to two layers or tiers either, some times i'll go three or 4 layers back to mix things up.

              Web 2 Firewall Sites >= PR5

              wordpress.com - pr9
              tumblr.com - pr8
              typepad.com - pr8
              weebly.com - pr8
              blogger.com - pr8
              tripod.com - pr8
              posterous.com - pr7
              jimdo.com - pr7
              yola.com - pr7
              squidoo.com - pr7
              multiply.com - pr7
              angelfire.com - pr7
              officelive.com - pr7
              rediff.com - pr7
              wikidot.com - pr7
              webs.com - pr7
              webnode.com - pr7
              salon.com - pr7
              edublogs.org - pr6
              webspawner.com - pr6
              soup.io - pr6
              ucoz.com - pr6
              travelblog.org - pr6
              gather.com - pr6
              springnote.com - pr6
              webstarts.com - pr6
              moonfruit.com - pr6
              journalspace.com - pr6
              blog.de - pr6
              onsugar.com - pr6
              quizilla.teennick.com - pr6
              areavoices.com - pr6
              freeblog.hu - pr6
              blog.com - pr6
              blogdrive.com - pr5
              blogtext.org - pr5
              freeflux.net - pr5
              freehostia.com - pr5
              zoomshare.com - pr5
              flixya.com - pr5
              webgarden.com - pr5
              ohlog.com - pr5
              livelogcity.com - pr5
              snappages.com - pr5
              sosblogs.com - pr5
              visualsociety.com - pr5
              insanejournal.com - pr5
              alivenotdead.com - pr5
              hazblog.com - pr5
              hpage.com - pr5
              blog.com.es - pr5
              350.com - pr5
              beep.com - pr5
              devhub.com - pr5
              blog.hr - pr5
              blinkweb.com - pr5
              ewebsite.com - pr5
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  • Profile picture of the author checklinks
    Yes. Blog network is still okay to use because it has a great value.
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  • Profile picture of the author piinc
    Scott, you're THE MAN! Thanks for taking the time. Taking notes - see you around the forum!
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  • Profile picture of the author patco
    I advice you to stay AWAY from Blog Networks. A lot of people say very negative things and have a very bad experience with them. If I was you, I wouldn't use them
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  • Profile picture of the author GyuMan82
    Probably want to save your money and wait until all the dust settles for private blog networks.
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  • Profile picture of the author supermassive
    In my country blog network are becoming something big because it provide ads revenue for the blog member, and of course yes the blog member are not owned by the one person / entity
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    • Profile picture of the author dmtaylor247
      In my opinion blog networks where you can sign up and build links on a large scale are becoming more and more counter productive by the day even without Google trampling over the cybersphere.

      If you take your typical blog network de-indexing rate of 20% per month, build 100 links, that means technically in 5 months or less your links would be deindexed.

      So to compensate you add more sites and build more links, but Google's algo just doesn't work with this anymore. You can gain 50 links, great and move up +1, but then 30 days later 10 of those links get deindexed and you will get some sort of infraction, only small -5, -10 but far more than your initial gains.

      It's like a Google merry go round of madness, then there is the fact that they are just not going to give up, all it takes is just 1 month of the year for them to raise that indexing rate to 50% and it becomes absolutely pointless.
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  • Profile picture of the author gearmonkey
    Mine is going stronger than ever. Of course, it's not a big "hey look at me, Google!!!" network either. I keep it private, only post 100% hand written and unique content and add images and videos and posts without links sometimes just to mix it up. Oh, and I don't make 250 posts to it per day. Lol.

    Smart blog networks are better than ever!
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