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Google Deindexed 60% Of My PBN

by Icematikx
30 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Today, Google hit my PBN hard and deindexed about 40 sites in total.

I had around 75 sites in my PBN, that consisted of a Tier 1 and Tier 2.

Tier 1: Linked to money sites
Tier 2: Linked to Tier 1 sites

My tier 2 were the mega authorative sites, as I could purchase not-so-good Tier 1 domains for cheap and boost them with PR4-PR6 links.

I had about 50 domains in my Tier 1, and 30 domains in my Tier 2.

Google took out about 30 sites from my Tier 1, and 10 sites from my Tier 2, all in one batch.

According to Statpress, nobody from Google visited those sites, at least based on IP. I cannot see any consistent IP's accessing the same 40 sites to quality check them all one-by-one.

I was under the assumption that the Google Algorithm isn't capable of deindexing sites - and only Google reviewers are able to deindex (possibly food for thought??).

Why did 40% of my PBN survive? I have no idea. There's no direct link here. Google would of been able to see 100% of my network, so I have no idea why they didn't deindex the whole thing.

My money sites are completely unaffected as of yet, and still ranking at #1. I don't expect to see a drop as I've already bought dozens of new PBN sites in bulk and working on getting them ready ASAP. So the dropped sites will be replaced.

My PBN has been running strong for about 2 and a half years, so I'm glad it lasted so long without taking a hit. I like to believe I ran it to the best of my ability in terms of keeping them hidden.

For the record, I sell no links and only place links to my own sites. Each site has around 10 OBL max.

Food for thought anyway. Anyone else been hit today?

More info as requested:

All sites on a different C-Class IP minimum, spread over about 10 different hosts.
All sites either had private whois, or fake whois information with no connection.
Sites all had different themes, and different layouts. Some homepages contained links, others only the posts contained links. There was literally no key identifier between the sites.

The only identifier is the sites I linked to (my money sites). I don't see how the algorithm could have flagged all of the sites. A google reviewer must of stumbled across one, and siphoned through majority of my network.
#60% #deindexed #google #pbn
  • Profile picture of the author SEOWizard417
    Can you provide some more info on your network like hosting, IPS, private whois or not, and so on.

    Could be a competitor snuffed out your network and you got a manual review. No algorithm is going to deindex your pbn sites.
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    • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
      Originally Posted by SEOWizard417 View Post

      Can you provide some more info on your network like hosting, IPS, private whois or not, and so on.

      Could be a competitor snuffed out your network and you got a manual review. No algorithm is going to deindex your pbn sites.
      Updated thread
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        could easily have been generated by a report from a competitor. Nothing mysterious about it. We all tend to assume that Google employees use the web they way that we do but they probably don't. Google cache proves that google stores pages as well so there is no need for a separate visit. A reviewer can probably pull up pages fast and easy as well as see backlinks multiple tiers in an instant (they are not using backlink checking tools).

        I don't know if this was the case but you also used and possibly over used a single TLD based on some threads. They are fairly unusual so that could help them to pick out.

        Actually I would not be surprised if they did have an "algo" that could spot them out and even deindex them. I've taught hundreds of people to build networks and by and large less than 2% ever listen to me on content and their pages look like a blog network. I can't entirely blame them because in a pinch I create sites like that too. We are all inclined to skip on content

        but they have a DEFINITE footprint.

        only other thing I would say is that ten links on a page is WAAAY too much on a private network if those are all going to money sites. If thats what you meant then you need to cut that down to 2-4.
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        • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
          Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

          could easily have been generated by a report from a competitor. Nothing mysterious about it. We all tend to assume that Google employees use the web they way that we do but they probably don't. Google cache proves that google stores pages as well so there is no need for a separate visit. A reviewer can probably pull up pages fast and easy as well as see backlinks multiple tiers in an instant (they are not using backlink checking tools).

          I don't know if this was the case but you also used and possibly over used a single TLD based on some threads. They are fairly unusual so that could help them to pick out.

          Actually I would not be surprised if they did have an "algo" that could spot them out and even deindex them. I've taught hundreds of people to build networks and by and large less than 2% ever listen to me on content and their pages look like a blog network. I can't entirely blame them because in a pinch I create sites like that too. We are all inclined to skip on content

          but they have a DEFINITE footprint.

          only other thing I would say is that ten links on a page is WAAAY too much on a private network if those are all going to money sites. If thats what you meant then you need to cut that down to 2-4.
          Yeah, I think every PBN is an OBVIOUS PBN, unless you spend WAYYY too much time on them to turn them into an actual site - something I'm not prepared to do.

          Let's face it, if a Google reviewer stumbled across one of my PBN sites, they would first check my money sites. They'd see my money sites at #1, and go after all my PBN sites.

          What's weird is they haven't touched my money sites. Surely, targeting my money sites is more important than my PBN? Weird.

          Also weird how only about 60% of my network is gone. They would of seen all of it.

          Lately I've been seeing affiliate marketers play sneaky little games, like doing negative SEO on my sites. So, wouldn't surprise me if somebody reported me. I remember 3-years ago, you would NEVER report a competitor just for the moral and ethical aspect. Nowadays, it's a filthy free-for-all.
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  • Profile picture of the author RadiantDarkness
    So I've seen this dozens of times and here are the top reasons why your PBN's continue being deindexed...

    1. You have either sold publically or "privately" to other people.
    2. You are in spammier niches or manual review niches that have either targeted your network (better start cloaking from COMPETITORS). (Block Link Checking Bots)
    3. You don't have enough diverse IP's for your PBN domains.
    4. You are on a shared hosting plan that got blacklisted - sorry charlie.
    5. Competitors probably disavowed your links when you decided that linking ALL of your network sites to one property without any thought process.
    6. Check your PBN's footprints (same theme, no logo, default theme, ONLY linking to money sites) etx
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by RadiantDarkness View Post

      4. You are on a shared hosting plan that got blacklisted - sorry charlie.
      I've never mentioned that here but thats one of the reasons I won't use hosting from those who concentrate on hosting for IMers. Shared hosting on the wrong box can look pretty close to SEO Hosting
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  • Profile picture of the author accessted
    I don't have any input, but damn.... Sorry for your loss. That really sucks.
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
      Banned
      We talked about this before and you're leaving a few massive footprints here and there:

      1) Hosting, I think you once said you have 4 hosting companies where some supply different C-class IP's. This is pretty limited for the amount of PBN sites you have

      2) All your tier 1 network sites link out to the exact same money sites, this leaves a huge footprint that get picks up automatically by Google's algorithm. I can't remember the amount of times I read threads about rented networks being busted, the typical network of 20, 50, 100 sites where they have like 40 OBL and rent it out to the exact same group of people. That's so damn easy to detect for Google, especially when it concerns dozens of sites with each the exact same OBL profile so personally I think that's the main reason behind the deindexation.

      Sure my network also links out to dozens or even hundreds of people, but I have a ton of different clients from different services, some buying roll off posts, others permanent homepage links in different amounts and such so no OBL profile is the same. Even the network where the links are rented with the monthly service have at the very least a diverse OBL as I dedicate let's say 40 sites to a network and people can only get links at max 10 of them, while those 40 also get roll off posts for clients of another service so this dillutes the link profile quite a bit. Sure it ain't perfect but it's way more varied then linking out the exact same sites on each and every site.

      You don't have that many money sites so if I were you I would dedicate 1 domain per money site, or perhaps link out to max 2 money sites and also to 1 or 2 authority sites to avoid it in the future. Heck you can even consider selling or trading some links to diversify and make some money on the side. Win win.
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  • Profile picture of the author PBN301
    You left some breadcrumbs somewhere

    about the de-indexed domains
    were they all registered within the same timeframe?
    did they all go live around the same timeframe?
    did they all link to your money site from their front page?
    did they all link to the front page of your money site?
    did they all link to the same page?
    you said you dont link to other sites so all of the obl's were going to the same 1 or 2 properties?
    was the anchor text primarily exact match?


    about your tier 2, you said "My tier 2 were the mega authorative sites, as I could purchase not-so-good Tier 1 domains for cheap and boost them with PR4-PR6 links.
    "
    Does this mean your tier 2 were purchased links from others?
    did your tier 2's link only to your tier 1's and not to other properties that wasnt yours?
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  • Profile picture of the author devenn27
    Looks like a case of competitor reported your network. What about the rankings? Dropped or still the same?
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Waller
    When a single network owner reports mass deindexation like this, to me it stinks of a competitor spam report. If it were anything more algorithmic, you'd see lots of others complaining of the same thing.

    Question: are the deindexed sites spread evenly across all 10 of your hosting accounts or are they restricted to, say, 5 or 6 hosts?
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  • Profile picture of the author The Oilman
    Yeah all the deinexing gives me the heeby jeebies. I had a lot deindexed Mid-august. I have looked into a lot of it, and I am kind of thinking its hosting related.. if you're on the same IP as some other guy who isn't exactly playing by the rules.
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  • Profile picture of the author CRIMSON ASH
    This is disconcerting.... sorry about the loss, it sure does suck!

    Were your anchors primarily commercially inclined?
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  • Profile picture of the author fastreplies
    Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

    Today, Google hit my PBN hard and deindexed about 40 sites in total.
    Well, here is your problem

    Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

    ...boost them with PR4-PR6 links.
    I don't know if you noticed but lately Google has declare war on links and specially
    the one that generated by Networks and others sleazy sources of links building.



    fastreplies
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    • Profile picture of the author mkgg
      Originally Posted by fastreplies View Post

      Well, here is your problem



      I don't know if you noticed but lately Google has declare war on links and specially
      the one that generated by Networks and others sleazy sources of links building.



      fastreplies
      Lately ? Google has always been at war on purchased links.

      Anyway, that is unfortunate Icematikx. I also think its because someone from your competition reported you because i have bought links from way way worse PBNs (for my churn and burn sites) for which you wonder how the hell they are still thriving because they stink of paid links all over the place. Probably because manual reviews aren't so common and their algorithm isn't so smart, i guess Google is probably busy dealing with other important stuff than going after small time fishes.
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      • Profile picture of the author fastreplies
        Originally Posted by mkgg View Post

        Lately ?
        "lately Google" is sarcasm but you should know what it means to recognize it.

        Originally Posted by mkgg View Post

        Google has always been at war on purchased links.
        Really, purchased links; eh?

        And how you suppose Google knows which is which?
        Hmmm... let me guess.
        Guy bought 1,000 links and then reported himself to Google.

        How Am I doing?
        I hate to have lucky guess, so tell us something to teach us a lesson of G's gunius.



        fastreplies
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        • Profile picture of the author PBN301
          Originally Posted by fastreplies View Post

          I don't know if you noticed but lately Google has declare war on links and specially
          the one that generated by Networks and others sleazy sources of links building.



          fastreplies
          Originally Posted by fastreplies View Post

          Really, purchased links; eh?

          And how you suppose Google knows which is which?
          Hmmm... let me guess.
          Guy bought 1,000 links and then reported himself to Google.

          How Am I doing?
          I hate to have lucky guess, so tell us something to teach us a lesson of G's gunius.


          fastreplies
          Did you just give an answer and then try to shoot down your own answer?
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Try building real network sites & you'll have less worries.

    My smaller sites are all an extension of my large authority sites, think categories that could exist on the main money site/s. Example, one of my small sites is 100% same niche video tutorials. I still rank those small network domain pages in the SERPs for same/similar keywords as my main money sites. The small network sites funnel both traffic & links back to the money sites/pages.

    I have links pointing at all of my network that traffic helped build. Granted I still do link optimizing on my own.

    I'm sure the response will be the usual it's too much work for me. Here's the thing, build the same network over & over... or build real sites once & forget it.
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    • Profile picture of the author HassanAjmal
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Try building real network sites & you'll have less worries.

      My smaller sites are all an extension of my large authority sites, think categories that could exist on the main money site/s. Example, one of my small sites is 100% same niche video tutorials. I still rank those small network domain pages in the SERPs for same/similar keywords as my main money sites. The small network sites funnel both traffic & links back to the money sites/pages.

      I have links pointing at all of my network that traffic helped build. Granted I still do link optimizing on my own.

      I'm sure the response will be the usual it's too much work for me. Here's the thing, build the same network over & over... or build real sites once & forget it.
      Yukon,

      Do you have any sort of guide that you can direct me to on a legit method of building PBNS?
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  • Profile picture of the author JawadAshraf
    @Icematikx: Oops sorry to hear that Google has de-indexed your sites but good you have more to replace them. BTW, you will be going to through the de-indexed sites away right? Would you like to sale them to me in bulk instead? I will do my own underground self created bad-ass SEO technique on them to make them re-useable for me lol Let me know what you say in PM

    Cheers & thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOWizard417
    Yukon hit it on the head. Build out better quality sites for your PBN. It can be more time consuming and costly though, so it really comes down to cost and time investment.

    What type of content did you have on your site? Spun by any chance? In any case, most likely a competitor reported your network. Might be a good idea to block crawlers from back link counters.
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    • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
      Originally Posted by SEOWizard417 View Post

      Yukon hit it on the head. Build out better quality sites for your PBN. It can be more time consuming and costly though, so it really comes down to cost and time investment.

      What type of content did you have on your site? Spun by any chance? In any case, most likely a competitor reported your network. Might be a good idea to block crawlers from back link counters.
      No spun content. Hand written 500 - 1,000 word posts relevant to the subject.

      Don't assume next time
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post


        Don't assume next time

        He didn't. He asked a question and its a fair one too since many networks are populated with spun content
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        • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
          Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

          He didn't. He asked a question and its a fair one too since many networks are populated with spun content
          "Spun by any chance?" indicates that he assumed that there's a bigger probability of the content being spun, than non-spun.

          In fact, I took a different approach with my PBN. I would often publish negative stories / first-person ramblings and link to my money site while criticizing my money site. As I create personas for each money site, it's easy to then criticize and call out that persona for "fake claims" etc - while still linking.

          But anyway, this topic can die now as I've practically re-registered 40 domains and built it back up. Experienced no drop in rankings - only gains actually.

          Which makes me wonder, did Google penalize the PBN domains before deindexing them?
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          • Profile picture of the author steveuk2012
            For the record, i've had exactly the same thing happen to me. The last month has seen a massive deindexation of PBNs, so I don't think its a competitor.

            I think its Google sniffing them out somehow. Not sure how they are doing it. It could be hosting related, or the percentage of dofollow OBL. My sites deindexed were followed by manual penalties.
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  • Profile picture of the author npoint
    There is a risk you should always take under your consideration when you build a PBN. The better is to invest your time into PBN builded on free Web 2.0 blogs, you don`t have to pay for hosting, additional c-class iP`s, domains (:

    PBN`s are very effective but they are pricey and once Google will catch them you loose all those money.

    Many PBN`s owners doing a little trick to not track their PBN by majestic, ahrefs etc, so the competitors have no easy task to track and fire your PBN, they blocking such sites in robots file. Of course it`s not perfect solutions cos there are many trackers and you will never know which one could be used by your competitor but it`s some idea to prevent such things happen, many people doing that.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by npoint View Post

      There is a risk you should always take under your consideration when you build a PBN. The better is to invest your time into PBN builded on free Web 2.0 blogs, you don`t have to pay for hosting, additional c-class iP`s, domains (:
      I would much rather spend some money and have domains that I have complete control over and actually have the power to rank something competitive.

      Those 2.0 sites could go nofollow at any moment, like some already have. I'd rather take the risk of wasting some money than wasting a ton of time.

      Besides, 2.0 sites on their own are not going to rank a page for anything the least bit competitive. They also have a bigger risk of putting you in the sites of Google. A backlink profile where most of the links are from 2.0 sites is going to stick out a lot more than links from a well built private network.
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  • Profile picture of the author MaroshIS
    Where did you register and buy those de-indexed domains ? Godaddy ?

    I am sure it is a combination of registrar infiltration and shared/cheap hosts IP related.

    Not content or outbound links. Many who were hit hit, had original content, 10 to 20 pages with videos, photos, interactive widget and linking only to the same money site 1 or 2 times from one web.

    BTW notice how many new profiles are commenting in all threads that rank top for "PBN de-indexed" those folks trying to say that PBN is dead and that link building is wrong (coincidence?? ) and we should build quality content... Obviously paid commenters who should spread fear.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dokemion
    You can try and change your hosting on those affected sites of your PBN and try to re-index them not unless they flagged and totally won't be of any worth.
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