In the dynamic world of SEO, Private Blog Networks (PBNs) have become a powerful way to boost your website’s ranking and authority.
Using PBNs effectively starts with getting the right domains. Finding these domains might seem tricky, but with the right know-how, it’s totally doable.
This complete guide breaks down the process into easy steps and simple terms. We’ll show you exactly how to find the perfect domains for your PBN, giving your SEO efforts a major lift.
What Exactly is a PBN Domain?
PBN domains are aged or expired domains that already have a solid reputation online (thanks to existing backlinks pointing to them). You can purchase these well-established domains, build your PBN sites on them, and use them for link building to your money sites. This clever move can do wonders for your main site’s visibility.
By adding these top-notch expired domains to your PBN, you’re giving your main website a boost of what’s called “link juice.” This is like a supercharge for your content and domain authority, making your site look impressive in the eyes of search engines.
But let’s not kid ourselves – picking the right domains for your PBN is a bit of an art. It takes time to get the hang of knowing when a domain is truly worth the investment.
Lots of things come into play, like the previous backlinks, what the site used to talk about, and how old the domain is. These factors decide if a domain is a valuable asset for your PBN strategy.
Why Should You Use Expired Domains for Your PBN?
Using expired domains for your PBN is the fastest and most effective way to boost your site’s ranking. These are the reasons why this works:
- The History Matters: Expired domains have a history. If you have some SEO knowledge, you’ll know that Google values older websites more than brand-new ones.
- They’re Niche Experts: These domains were known for something back in the day. This “expertise” in a particular area is why people create private blog networks.
- Skip the Starting Line: When you add these expired domains to your PBN, you’re not starting from scratch. Many of these domains are already listed on search engines or will be soon after you set up a site. Some might even have existing visitors.
- Boosting Link Power: Working with expired domains lets you pass their strength to your website. You hand on their authority by setting up the sites and creating links. This makes them perfect for boosting your website’s SEO.
Here’s the cool part: You can handle this alone. You have control over the links that lead to your money site.
However, if you’re going solo, be cautious of potential risks. One is the risk of Google figuring out your game plan and giving you a penalty. But the biggest risk, and a common one, is choosing the wrong domains.
The success of this strategy depends on your ability to choose older domains with a good amount of authority and potential value for your money site.
Yes, it’s not a walk in the park, but don’t fret. We’ve got all the guidance you need. Just stick to Quirk.biz, and you’ll level up your domain game in no time.
If you want to learn more about expired domains, you should read our article What Is an Expired Domain?
Essential Factors for Choosing the Right PBN Domains
If you’re searching for expired domains for your PBN, there are some essential factors you should consider to make sure you’re getting quality domains for your network.
SEO Metrics
SEO metrics can give you helpful insight when you choose the right PBN domains.
Yet, not all metrics are created equal.
Some are essential, some are handy, and others are just for show, not really helping you make smarter moves.
These are the ones that really matter when choosing PBN domains:
Domain Authority (DA)
Domain Authority (DA) is an important performance metric that shows how strong and relevant a website’s domain is. Developed by Moz, this metric considers a range of complex factors such as backlinks, link profiles, MozRank scores, and social signals.
To break it down, when your DA score is higher, your website has a better chance of showing up at the top when people search online.
As a rule of thumb, shooting for a domain authority of 50 or more is a smart move if you want to boost your SEO game, as long as you can find such domains. Usually, anything with DA 20+ was a decent website, with exceptions to be made.
By getting an expired domain with higher authority, you’ll have huge benefits for SEO optimization. This can drive more traffic to your website, improve search engine rankings, and raise visibility on social media platforms.
Domain Rating(DR)
Domain Rating (DR) is a metric developed by Ahrefs to measure the power and quality of a website backlink profile. It is a valuable tool for understanding how a website compares to its competitors in terms of link power. The DR score ranges from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating stronger domain performance.
Trust Flow (TF) / Citation Flow (CF) from Majestic
Trust Flow (TF) is a score ranging from 0 to 100. It’s based on the number of links a domain gets from a group of trusted starting sites. If a domain has links from sites that the Majestic team specially picked, its TF score will be high. On the flip side, if a domain has not-so-great links, its TF score will be low.
Citation Flow (CF) is another score between 0 and 100. It measures the strength of a domain’s links. It works a bit like Google’s PageRank. The higher the score, the stronger the links. But be careful because it’s easier to change CF scores compared to Trust Flow.
In the list of expired domains, you’ll see those with at least a TF of 15 and a CF of 15. This helps you figure out if they’re worth considering.
More about Trust Flow and Citation Flow read here: https://quirk.biz/what-are-trust-and-citation-flow/
Note: When talking about SEO metrics, it is important to mention that high numbers don’t guarantee a good domain. However, they are an important indicator when comparing and evaluating multiple domains.
The most important thing is to have links from big media sites and sites in the relevant niche, as well as other authoritative places such as Wikipedia, EDU, or GOV sites.
Web Archive
You can visit the Web Archive to learn when the website was last active.
If the site was live until recently, this is a good signal. However, it’s difficult to find one that has been active not long ago.
Some SEO specialists prefer domains with clean archive / Wayback history or that have not been used for PBNs. However, there are no explicit case studies to confirm that these types of domains are better for PBNs or that their links are stronger.
Learn more expert insights about choosing the right domains for PBNs.
Methods for Finding Expired Domains
When it comes to finding expired domains, there are several effective methods you should explore:
Buy PBN Domains Directly From Marketplace
A domain marketplace is a platform that allows users to buy and sell domain names.
Popular domain marketplaces include:
SEO.Domains
SEO.Domains is the world’s biggest supplier of expired domains.
They offer more than 100k domains for sale with history and backlinks at “Buy Now” prices, which means you save time from participating in auctions.
Their database covers 99% of all existing and expiring websites. They have domains in every language and TLD – 90 languages and 150 TLDs, with a price range from $30 to $200 000. They have premium domain selection with SEO metrics reaching as high as DA 85, DR 79, and an impressive count of over 60,000 referring domains (RD).
Another advantage of SEO. Domains are that they own all the listed domains, which can save you many issues that can happen when buying from resellers.
SEO.Domains also offer additional services such as PBN building and maintaining, Content restoration, free consultations with their experts on how to choose the best domains for your needs, and more.
Domain Coasters
Domain Coasters is a popular marketplace for expired domains with quality backlinks. They guarantee spam-free domains that can be transferred to your account within 24 hours.
They offer expired domain names that have never been repurposed and with consistent niches for all of the domain’s history.
Participate in Domain Auctions
A domain auction is an online service hosted on a domain marketplace, enabling users to bid on and purchase domain names, including high-quality or expired domains that are no longer available through standard registration. When selecting an auction platform, consider its reputation and history of successful domain sales. (For more about domain auctions, read this article: What Is a Domain Auction)
Some popular domain auctions are:
GoDaddy
GoDaddy stands out as the largest platform for domain names on the web, with 21+ million customers and 84+ million domains.
It offers various services like tools to help you find domain names, generators to create ideas, and experts to guide you.
In addition to simple domain registration, GoDaddy features a premium marketplace called GoDaddy Auctions. This lets users explore active, expired, and deleted domain names.
Sedo
Sedo is one of the world’s biggest places to buy and sell domains, with over 18 million registered users.
They offer expired domains as well as new ones. Sedo also gives free goods like registering, parking, and transferring domains. This makes it great if you want to buy or sell domain names.
If you’re buying, you just pay for the domain name. If you’re selling, you can put your domain up for sale and give them a small piece if it gets sold.
Namecheap
Namecheap is a well-known domain registrar renowned for its cost-effective domain names and hosting solutions. Their offerings extend to diverse services, including web hosting, SSL certificates, Whois privacy protection, and more.
Moreover, Namecheap ranks among the leading domain platforms, showcasing an extensive selection of both premium and standard domain names available for purchase.
Dynadot
Dynadot is a well-known company that allows people and businesses to register domains and host websites.
They offer many services to make it easier for you to set up and manage your online presence. They can help you get a domain, build a website, secure it with SSL, and even host your emails.
With an easy-to-use website, good prices, and a strong focus on keeping customers happy, Dynadot is a popular choice for getting domains and other online services.
Reverse Domains Hunt or Scraping Websites for Broken Outgoing Links
This approach involves inputting a domain into the specialized software, which then scans all the backlinks connected to that particular domain. The goal is to uncover quality expired domains within these links.
Basically, you can take big sites like Wikipedia, The New Yorker, and The Guardian and research if there are any outgoing links that lead to 404 pages. Then, check if these domains are available for registration.
It is a good approach but very time-consuming. With this approach you can find a decent domain from time to time, but you can`t scale and you can`t build a dozens or hundreds of PBNs in your desired language and niche.
The most popular scraping tools are Ahrefs and Scrapebox.
Get Expired Domains by Drop Catching or Back Orders
Domain drop catching, also known as domain sniping, is a strategic method to secure the expired domain you desire the moment it becomes available.
This technique revolves around tracking domains throughout their expiration process and using automated tools to quickly register them once they become available.
Once you successfully get the domain, the drop-catching service gets it registered with one of your chosen registrars, and then it goes into your account.
Normally, the cost for domain-catching isn’t too much above the regular registration fee, usually less than $10, but you only pay if the drop-catching works out and you get the domain. The issue with this approach is that first, you need to find strong aged domains and check when they are expiring. After this, you will be competing with a lot of other people, trying to snipe the domains. This technique was more effective in the past, and now, the competition makes it nearly impossible to get a decent domain.
Effective Tools for Searching PBN Domains
If you don’t want to use broker services, you can use domain scraping and analysis tools and find the PBN domains yourself.
These tools give important SEO metrics for the listed domains, allowing you to sift through spammy options and locate valuable domains to invest in.
• SpamZilla: It offers quick previews of key metrics for domain backlinks and seamlessly connects to Ahrefs, Web Archive, and other essential research services. SpamZilla offers both free and paid options.
• SEO Domain Finder: It gives you access to SEO metrics, backlinks, Web Archive snapshots, and domain information to assist you in sourcing quality PBN domains.
• DomCop: It stands out with its wide domain metrics, navigable through user-friendly filters. Yet, it has limitations and can be pricier than other domain tools despite offering three price levels.
• 1-ExpiredDomains: This free tool is a fantastic option for seeking PBN domains. It delivers impressive analytics, offering a similar experience to its pricier counterparts. Just remember filtering domains might be slightly less straightforward compared to other tools. Nonetheless, it’s a solid starting point, especially if you’re hesitant to invest in a domain tool.
Alternatives to PBN domains
As an alternative to PBN domains, you can use Web 2.0 accounts.
Companies wanting to climb higher search rankings know that having links from important 2.0 websites is a big deal. These sites are strong on social media and have lots of good backlinks, which makes them look trustworthy.
A tool called Web Hunter 2.0 makes finding these kinds of sites easy. Just type in a word, and it searches the internet for you. It also gives you important info about the sites.
It even has a special “Analyze Web 2.0” part. This helps you check if the sites you’re thinking of buying are good. You can see if they show up on search engines and how much they’re talked about on social media. You can also sort results by how good the websites are or use filters to find what you want.
Conclusion
In the world of SEO, using PBN domains can make a big difference. With the insights from this guide, you’re ready to explore PBN domains with knowledge and confidence.
By trying these effective methods, understanding important data, and using the right tools, you can find domains that boost your online presence. Whether you’re experienced or just starting, finding PBN domains is doable and can lead to real SEO success.
