Private networks have become an increasingly appealing concept to many players in top competitive verticals. But developing a private network is a science in itself as well as a major investment. Key takeaways: - There is no such thing as too much security and risk management when it comes to building a private network; - This is a long term project and a long term investment; - Private networks are not for everyone - consider your potential ROI before starting; - There is no one-size-fits-all recipe - each private network is a unique project; - How to appear natural without blowing a fortune on it. #BAC2015 talk

1. How to Build a Private Network
BAC, Berlin October 2015

2. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
What is a private network?

3. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
Network
site 1
Network
site 2
Network
site 3
Network
site 4
Money
site

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 “Private Blog Network”

7. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
 If your idea of
“private” is sharing
link sources with
hundreds of other
“paying customers”
of PBNs then yes,
call them “Private”

8. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
 If all your links come from blogs it can be
seen as a footprint
 It may be enough to prompt digging deeper
 While digging deeper, other footprints may
be discovered

9. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
 Why DA is not a good metric:
Compare this…

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...to this:

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 May be effective short term
 You are at the hands of the owner and their
network building skills
 It’s only a matter of time until they are
discovered and penalised

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 Built for one beneficiary only
 Everything randomised
(more on this later)
 Everything is (or appears) natural

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 Control over link sources -> minimise
Penguin risks
 Competitive advantage
 Additional sources of traffic
 Building long term equity

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 Helping the main site rank better
 Targeting specific segments of your customer
base
 Targeting specific geolocations
 Showcasing specific products or offers
 Reputation management, including
preemptive reputation management

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 Everything can
(and should)
be done
for more than one purpose!

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 Of course they do

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 Of course they do

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Short answer:
NO

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- Why not?
- Mainly, because of
the costs involved

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 New domain cost: $8-20
 Aged domain cost: $8-X,000
 You will also need to spend time finding and
evaluating suitable domains, hosting them,
putting up the sites, etc.

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 Let’s assume average domain cost of $30
 Let’s assume average host cost of $60/year
 Let’s assume you spend 1 hour finding each
domain and your time is worth $100/hour
10 domains x $30 = $300
10 hosts x $60 = $600
10 hours x $100 = $1,000
-----------------------
TOTAL: $1,900

25. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
 Before you start, have a strategy
 The above estimates do not include the cost
of putting up a site
 Not all domains you get may be usable
 This is a LONG TERM project
 There are recurring costs starting from year 2
 Randomise everything – no shortcuts!

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 You are building something to game Google –
make sure you don’t hand it to Google!
 Things to avoid:
◦ Gmail
◦ Google Docs/Drive
◦ Google Analytics (multiple sites in the same
account)
◦ Google Webmaster Tools/Search Console (multiple
sites in the same account)
◦ Chrome

27. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
 Domain age
 Link profile metrics
 Registration dates
 Registrars
 Whois details
 Hosts
 Site platforms
 Payment methods
 Anything else you can think of

28. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
There’s no such thing as being
too paranoid
when building
a private network

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 New domains
 Expired domains
 Aftermarket
 Auctions

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 GoDaddy Aftermarket

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 The.domain.name

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 The.domain.name

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 The.domain.name

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 irishwonder.com/tdn/

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 Freshdrop
 RegisterCompass
 …
 Registrar feeds directly for dropped domains

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 Freshdrop

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 Freshdrop

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 Age
 Link profile (strength, relevancy, anchor texts,
spammy links)
 Previous onsite history
 Previous ranking/penalty history

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 Initial metrics: TF 36 CF 20
 After purchase:

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 The reason:

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 Redirect them
 Host them, restore the sites and link to the
main site
 Host them, develop new sites and link to the
main site
 Host them, restore the sites and keep
developing new content while linking to main
site

54. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
 Wayback Machine (archive.org)
 CommonCrawl
 Blekko
 … or pull up old content in TDN
(free trial link again: irishwonder.com/tdn/ )

55. @irishwonder BAC, Berlin October 2015
Things to watch for:
 Sites uptime
 Sites security
 Decreasing value
 Spam (onsite and offsite)
 Renewal dates

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