Most private network vendors describe their sites in similar words. Aged domains, clean history, real articles. The words are cheap, so the useful question is what you can check. This guide gives iGaming buyers a way to vet a PBN vendor before money changes hands, including the checks we expect buyers to run on us.
Start with the claims you cannot test
Some claims have no way of being checked from outside. Be cautious when a vendor offers any of the following.
- A promise of a ranking, a position or a traffic increase.
- A promise that links will stay indexed or never be penalized.
- Round numbers about hosting or network size with nothing behind them.
- Praise from clients who are never named or described.
- Pressure to pay before you have seen a written scope.
A vendor who is honest about risk is more useful than one who tells you everything will work. Buying links to influence ranking can go against Google's spam policies, and a seller who does not say so is leaving out the most important fact.
Questions to ask
Send these in writing and keep the answers.
- How are domains sourced, and what history is checked before a site is used?
- Are the sites on separate hosting, and do they link to each other?
- How many outbound links does a typical site carry?
- Who writes the articles, and who edits them?
- What happens if a link is lost or a site is penalized?
- Which anchors, markets and categories do you decline?
- How do you send reports, and when?
Good answers are specific and hedged. A vendor who says they aim for a certain practice and explains how they check it is easier to trust than one who says everything is perfect. Our own answers are on the network standards page.
Checks you can run yourself
You do not need special tools for a first pass. Take a sample placement, or the first live URLs from a small order, and look at each one.
- Read the host site. Does it have a real subject and articles a person would read, or is it a shell with a few posts?
- Check the page. Is your link inside readable body text, and does the article match the site?
- Search for the page. See whether the site and the page appear in search at all.
- Look at the history. Public web archives show what a domain was used for in the past. Off-topic or spammy pages in its record are a warning.
- Count outbound links. A page crowded with links to unrelated sites is a poor host.
- Compare the sites. Many hosts that look alike in layout, text and structure are easy for others to spot.
Get the terms in writing
Before payment, the vendor should send a scope that lists the number and type of links, target pages, anchors, delivery method and replacement or removal terms. For rentals, it should also list the start date, the renewal date and the date links come down. If a vendor will not put these in writing, do not order. Our packages are described on the packages and pricing page, and we write a scope for every order before payment.
Start small and review
Even a good vendor can be a poor fit. Begin with a small order, check the live pages, and decide only then whether to order more. Spread your first links across more than one target page, and watch the pages in search before you scale up. Keep a simple sheet with the date, host, anchor and target for every placement, so that a later problem can be traced to a source instead of guessed at. If a vendor changes terms after payment, treat that as a reason to stop ordering.
Keep in mind that vetting reduces risk and cannot remove it. A vendor can be honest and still deliver links that Google ignores. You carry that decision, and your client does too if you work for an agency.
Search guidelines and tactics change over time, and results can never be promised. Check current rules for your market and treat any link plan as a risk you choose to take.