Are PBNs still working in 2021 ?

The implementation of a PBN can be very effective in the long term. Indeed, this technique allows a site to pass a milestone when its positioning reaches a ceiling. It is also a very flexible solution: the PBN is constantly being enriched and developed to improve its visibility on Google even more while passing through the net. As you can see, this is a practice that can work if used with the utmost care and if it is implemented in a spirit of responsibility towards yourself and your customers.

What are the risks of private blog Networks ?

The main difficulty of a PBN is not to be spotted by Google. It will have to cover its tracks so that Google does not detect the deception and understand the purpose of the links between the sites. Hence the interest of hiding these links so that the PBN is not recognized as such by Google. The risk is high because if the deception is discovered, the collateral damage is likely to be significant. In the same way that Google launched Penguin to track down dummy links and then stopped the wave of Nofollow attributes used until 2009 to scuplt PageRank, it seems obvious that it will do everything it can to track down PBNs and punish them severely.
However, note that it is not so much the support of the links created that will attract Google’s attention, but rather its anchoring. Beware of over-optimized outbound links.

How to create a clean and responsible PBN?

When you decide to create a PBN, whether for your own sites or for those of a client, you should be well aware of the risks involved and use this technique with subtlety.

Warn your clients of the risks involved. If you create PBNs for your own sites, you are solely responsible for the consequences in case of detection by Google. If you work with clients who pay you for a SEO linking service, you can offer them to create a PBN, but in this case, it is imperative to keep them informed of the risks associated with this type of practice. This way your client will apply his SEO strategy with full knowledge of the facts. Charge the SEO to warn him that in case of sanction on a site, Google will classify it in a spam folder that will automatically downgrade it and at the slightest deviation, the sentence will be more radical. And in this case, it is the customer alone who will be held responsible and not the SEO.