TRAFFIC
BUILD AND
BENEFIT FROM
A PRIVATE NETWORK
Big brands are powered by them. But if you are on a tight budget, are trying to rank in a highly
competitive vertical and need a private network to do that, then make sure you get the most out
of it, says Julia Logan
MANY LARGE BRANDS are powered
by what essentially amounts to private
networks. A company launching sites
that target different countries or sites for
new products or side projects linked to
the main company is essentially running
a private network.
PRIVATE NETWORK DEFINITION
• Private networks are long-term
projects and significant
investments, hence the tips in
this article apply to long-term
activities. Therefore, you shouldn’t
expect to do something once
and get immediate benefits.
Also, there is no one-size-fits-all
recipe here for building a private
network, because what is good
in one case may not be of much
use in another.
• Private networks in this article
do not mean low quality private
blog networks selling links to
anybody, but closed, privately
owned properties managed by
or on behalf of the company or
individual owning them and/or
benefitting from them.
• A private network can be defined
in this article as a privately
owned and controlled group
of internet properties, such as
domains built and maintained
with the purpose of benefitting
their owner in terms of traffic,
links or both.
The difference between a company’s
private network and many SEOs’ notion
of a private network is the value of its
individual com ponents and their reason
for existing. More often than not, it’s not
just to link to the main site – but these
large brands would be foolish not to link
their properties.
However, you might not be a large brand
and you might neither have the budget to
run multiple properties nor the need to
run them. But if you are trying to rank in
a highly competitive vertical and decided
you need a private network to do that, you
might as well make sure you get the most
out of it.
As mentioned in the box on the left, there
is no one-size-fits-all approach. While in
some cases it might make sense to build a
network of new domains, in others it would
be preferable to use aged domains. In others
you might even want a mix of the two.
can lose their value partially or completely.
In 2009, a typical value loss expectation
for expired and aged domains we’ve been
dealing with was 50%. However, while you
might not avoid the value loss completely,
it is possible to at least minimise it.
I have been working over the past year
on a private network for one of my clients.
The client has 62 domains out of which
13 (21%) partially or completely lost value.
From those 13 that lost value, 8 (12.9%)
lost value completely. Overall, 19 (30.6%)
had grown in value.
Back to basics
But let’s go back to the beginning and start
with the basics.
When registering a domain, make sure
you do everything required by the registrar
to avoid domain suspension owing to a
failure to verify your registration to comply
with the top level domain requirements.
“While in some cases it might make sense to build
a network of new domains, in others it would be
preferable to use aged domains. In others you might
even want a mix of the two”
One of the usual challenges with aged
domains is avoiding the loss of their value
over time. It is not unusual to see the value
loss of aged domains happen right after they
change hands, and over time more domains
Make sure each domain you put up
has, or at least appears to have, a reason
to exist: should a manual reviewer look
at it, would they consider it a legitimate
site in its own right? A place to mass post
iGB Affiliate Issue 68 APR/MAY 2018
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