SEO Trends for 2015: Saying Goodbye to PBNs

Search engine optimization (SEO) strategies come and go. In many cases the tactics that worked amazingly well a couple of years ago will absolutely destroy your website’s rankings today. Such is the way of the Internet. But SEO specialists are always analyzing and adapting to changes with the search engines, and with the holidays upon us, the question on everybody’s mind is, “What SEO trends will work in 2015?”

Any SEO who’s been paying attention the past few months knows instantly what the big trend for 2015 will be. The “new” SEO methods will focus on ditching personal blog networks (PBNs) and going back to chasing down backlinks the old fashioned way: engaging readers with awesome, pillar content and networking with other website owners in the same niche.

This is the new direction that long-time niche site marketer Spencer Haws has been endorsing of late. Spencer’s blog NichePursuits.com has long detailed his strategies for cranking out smaller niche sites and using popular SEO practices to rank them. His recent case studies from 2014 have inspired hundreds of other marketers to follow suit.

But when his own PBN got whacked by Google in September 2014, Spencer — along with countless other SEO gurus — announced the end of PBNs and niche sites, and he has now fully embraced the more white hat method of creating an authority site and pouring all efforts into that one site.

But not all SEO experts will agree. Many will cling to the PBN model to quickly rank websites, and some of them will still succeed with that method well into next year, but Google is constantly getting better at sniffing out PBN footprints. It will just be a matter of time before those hidden networks come crashing down. And that is why the huge shift in the SEO world will be away from PBNs in 2015.

As a San Diego internet marketing company that follows the “content is king” SEO strategy, we’re ready for the New Year and hope that you’ll join us! For more information about SEO services or how our talented staff can help you rank above your competition, call 858-277-1717 and schedule a free website audit today.