How to Buy PBN Links: The 7-Point Vetting Checklist to Avoid Scams

You're ready to buy PBN links. You've heard about the power, the speed, and the control. But you've also heard the horror stories: the wasted money, the Google penalties, and the sellers who disappear overnight. The internet is full of Reddit threads and forum posts asking, "Are all PBN services a scam?"

The truth is, buying PBN links is like navigating a minefield. For every legitimate, professional service, there are ten low-quality "link farms" waiting to take your money and damage your site.

This is your map through that minefield.

This is not another sales page. This is a complete buyer's due diligence guide. We'll give you the exact 7-point vetting checklist that professionals use to identify trustworthy sellers, avoid the traps, and confidently buy PBN links that actually move the needle.

PBN Buying: The Cheat Sheet

Here's the essential framework for buying PBN links safely:

• The #1 Rule: Vet the Seller, Not Just the Service. A provider's reputation is your best shield. A long history of verified, positive reviews is the strongest safety signal you can find.
• The Biggest Red Flag: A lack of transparency. If a seller refuses to provide samples of their sites, content, or hosting strategy, you should run, not walk.
• The Golden Signal: A focus on network safety and diversification. Look for sellers who openly discuss their footprint-free hosting and varied domain profiles.
• The Goal: To find a reliable, long-term partner who delivers quality, not just a one-time vendor who sells cheap, risky links from a public "PBN sites list."

On This Page

• What is a PBN Link (And What is a "Link Farm")?
• The "Free PBN Links" Trap: A Critical Warning
• The 7-Point Vetting Checklist to Avoid Scams
• "PBN Sites Lists" vs. Vetted Marketplaces
• How to Place Your Order Safely (The Pro Method)
• PBN Link Buying FAQ

What is a PBN Link (And What is a "Link Farm")?

Before you buy, you must understand the difference between what you want and what many sellers are offering.

• What is a PBN (Private Blog Network)? A true PBN is a network of websites, built on aged domains with existing authority, that is privately owned and controlled. The owner uses these sites to build links with total control, and crucially, they do not sell links to the general public. As many Reddit users will tell you, a true PBN is one you build for yourself.
• What is a Public "Link Farm"? This is what most "PBN services" actually are. They are large networks built to sell links to the public. The risk is that they are overused, full of links to unrelated niches (violating topical relevance), and create a massive, detectable footprint.

When you "buy PBN links," you are almost always buying from a public link farm. Your goal is to use this checklist to find the 1% of providers who manage their public network with the same care as a private one.

The "Free PBN Links" Trap: A Critical Warning

You will see this question on Quora and forums: "Where can I get free PBN links?"

Let's be perfectly clear: There is no such thing as a safe, free PBN link.

1. A high-quality PBN is incredibly expensive to build and maintain. It requires costs for:
2. Acquiring high-authority expired domains.
3. Paying for safe, diversified PBN hosting every month.

Producing unique, high-quality PBN content for every post.

If a service is "free," they are cutting all of these corners. You will be getting a link from a toxic, penalized, or worthless network that will do more harm than good. In this industry, "free" is the most expensive price you can pay.

The 7-Point Vetting Checklist to Avoid Scams

Do not buy from any service or freelancer without running them through this 7-point due diligence process.

1. Vet the Seller (Reputation & Reviews)

This is the most important step. A seller's track record is your best protection.

• What to Look For: A public profile on a transparent marketplace like Legiit. You want to see a long service history (have they been around for years?) and hundreds of recent, verified, positive reviews from real buyers.
• Red Flag: An anonymous website with no public reviews. Or a new seller with 10 perfect (and likely fake) 5-star reviews. As users on Reddit warn, you're looking for a reliable partner, not a new, unproven seller.
  

2. Vet the Domain Metrics (DA, DR, TF)

Sellers will flash "High DR/DA" at you, but these metrics can be faked.

• What to Look For: Don't just look at DA or DR. Ask for the Trust Flow (TF) from Majestic. A healthy site has a TF that is reasonably close to its Citation Flow (CF). A site with DA 50 but TF 5 is a classic sign of a spammy, low-quality domain.
• Red Flag: A seller who only shows you the DA or DR. Ask for a sample and check the metrics yourself.
  

3. Vet the Domain History & Backlinks

A high metric score means nothing if the domain has a toxic past.

• What to Look For: Ask for a sample site and use a tool like Ahrefs to check its backlink profile. You want to see clean, relevant links from real sites. Use the Wayback Machine to see what the site was in a past life.
• Red Flag: A backlink profile full of spammy anchor text (casino, pharma, etc.) or links from foreign-language sites. This is a toxic asset you do not want pointing to your site.
  

4. Vet the Hosting & Footprints

Ask the seller one simple question: "How do you host your network to avoid footprints?"

• What to Look For: A professional answer. They should mention using diversified hosting, different premium providers, unique C-Class IPs, and services like Easy Blog Networks or LaunchCDN to manage diversity.
• Red Flag: A vague answer like "it's 100% safe, don't worry" or "we use a special SEO host." This often means all their sites are on the same server block, creating a massive, detectable footprint.
  

5. Vet the Content Quality

The content on the PBN site is a direct signal of its quality.

• What to Look For: Ask for a live example of a post. The content should be unique, readable, and relevant to the PBN site's niche. It should be at least 500-700 words and look like a real blog post.
• Red Flag: Thin, 300-word articles that are spun, make no sense, or are clearly written by low-quality AI. This is a footprint Google can easily detect.
  

6. Vet the Link Profile (Internal & External)

A real website doesn't just link to your money site.

• What to Look For: A PBN post that also links out to 1-2 other non-competing authority sites (like a Wikipedia page or a major news source). This makes the outbound link profile look natural.
• Red Flag: A site where every single post links out to a client's "money site" and nowhere else. This is a clear manipulative pattern.
  

7. Vet the Process (Transparency & Reporting)

You must know what you are paying for.

• What to Look For: A seller who guarantees a permanent, do-follow link and provides a full, detailed report showing the exact live URL of your post.
• Red Flag: A seller who says, "To protect our network, we cannot provide a report." If you can't see the link you paid for, you cannot verify its quality and should assume it's worthless.
  

"PBN Sites Lists" vs. Vetted Marketplaces

You'll see "PBN sites lists" for sale. This is a dangerous trap. These lists are sold to hundreds of people, meaning the sites on them are overused, spammed out, and almost certainly on Google's radar.

The professional alternative is to use a vetted marketplace like Legiit. Here’s why it's safer:

• Seller Reputation: You don't buy from a random "list"; you buy a service from a vetted professional with a public reputation to protect.
• Buyer Protection: Your payment is held in escrow until the work is delivered as promised.
• Transparency: You can read hundreds of real, verified reviews from past buyers to judge the quality of a seller's network before you spend a dollar.
  

Don't Gamble. Use a Vetted Marketplace.

This 7-step process is a lot of work. The safest and most efficient way to buy PBN links is to use a platform that has already done most of this vetting for you.

On Legiit, you can instantly compare sellers based on verified reviews, order history, and pricing, all while being protected by an escrow system.

How to Place Your Order Safely (The Pro Method)

Once you've chosen a trusted provider, your job is to give them the right materials to protect your site.

• Step 1. Prepare Your URLs: Don't point every link at your homepage. A natural link profile has links to deep internal pages, such as service pages and blog posts.
• Step 2. Diversify Your Anchor Text: This is critical. Do not give the seller the same "money keyword" for every order. A safe anchor text profile is mostly branded, naked, and generic.
• Step 3. Drip-Feed Your Orders: Never buy 50 PBN links and have them all go live in one week. Order a few links at a time and drip-feed them slowly over weeks or months to simulate a natural, organic link-building pace.

PBN Link Buying FAQ

What is PBN in SEO?

PBN stands for Private Blog Network. In SEO, it refers to a network of authoritative websites controlled by a single entity, used to build backlinks to a "money site" to improve its search rankings.

How much do PBN links cost?

The price depends on the domain's authority and the seller's quality. A single PBN link on a high-quality, footprint-free network typically costs between $10 and $25. Be very suspicious of services selling "high DR links" for just a few dollars.

Where can I get free PBN links?

You cannot. "Free PBN links" are a dangerous trap. The high costs of domains, safe hosting, and quality content mean any "free" service is a low-quality, toxic link farm that will harm your site.

What is the difference between a PBN link and a "link insertion"?

A PBN link is a link from a site within a network that the seller controls. A "link insertion" (often called a niche edit) is a link that is inserted into an existing, aged article on a real, independent, third-party website that the seller does not own.

How should I buy PBN links, according to Reddit?

The consensus on forums like Reddit is to be extremely cautious. Users warn against buying from unvetted sellers and "public link farms." The safest path, as recommended by experienced users, is to find trusted freelancers on a transparent marketplace like Legiit, where you can read verified reviews and see a seller's long-term reputation.

Buy Smart, Build Authority Safely

Buying PBN links doesn't have to be a blind gamble. By using this vetting checklist and a trusted marketplace, you can filter out the scams and find professional providers who can deliver real power without the risk.

Start by exploring the top-rated PBN backlinks services on Legiit, where you can see a full history of verified reviews and buy with the protection of an escrow system.