Money Site vs PBN: When to Use a Domain Where
When you buy an aged or expired domain, you have to decide: use it as your main money site (the site you want to rank and monetize) or use it as a PBN property that links to your money site. The right choice depends on the domain's Domain Rating, niche relevance, your goals, and how much content you want to run.
What is a Money Site?
A money site is the primary site you're building for traffic, rankings, and revenue. It's the brand or project you promote. You want it to rank, attract backlinks naturally, and hold up under search engine scrutiny. Content, UX, and topical relevance matter a lot.
Use a domain as your money site when:
- Its backlink profile and history fit your niche and you're happy to publish real, ongoing content on it.
- You want a standalone asset that ranks and sends traffic, not just a link source.
- You're building one main brand or project and the domain fits that brand.
What is PBN Use?
A PBN property is a site you own and control mainly to place links to your money site (or other sites). You publish enough content to make it look like a real site, then add contextual links to your money site. For more on the concept, see PBN domains explained.
Use a domain as PBN when:
- You need more links to your money site and want to control the linking domain and anchor context.
- The domain has good DR and a clean backlink profile but isn't the right fit as your main brand or content hub.
- You're comfortable with the risk that search engines may treat PBN links as manipulative if detected.
Money Site vs PBN: Comparison
| Factor | Money site | PBN |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank, get traffic, monetize | Pass links and authority to money site |
| Content | Full, ongoing, user-focused | Enough to look legitimate; links in context |
| Niche relevance | Should match your project and audience | Helpful if it matches money site topic |
| Risk profile | Lower (real site, natural links) | Higher (PBN detection can lead to link devaluation or penalties) |
| Alternative for same domain | Rebuild content; or 301 old site to it | Use as linking property only |
What Decides It?
Use this as a simple guide:
- Niche fit: If the domain's backlinks and history align with your main project and you'll invest in content, lean money site.
- Link need: If you mainly need more links and the domain has good DR and a clean profile, PBN is an option (with accepted risk).
- Content capacity: One domain as money site often needs more content and upkeep than one PBN property.
- Brand: If the domain name or history fits your brand, money site is more natural; if it's generic or unrelated, PBN or 301 redirect might make more sense.
You can also use one domain as a money site and another as PBN—or use an expired domain as a new money site by redirecting your current site to it. For that flow, see how to use expired domains (rebuild vs redirect vs PBN).