Question on this- does Google penalize you even if you run a network of actual, honest to goodness quality content sites that link together (think Wirecutter linking to Sweet Home) or is this specifically if you are making crappy, temporary pages that link into your site?
You don't accidentally create a PBN. It's more than accidental crappy pages. It's automatically-generated link wheels with spun content and capitalizing on expired domains, etc.
How do you view PBNs in 2017? Would you ever consider purchasing a site that is ranking with a PBN or is it just too risky? I've read conflicting opinions, some saying that if it is done is a silo'd way and the content is not terrible, its not such a big deal.
There is some grey area as it pertains to content farms though. Google has penalized sites for creating a ring of sites that point to a central property, even if the content is hand created, of "okay" quality, etc.
Where has google penalized hand created content sites of okay quality where a ring of them link to a central site? I'd highly doubt that happens if the content truly is of okay quality.
Unless your quoting okay meant that the content is barely okay aka not good at all. Then the links the sites get could be crap too and some other factor could be the reason for the penalty.
Google doesn't penalize sites if it's an honest to goodness quality site link. Just look at how Yahoo! is linking to out to college sports sites, ticket sites, gaming sites, etc. etc..
The problem is that many of the larger "link networks" are controlled by big brands.
