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We need to talk about something we see constantly: PBN sites built with templates that include logos from major brands. Etsy. Shopify. Amazon. Steam. ApplePay. PayPal. Random company logos scattered in footers and sidebars like confetti.
Stop doing this. Please.
We get why it happens. You find a template, it looks professional, it has nice “trusted by” or “as seen on” sections with recognisable logos. Makes the site look legitimate. Except it doesn’t. It makes your site look like a lawsuit waiting to happen and a red flag to anyone paying attention.
The Problem Is Trademark Infringement
Those logos are trademarked. Using them without permission—especially in a way that suggests partnership, endorsement, or affiliation—is trademark infringement. Full stop.
“But it’s just a small PBN site, no one will notice.”
Maybe. Probably, even. But big companies have legal teams with nothing better to do than send cease and desist letters. They use automated tools to scan for unauthorised use of their marks. Your little site with an Etsy logo in the footer could absolutely trigger a nastygram from their lawyers.
And unlike copyright issues where you can claim ignorance or argue fair use, trademark infringement is harder to wiggle out of. You’re using their brand to make your site look more credible. That’s exactly what trademark law is designed to prevent.
It’s Also a Footprint
Beyond the legal risk, using these logos creates obvious footprints.
Think about what these logos signal. A legitimate small business site that accepts PayPal would use PayPal’s actual checkout integration, not just slap a logo on the page. A real Shopify store runs on Shopify’s platform. A site displaying an Etsy logo would actually sell on Etsy.
When you have a static HTML site with no actual e-commerce functionality displaying payment processor logos, it screams fake. When you have “Trusted by” sections showing Fortune 500 company logos on a site that clearly has no relationship with any of them, it screams fake.
Manual reviewers—whether Google’s quality raters or competitors doing reconnaissance—will spot this instantly. It’s one of the easiest tells that a site is part of a network rather than a genuine standalone property.
Where This Usually Comes From
Most of the time, people don’t actively decide to commit trademark infringement. The logos come bundled with templates.
You buy a theme from ThemeForest or download a free template from somewhere. It comes with placeholder content designed to look impressive in the demo. That placeholder content includes logos of well-known brands to make the demo look credible and professional.
The template creators assume you’ll replace all this with your own content. Many even include disclaimers saying exactly that. But people get lazy, or they don’t read the documentation, or they genuinely think those logos are fine to use.
They’re not fine to use.
Other times it comes from Wayback Machine restorations. The original site had legitimate relationships with these companies—maybe they really were an Etsy seller or a Shopify partner. You restore the site content, including those logos, but you have no such relationship.
We’ve covered the legal complexities of Wayback restoration elsewhere, but logos are particularly problematic because they involve trademark issues on top of copyright issues.
What Actually Happens When Companies Notice
We’ve seen this play out multiple ways with our customers over the years.
Cease and desist letters. The most common outcome. A lawyer sends a formal letter demanding you remove their client’s trademark immediately. These letters are usually aggressive and threatening even for minor infringements. They create stress and require a response.
DMCA-style takedowns. Some companies skip the letter and go straight to your hosting provider with a trademark complaint. The host notifies you to remove the content or face account suspension.
Domain disputes. If the logo use is particularly egregious or combined with other trademark issues (like using a brand name in your domain), you could face a UDRP challenge. This is the process where someone tries to take your domain away.
Abuse reports to hosting. Companies sometimes report trademark violations as general abuse, which can result in account reviews or terminations depending on the host’s policies. We’ve written about what gets sites taken down and trademark complaints are definitely on that list.
In most cases, if you remove the logos quickly when contacted, nothing further happens. But it’s a hassle you don’t need, it draws attention to your site, and it puts you on someone’s radar.
The Easy Fix
Just… remove the logos. It’s not complicated.
When you set up a template, delete any section that contains third-party brand logos. “Trusted by” sections with company logos? Delete. “Payment methods” footers with PayPal and Stripe logos? Delete. “As featured in” banners with media outlet logos? Delete.
If you want trust signals on your site, use ones you can actually claim. Create your own graphics. Use generic icons. Display actual testimonials from real clients. Show certifications you’ve actually earned.
For static HTML PBN sites, you probably don’t need trust signals at all. The site’s purpose is to provide topically relevant content and pass link equity. Visitors aren’t there to buy anything. You don’t need to convince them to trust you with their credit card.
What About WordPress Plugin Logos?
This is a grey area. If you’re running WordPress and using Yoast SEO, can you display the Yoast logo?
Technically, most plugins that add their branding do so automatically through the plugin itself—in admin areas, meta tags, or footer credits. That’s typically covered by the plugin’s terms of use.
What you shouldn’t do is manually add plugin logos to your public-facing pages as if they’re endorsements. “Powered by WordPress” in the footer is generally fine because WordPress explicitly permits this. Adding the WordPress logo to a “We use enterprise-grade technology” section is not the same thing.
When in doubt, leave it out.
Auditing Your Existing Sites
If you’ve already built sites using templates, go audit them. Look for:
Partner or client logo sections. These almost always contain placeholder logos that don’t belong to you.
Payment method displays. Unless your site actually processes payments with those services, remove them.
Footer badges and seals. SSL certificate logos, security badges, accreditation marks—unless you actually have the relevant certification, they shouldn’t be there.
“As seen in” or press sections. Unless your site was actually featured in those publications, remove them.
Technology stack displays. Logos of platforms, frameworks, or services that aren’t actually powering your site.
This takes ten minutes per site. It’s worth doing. Remove anything you can’t legitimately claim.
The Bigger Picture
Using brand logos you have no right to use is a symptom of a broader problem: building PBN sites that are designed to deceive rather than to exist as legitimate web properties.
The most effective PBN sites in 2026 are ones that could plausibly be real sites. They have coherent content. They serve an actual purpose, even if a limited one. They don’t try to pretend to be something they’re not.
A site stuffed with fake testimonials, stolen logos, and fabricated credentials isn’t just legally risky—it’s a bad PBN site. It looks fake because it is fake. And fake-looking sites don’t pass value the way genuine-looking sites do.
Build sites that make sense. Write content that serves the topic. Skip the fake trust signals. Your network will be stronger for it, and you won’t have to worry about lawyers sliding into your inbox.
If you need help building PBN sites that look and function like real websites without resorting to borrowed credibility, our building service handles exactly this. And for advice on avoiding common PBN footprints, we’ve covered that extensively at https://pbn.ltd/pbn-footprints-to-be-thinking-about/.