18 guides
Backlink exchange
Finding sites to exchange backlinks with, agreeing every link in writing, and keeping the ones that go live alive. By hand, or automatically.
How it works
What an exchange is, and the promises Rankbench makes about one.
Get ready to exchange
The setup a partner checks before they say yes.
- Setting up your site for exchangesThe four things that have to be true before you can send a request, the blockers you will meet if one is missing, and the per-site exchange rules.
- Pages you shareThe pages a partner may ask for a link on, reading them from your sitemap, keeping only the sections you want, and what the switch and Remove each do.
- Pages you published elsewhereRegistering an article on somebody else's platform, the four kinds of access, and how a piece you do not own can carry an exchange.
Find a partner
Searching the directory, and both sides of an exchange request.
- Finding a site to exchange withThe directory, what the sort orders and filters actually do, how to read a row, and inviting a site that is not here yet.
- Sending an exchange requestPicking the two sites, reading how they compare, the blockers, what travels with the request, and what happens after you send.
- Sending requests from several sitesFor agencies. Asking one partner to exchange with several of your client sites in one go, what each site needs first, and how the partner answers each one.
- Reviewing an exchange request you receivedWhere requests arrive, what to read before deciding, and what accepting actually commits you to.
Agree each link
Asking, answering, and pages published somewhere you can't edit.
- Asking a partner for a linkThe four-step builder: choosing their page, choosing yours, choosing the words that carry the link, and what they see when it arrives.
- Answering a link requestWhat is being asked, the three answers, suggesting different wording, and telling Rankbench when the link is live.
- When the page is published somewhere you cannot editThe one-click link you send a publisher, what they see, what each answer does, and what happens if nobody answers.
Keep them alive
What happens after a link goes live, and the ledger that tracks it.
- How Rankbench keeps watchThe checks that run on every live link, what each finding means, the figures frozen at go-live, and what monitoring will not do.
- The partner ledgerThe record of every link between you and one partner, in both directions, what each badge means, and pausing without ending things.
- Placements and agreements from older exchangesThe earlier flow some links still live in, what its pages do, and why you may see two shapes of the same thing.
Automatic backlinks
Links placed inside the articles your calendar was writing anyway.
- Automatic backlinksLinks placed inside the articles your calendar was writing anyway, how credits work, what it takes to join, and how it differs from the manual exchange.
- Automatic backlinks settings and creditsThe quality floor, the domains and topics you will never be matched with, marking hosted links as sponsored, and reviewing before publication.
- Reading your placementsThe two directions, the states a placement moves through, the panel for the ones that need looking at, and what happens when a link disappears.
Articles you published elsewhere
Opening a piece on someone else's site to link and mention requests.