Link swaps on Rankbank

A link swap is one of the oldest arrangements on the web: you link to a site you respect, they link back to you. Rankbank's job is to make that arrangement explicit, agreed in writing, and checked afterwards, so neither side has to take the other's word for it.

What a swap actually is

The Link Exchange page says it in plain terms before you have done anything at all:

A link swap in plain terms: you add a link to their site from one of your pages, they add one back. Search engines treat those links as votes of confidence — both sites benefit. Nothing goes live until both sides have approved it.

A link from someone else's site is called a backlink, and it is the part of ranking you cannot write your way to. Your own pages are yours to fix. Whether other sites point at you is a judgement other people make. That judgement is what authority measures, and links from other sites are the main thing that moves it.

The page description puts the same idea in one line: "You link to a related site, they link back — both sites look more established to Google. Everything here is grouped by who has the next move."

The four stages

Rankbank breaks the arrangement into four stages, and the empty state on the overview page lists them in order.

1. Have a website to offer. "A swap is two-way, so you need a site of your own that can host their link." If you have a site but it is not open to swaps yet, the stage renames itself to Open one of your sites to swaps and points at the switch.
2. Find a partner site. "Browse sites that accept swap requests — or invite one that isn't here yet."
3. Become partners. "They see the pages you share and decide. Accepting makes you link partners — after that neither of you needs a fresh request."
4. Ask each other for links. "Pick one of their pages, choose the words, and send it. Every link is agreed before it goes live, and we keep checking it stays there."

Stage three is the one people underestimate. A swap request is not a request for a specific link. It is a request to become partners. Once a site accepts, the two of you can ask each other for links whenever you have a page worth linking, for as long as the partnership lasts, without filing anything again.

Three promises

Everything in this section rests on three commitments, and they are worth reading before you send anything.

Nothing goes live until both sides agree. Sending a request does not place a link. Accepting a request does not place a link. Even asking a partner for a specific link does not place it. The site hosting the link says yes to the exact wording first, every time.

Rankbank never edits anyone's website. When you accept a link request, you open your own site and add the link yourself. The answer panel says so out loud: "Accepting means you'll add this to your page yourself — nothing is published for you." Rankbank has no write access to anybody's pages, and it never asks for any.

Every live link is checked and re-checked. Once a link is marked live, Rankbank fetches the page, confirms the link is really there and pointing where it should, and then keeps looking on a schedule. If it quietly disappears months later, you find out. See how Rankbank keeps watch.

Where everything lives

The Link Exchange group in the sidebar has five entries.

• Overview is the hub, and it is grouped by who has the next move rather than by status.
• Opportunities is the directory of sites that accept swap requests. See finding a site to swap with.
• Pages you share is your inventory: the pages a partner may ask to place a link in. See pages you share.
• Requests lists every ask you have sent and whose move it is now.
• Partners is where standing relationships live, and where you press Ask for a link.

Requests sent to your sites arrive somewhere else: the Link Exchange entry in the admin section, which opens the Link Exchange Requests queue. That split is deliberate. Asking is a workspace activity; answering on behalf of a site you own is an admin one. See reviewing a swap request you received.

Reading the overview

Once you have any swap activity, the overview turns into four counted tiles and four matching panels. Each one answers the same question: whose move is it?

• Needs your action: "Nothing moves on these until you do something." When it is empty it says "You're all caught up — nothing is waiting on you."
• Needs attention: "A mismatch or monitoring failure needs looking at." Empty, it reads "No placements are failing their checks."
• Waiting on someone else: "Your partner or Rankbank has the next step."
• Healthy and completed: "Live, verified, and monitoring cleanly."

Each row names the two sites, states the next action underneath, and opens the thing it is about. The header button reads Find a site to swap with the first time and Start another swap afterwards.

What this is not

Rankbank does not match you with partners automatically. There is no algorithm proposing sites you have not searched for. You find partners by searching and filtering the directory, or by inviting a site that has not joined yet.

It also does not buy or sell links. Some sites mark themselves as open to paid arrangements, and their directory card says Paid Collaboration Available, but Rankbank handles no money and takes no part in that conversation.

Where to go next

If you are setting up for the first time, start with setting up your site for swaps. If your site is ready and you want to see the whole thing end to end with one worked example, read the tutorial your first link swap, start to finish.