Reviewing an exchange request you received

Somebody has asked to exchange backlinks with your site. Nothing has happened yet, and nothing will until you decide.

Where it arrives

A notification saying someone wants to exchange backlinks, marked as needing your action.

It also appears first on your Backlink Exchange overview, in Requests to answer, with Review beside it, and in your requests list marked Your turn.

Reading the request

Where this stands shows the four steps an exchange goes through and which one this is at.

What you'd be trading shows your site and theirs side by side, with the same figures the directory shows, so the trade reads the same wherever you look at it.

Their note, if they wrote one.

What they're offering you is a snapshot of each page from when the request was sent, with the same numbers the requester saw. A snapshot rather than a live view, so the terms cannot change under you while you are deciding.

What to weigh

Would their readers want what you publish, and would yours want theirs? Relevance is the whole point. A link from an unrelated site is worth very little and looks like what it is.

Are the pages they are offering any good? You will be asking for a link on one of them.

Are they close to you in strength? A much stronger site is a good link for you; a much weaker one is a favour. Neither is wrong, but it is worth knowing which you are agreeing to.

Do you have the time? A partnership is an ongoing thing rather than a single transaction.

The decision

Under Your decision: Accept and become partners, Ask them something first, or Decline. A note back (optional) goes with whichever you choose: "They see this either way — a line about why is enough."

Only the site's admins decide, or an SEO consultant the owner lets answer exchange requests. Anyone else sees the request and a line saying who can answer it.

Declining is a normal outcome and worth doing quickly rather than leaving somebody waiting. A one-line reason is a kindness and costs nothing.

What accepting commits you to

Less than people expect.

It creates a partnership. It does not place any link, it does not put anything on your site, and it does not oblige you to accept any particular link later.

From then on either side can ask the other for a link. Each of those is its own decision, with its own wording to agree, and you can decline any of them. See answering a link request.

You can also pause a partnership later without ending it, which stops new requests while leaving existing links watched.

Where to go next

The partner ledger is where a new partnership lives. Asking a partner for a link is your first move once you have one.