Automatic exchange settings and credits

The automatic exchange places links without asking you each time, which means the settings are where you do your deciding. They are worth ten minutes before you turn it on.

Credits

Your balance is what you can spend on new links right now.

You earn by hosting: a member's link goes into one of your articles, it is checked, it is found live, and a credit moves. You spend the same way in reverse.

The rule that makes this safe is stated on the placements view: credits only ever move for a link that has been seen. Nothing quietly costs you anything on the strength of a promise.

Who may link from your pages

Minimum host authority is the quality floor, and the helper text is honest about the trade: set it high and you will wait longer for fewer, stronger links, while zero accepts anyone.

There is no right answer. A new site benefits from volume; an established one benefits from being choosy. If you are unsure, start moderate and raise it once links are arriving.

Blocked domains

One per line, and the rule is symmetrical: neither side of a placement will ever involve these. You will not host their links and they will not host yours.

The obvious entries are direct competitors and any site you would be embarrassed to be associated with.

Blocked topics

One per line. Anything matching these is never offered to your articles.

Use it for subjects you will not publish about whatever the link quality: gambling, adult content, crypto, whatever your line is.

Mark links you host as sponsored

Adds the sponsored attribute to links you host for other members.

Worth understanding rather than switching on reflexively. The attribute tells search engines the link is part of an arrangement rather than an unprompted citation, which is the honest description of what it is. Some people want that on everything; others reserve it. The switch is there so it is your call rather than the product's.

Review each hosted link before the article publishes

Turned on, an article carrying somebody else's link waits for you rather than going out on its own.

The right default depends on how much you trust the topic matching, and the honest advice is to leave it on for the first month. Once you have seen a dozen placements land where you would have put them yourself, turn it off and let it run.

When settings take effect

New matches use them from the moment you save. Placements already agreed keep the terms they were made under, which is the same principle the rest of the product follows.

Where to go next

Reading your placements is where you see the result.