The automatic backlink exchange

The manual exchange is you choosing a partner and agreeing each link. The automatic one does the same trade without the choosing, inside articles your content calendar was already going to write.

The page describes it in one line: "Other members host a link to your pages inside the articles they publish, and your articles host one back. Credits move only when a link has been checked and found live."

The four steps

Your calendar writes. "Articles you were publishing anyway." The exchange never asks you to publish anything extra; it uses what the calendar produces.

It carries one link. "To a member whose topic actually fits." One per article.

We check it went live. "Credits move at that moment, not before."

That last one is the mechanism, and it is worth reading twice. Nothing is settled on a promise. A credit moves when a link has been fetched and found.

Credits

You earn credits by hosting somebody else's link inside one of your articles, and spend them on links to your own pages inside somebody else's.

You start with a balance to get going, and the summary shows what is yours to spend now.

The rules are short: one link per article, and no money changes hands.

How it differs from the manual exchange

You do not choose the partner. Matching is done for you, on topic fit, within the constraints you set.

You do not agree each link's wording. The link goes into an article your calendar wrote.

It is continuous. Once it is on, links keep arriving as you keep publishing.

And it is part of Pro, while the manual exchange stays free. The page says so plainly: the automatic exchange is part of Rankbench Pro, and the manual link exchange, with its directory, requests and partnerships, stays free for everyone.

What it takes to join

Plan articles in your calendar. The exchange only ever writes into articles your calendar produces, so a calendar with nothing planned has nothing to work with. See the content calendar.

Turn the exchange on. Nothing is placed on your site until you do.

Publish your first article. A published article is the inventory other members are matched with.

Links start arriving. Your pages start getting linked, and you earn credits for hosting.

The four steps are shown as a checklist with the current one marked, so you always know what is next.

Pausing

Participation can be paused, and the page says so when it is. Existing placements are unaffected; new matching stops.

Where the links show up

Two lists: links from other members pointing at your pages, and links inside your own articles pointing at other members.

Until something has been checked and confirmed, the lists say so rather than counting things that might not be live.

Where to go next

Settings and credits is what to set before turning it on. Reading your placements is what to watch afterwards.