Backlinks are one of the most important factors in search engine optimization (SEO). They act as "votes of confidence" from other websites, telling search engines that your content is valuable and authoritative. Outrank's Backlink Exchange Program automates this process, helping you earn high-quality, relevant backlinks from other websites in our network.

Backlink Basics

To understand how our program works, it's helpful to know a few key terms:

• Domain Rating (DR): A metric (from 0 to 100) that represents the authority of a website. Higher DR sites pass more SEO value.

• Relevance: Search engines prefer links from sites in similar niches. Our AI ensures your links appear in contextually relevant articles.

• Verified Status: This means our system has confirmed the link is live and active on the source website.

How the Exchange Program Works

Outrank uses an AI-driven automated matching system to create natural link integrations between websites in our ecosystem. Unlike traditional link building, which requires manual outreach, our system handles the heavy lifting:

1. AI Matching: When you or another user generates a new article (Guide or Listicle), our AI scans the network for relevant products or content to link to.

2. Automatic Insertion: If a match is found, a backlink is naturally inserted into the article during the generation process.

3. Mutual Benefit: You earn credits by providing links to others and spend credits when you receive backlinks to your own site.

Understanding Backlink Credits

Our system runs on a simple credit-based economy where 1 Credit = 1 Domain Rating (DR) point.

Earning Credits

You earn credits when your Outrank-generated articles link out to other members. You earn credits equal to your own site's DR, capped at 20 credits per link.

Spending Credits

You spend credits when you receive a backlink from another site. The cost is based on the DR of the source site. For example, a link from a DR 50 site costs 50 credits.

Daily Limits

To ensure natural and safe growth for your website, we implement daily credit spending limits based on your current balance:

• Balance < 200: 150 credits/day limit

• Balance 200-500: 200 credits/day limit

• Balance 500-1000: 250 credits/day limit

• Balance > 1000: 300 credits/day limit

How to Participate

Follow these steps to start earning backlinks:

Step 1: Configure Your Internal Links

Before joining the network, the system needs to know which of your pages are available for linking.

1. Go to Dashboard > Linking.

2. Choose your source (Sitemap, Root URL, or WordPress Integration).

3. Click Find Links to index your articles. You must have at least one article detected to proceed.

Step 2: Enable Network Participation

1. Navigate to the Backlinks page in your dashboard.

2. Locate the Network Participation card.

3. Toggle the switch to Enabled.

Step 3: Monitor Your Progress

Once enabled, you can track your performance on the Backlinks dashboard. You'll see metrics for total backlinks, unique sources, and your average DR.

• Pending: The link has been created but is awaiting its first verification scan.

• Verified: The link is live and active. Credits are only permanently consumed for verified links.

• Refunded: If a verified link is later removed, your credits are automatically returned to your balance.

Prerequisites

To join the Backlink Exchange, you must meet the following criteria:

• Have an active Premium or Enterprise subscription.

• Own your own domain (no subdomains on free platforms).

• Have at least one indexed article in your Internal Links settings.

• Pass our automated content safety check.

For more details on credit allocations and plan limits, see our article on Backlink Credits and Subscription Plans.