Backlink Network Opening in a few weeks

Get a backlink every month from a site as strong as yours. Free.

Links only move forward through a network of real websites. Never a swap. The founding list is open now: climb it by inviting friends who have sites, and launch with up to 10 backlinks a month.

  • Free authority report
  • No credit card
  • You approve every link
  • Invite friends, climb the list

Already on the list? Your personal link is in your email. Enter the same email again and we resend it.

0 swaps

AStartupsBSaaSCAI toolsDWeb designEMarketingFAnalyticsGE-commerceHAgenciesIDev tools
Network. Each site hosts a link for the next one. Links only move forward: no pair ever links both ways, no 3-site loop ever closes.

Climb the list

Bring the people you know who have sites. Launch with more backlinks.

The founding list is ranked by points. The top 500 launch with more backlinks a month, and the closer you are to #1, the more you get. The fastest way up: invite friends who run websites, and add your other sites.

+10pts

Join with your site

Get your free authority report and confirm your email.

+5pts

Each extra site of yours

Run more than one site? Add up to 4 more.

Fastest way up
+20pts

Each friend who joins

A site owner who joins with your link and confirms.

+5pts

Each friend of a friend

Someone your friends bring in. It keeps adding up.

+5pts

Complete your profile

Add your first name and mobile on your personal page. Once.

Example

How Ana climbs from #812 to #37

Ana is an example. Points follow the real rules; positions are illustrative, because yours depend on everyone else's points.

  1. +10

    Ana joins with her blog

    She checks her site, confirms her email and is on the board.

    Points10Position#812
  2. +10

    She adds her 2 other sites

    2 x 5 points.

    Points20Position#590
  3. +120

    6 friends join with her link

    Fellow bloggers with sites of their own. 6 x 20 points.

    Points140Position#44
  4. +10

    2 of them invite 1 friend each

    Second level: 2 x 5 points, without lifting a finger.

    Points150Position#37
Where her 150 points came from150 pts
  • Joining 10
  • Her other sites 10
  • Friends 120
  • Friends of friends 10

At launch

Ana launches in the Top 100: 3 backlinks a month for 6 months, plus 2 bonus backlinks for her 6 friends.

20free backlinks3 x 6 + 2 bonus

What each rank launches with

Every member gets 1 free backlink a month. The top of the list launches with more, for a set number of months.

  1. #1

    10 backlinks a month for 12 months

    120backlinks

  2. Top 10#2 to #10

    5 backlinks a month for 12 months

    60backlinks

  3. Top 100#11 to #100

    3 backlinks a month for 6 months

    18backlinks

  4. Top 500#101 to #500

    2 backlinks a month for 3 months

    6backlinks

  5. Everyone on the list #501 and after

    Launch-day access in order of position, plus every bonus backlink you earn.

Guaranteed, whatever your rank

Every 3 friends who join = +1 bonus backlink

Not a lottery. Bring 3 friends and you have earned a backlink, even if you never reach the top 500. 9 friends, 3 bonus backlinks. There is no cap.

Each white mark is a bonus backlink.

Fair by design

  • A friend counts once they confirm their email and add a site that is not on the list yet.
  • Ties go to whoever joined first, so today beats tomorrow.
  • Invitations go out as 1 personal email per address, up to 25 a day. No spam, no lists.
Reserve my spot

Leaderboard Live

Who is leading the founding list

Sites are partly hidden, so only their owners recognise them. Updated every minute.

Waitlist leaderboard
#SitePoints
su••••••ts.org0 friends20
2my••••••ow.comTop 100 friends15
3sm••••••ic.comTop 100 friends15
4es•••••as.comTop 100 friends10
5qu••kr.ioTop 100 friends10
6im••••••lf.comTop 100 friends10
7sm••••••ts.comTop 100 friends10

The problem

Good links are expensive, slow, or both.

Most site owners know they need links. Here is what getting them usually costs.

$361

per link

The average price of a niche edit, a link added to an existing article. A guest post averages $77.80, before you write it.

Ahrefs, 2024

12.6%

will even sell

Of 450 sites Ahrefs contacted, only 12.6% were willing to sell a link at all.

Ahrefs, 2024

1 in 6,671

unlinked pages gets traffic

Of about 20 million pages with zero referring domains, only 2,997 get more than 1,000 Google visits a month.

Ahrefs, 2023

And links still track with page 1. In Backlinko's analysis of 11.8 million search results, the #1 result had 3.8x more backlinks than positions 2 to 10. That is a correlation, not a guarantee, but it is a big one. Backlinko

The third way

Why swaps fail, and why flow works

Swapping links is free but leaves the most obvious footprint there is. Buying them costs hundreds per link. We built a network where links only move forward.

Link swap

AB
  • Google's spam policies name it: excessive link exchanges, “link to me and I'll link to you”. Google Search Central
  • 73.6% of 140,592 domains with 10K+ monthly visits already have reciprocal links, so it is the most common footprint on the web. Ahrefs, 2020
  • Google's SpamBrain looks for sites that pass outgoing links, and credit from unnatural links is lost. Google, Dec 2022

Essentras flow

ABCD
  • No pair of sites ever links both ways.
  • No 3-site triangle ever closes.
  • Every link sits in real content on a relevant site.
  • The site that links to you is never the one you link to.

How it works

4 steps. About 15 minutes a month after that.

  1. 1

    Add your site

    Enter your domain and niche. We measure its authority with Ahrefs Domain Rating and Open PageRank, combined into Essentras Authority.

  2. 2

    Verify ownership

    Add a meta tag, a DNS record or a small file, or connect WordPress. It proves the site is yours and takes about a minute.

  3. 3

    Receive your link

    We match you with a relevant site of similar or higher authority. It publishes a contextual link to you inside real content, and we verify it is live, followed and indexable.

  4. 4

    Host one link

    Once a month you place 1 link for another member, never the site that linked to you. We draft the article for you to edit, or you publish it to WordPress in 1 click.

The rules

6 rules the engine never breaks

Never reciprocal

No pair of sites ever links both ways. The site that links to you is never a site you link to.

No short loops

No 3-site triangle (A to B to C and back to A) ever closes within a year.

Same or higher authority

The site that hosts your link is at most 12 Authority points below yours, and usually above.

Relevant niches only

Same niche first, then a close one, always in the same language. A general-interest site is the widest match you get.

One link per pair per year

A site never links to you twice within 365 days, so your links come from many different domains.

Real content, varied anchors

Every link sits in the body of a real article, with a natural anchor mix: 40% brand, 20% URL, 30% topic, 10% generic.

This is the matching code's spec, not marketing. See the details in the FAQ.

You stay in control

Your site, your call. Every time.

  • Nothing goes on your site until you publish it. You review every link you host.
  • Decline a match that does not fit your site (2 a month with no penalty).
  • Keep competitors out with an exclusion list: you never host for them or receive from them.
  • Choose the pages you want links to and the anchors you like: up to 10 pages, 5 anchors each.
  • Pause a site or leave whenever you want. No contract.
  • Every link you receive is re-checked weekly. If it disappears, you get the credit back and move to the front of the queue for a replacement.

What it is worth

What your free links would cost to buy

Move the sliders. The links are free; this is what the same number of niche edits would cost.

1 site

Up to 3 on the free plan

12 months

1 link per site per month

Backlinks received

12

Market value

$4,332

Your time

~15 mina month

Market value at $361 per link, the average niche edit price in Ahrefs' 2024 study. Time cost: about 15 minutes a month per site to approve your incoming link and publish the one you host. What a link is worth to your rankings depends on many things, and nobody can promise it.

Compare

How it stacks up

Essentras Backlink Network

Cost
Free
Reciprocal footprint
No
You approve each link
Yes
Authority matched
Yes
Relevance matched
Yes
Verified weekly
Yes
Time per month
~15 min

Buying links

Cost
~$361 per link
Reciprocal footprint
No
You approve each link
Yes
Authority matched
You pick
Relevance matched
You pick
Verified weekly
Rarely
Time per month
Hours

Manual outreach

Cost
Your time, low reply rates
Reciprocal footprint
No
You approve each link
Yes
Authority matched
You pick
Relevance matched
You pick
Verified weekly
Rarely
Time per month
Many hours

Link swaps

Cost
Free
Reciprocal footprint
Yes
You approve each link
Yes
Authority matched
Rarely
Relevance matched
Rarely
Verified weekly
No
Time per month
Hours

Auto-publish exchanges

Cost
$99 to $199 a month
Reciprocal footprint
Varies
You approve each link
Often no
Authority matched
Paid tiers
Relevance matched
Yes
Verified weekly
Varies
Time per month
~0

Buying cost: Ahrefs 2024 niche edit average. Auto-publish exchanges: typical public pricing of subscription networks that place links on members' sites automatically.

Beyond Google

AI answers read the same web

Mentions of your brand on relevant sites are part of how AI search decides which brands to name. In an Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands, branded web mentions correlated 0.664 with AI Overview visibility, more than Domain Rating (0.326) or backlinks (0.218). That is a correlation, not a promise. Ahrefs, 2025

Related free toolDA and DR checkerSee any domain's authority before you join.

Roadmap

Where the network is going

  1. Built for launch

    Built
    • Free network and matching engine
    • AI article drafts
    • WordPress 1-click publish and scheduling
    • Link verification weekly
    • Authority tracking
  2. Next

    • Content calendar for your WordPress
    • Webflow, Ghost and Shopify publishing
    • Search Console impact report per link
    • More links per month on paid plans
  3. Later

    • Niche-locked pools
    • Agency workspaces
    • AI visibility tracking per link
    • API

Straight talk

What we will never promise, and what we do

We will never promise

  • Rankings. Nobody controls them but Google.
  • "Google-proof" links. No such thing exists.
  • A fixed DR jump by a date.

We do promise

  • Real sites with real content
  • Relevant articles, not link pages
  • One-way links, never a swap
  • Link checks weekly
  • You can leave anytime

FAQ

Questions site owners ask

Something else? Check your domain above and reserve your spot, or contact us.

When does the network open?

Opening in a few weeks. Everyone on the list gets access on launch day, in order of position, and we email you before it opens. Until then, your spot, your points and your free authority report are saved on your personal page.

What do I get for inviting friends?

Each friend who joins with your link and confirms is +20 points, and each person they bring is +5 for you. Every 3 friends also earn you 1 bonus backlink, guaranteed whatever your rank. The higher you rank, the more you launch with: #1 10 a month for 12 months, Top 10 5 a month for 12 months, Top 100 3 a month for 6 months, Top 500 2 a month for 3 months.

How are points counted?

Joining with your site and confirming your email: 10 points. Each extra site of yours: +5, up to 4. Each friend who joins with your link: +20. Each person your friends bring: +5. Completing your profile (first name and mobile) on your personal page: +5, once. The list is ranked by points, and ties go to whoever joined first. Only confirmed emails are ranked.

Can I add more sites?

Yes. Add them from your personal page: each extra site is +5 points, up to 4 extra sites (20 points). Each one gets its own authority report. At launch the free plan covers 3 sites per account.

Is it free?

Yes. Joining the list, the rank rewards and the bonus backlinks are free, with no credit card. At launch each site receives 1 backlink a month and hosts 1 relevant link a month for another member, never the site that linked to it.

What if my friend already joined?

Each email and each site can be on the list only once, so a friend who already joined does not count again for anyone. When you paste addresses into the invite box, it tells you which ones are already on the list or already invited.

How do you keep the ranking fair?

A referral counts only when your friend confirms their email and joins with a site that is not on the list yet. One email is one spot ([email protected] and [email protected] are the same person), one site can belong to only one person, and throwaway email addresses cannot join. A friend who joins from the same internet connection as you (same IP address) is welcome on the list but does not earn you points. Invitations go out as 1 personal email per address, at most 25 a day per person.

What happens after the top 500?

Ranks #1 to #500 launch with extra backlinks for a set number of months. Everyone else on the list still gets launch-day access in order of position, the free backlink every month, and every bonus backlink they earned by inviting friends.

How is this different from a link exchange?

In a link exchange, 2 sites link to each other. Here the site that links to you is never a site you link to. You host a link for one member and receive one from a different member, so links only move forward through the network. The engine also blocks 3-site loops (A to B to C and back to A) for 365 days.

Is this against Google's guidelines?

Google's spam policies target links made primarily to manipulate rankings, and they name excessive reciprocal swaps ("link to me and I'll link to you"). We never create reciprocal pairs or short loops, every link sits in relevant, real content, and the site owner reviews and publishes every link. That said, no network can promise Google will count a link, and we don't.

Do I have to write articles?

No. When you are assigned a link to host, we draft a relevant article with the link in context. You edit it and publish it yourself, or connect WordPress and publish or schedule it in 1 click.

What if my site is small?

Small sites are welcome. You are matched with sites near your authority, never far below: the host can be at most 12 Authority points below you, and is usually above. If a match takes more than 14 days in a rare niche, the range widens a little so you are not left waiting.

Are the links dofollow?

Yes. We check every link live: it must be on the page, followed (no nofollow, sponsored or ugc) and on an indexable page. Then we re-check it every 7 days.

What if someone removes my link?

Live links are re-checked every 7 days. If a link fails 2 checks in a row, it is marked lost, you get your credit back and you move to the front of the queue for a replacement. The host loses trust, and hosts with low trust stop being matched.

Which sites are not accepted?

Adult, gambling, pharma and loans are not accepted, and neither are parked or for-sale domains. Very new or very low authority sites are welcome but are reviewed by hand before they are matched.

How do you measure authority?

We combine Ahrefs Domain Rating with Open PageRank (the Common Crawl link graph) into Essentras Authority, a 0 to 100 score. Your dashboard also shows the vendor figures under their own names. You can check any domain with our free DA and DR checker.

Can I choose the anchors and the pages?

Yes. Add up to 10 pages on your site, each with up to 5 anchors you are happy with. We rotate them toward a natural mix: 40% brand, 20% URL, 30% topic, 10% generic.

Can I exclude competitors?

Yes. Add their domains to your exclusion list and you will never host a link for them or receive one from them.

Can I leave?

Yes, any time. Pause a site or remove it from your dashboard. There is no contract and nothing to cancel.

Your founding spot is one domain away.

Free authority report today. Opening in a few weeks. Every friend who joins with your link: +20 points.

Already on the list? Your personal link is in your email.