FAQ

GENERAL

General questions about Automatic Backlinks

What is Automatic Backlinks?

Automatic Backlinks is a service that enables webmasters and website owners to quickly and effortlessly build relevant quality backlinks to their site. They can do this by deciding to display other users’ backlinks on their own pages in return, or by purchasing a monthly Link Credit subscription.

Isn't Automatic Backlinks just another link exchange directory?

No. Most link directories work on the principle of adding a special "Links" page to your site, that is populated with links that are vaguely related to your site's topic. Automatic Backlinks places links on already existing content pages that have a minimum of MajesticRank 1.0.

Are the links reciprocal?

No. It is widely believed that search engines place less weight on simple "you link to me - I link to you" exchanges. Automatic Backlinks uses sophisticated algorithms to create one-way links between the pages and sites in the system.

What is MajesticRank?

Because Google’s PageRank is no longer being updated, keeping calculations based on this metric is not a viable option in the long run. To solve this problem we switched to Majestic Trust & Citation Flow metrics as they are trusted by thousands of SEO professionals.

In order to help our users relate to the old PageRank system we have created the following formula based on Majestic’s Trust and Citation Flow metrics, which we call MajesticRank.

To find the MajesticRank of any webpage you simply add the Trust Flow & Citation Flow together and divide by 20.

The pictures below shows the Trust flow & Citation Flow from 2 different web pages. To get the MajesticRank for the two pages the calculation we use is TF+CF/20.

So for the first page:
4+13=17
17/20= 0.85
The MajesticRank for this page is 0.85

For the second page:
28+35=63
63/20=3.15
The MajesticRank for this page is 3.15

We only accept backlinks with a MajesticRank of 1.0 or higher. So in the example above the first page would not qualify whereas the second page would.

It is also important to note that the value of either TF or CF cannot be 0 in order to qualify. So a page with a TF of 20 & CF of 0 would not be accepted.

What if I don't have any pages with MajesticRank?

Since Automatic Backlinks only accepts pages with a minimum MajesticRank of 1.0 you will initially be unable to earn Link Credit by displaying links on your pages. However, you can purchase Link Credit directly by setting up a PayPal subscription until your pages have reached our minimum required MajesticRank.

What are Link Variations?

Link Variations are the URLs and link text you define for your backlinks. You can have an unlimited number of variations within a campaign, and Automatic Backlinks will randomly choose one of them when placing a backlink.

What is your stance on user privacy?

We take user privacy very seriously. In short, we will not, under any circumstances, use your information or data for any purpose other than exchanging links with users of the Automatic Backlinks service. You also remain completely anonymous within the system, nobody can browse your sites or links. If you want more information, please read our Privacy Policy.

There's a feature I really think you should implement. Can I request it?

Yes, we love to get feedback from our users about the service we provide and are constantly looking for ways to improve. Get in touch with us through our contact form. We can’t guarantee that the feature you requested will be implemented, but we do take all user feedback very seriously.

What is output from the module if I install it on my site?

The module will output plain text links in HTML format. A welcome message will appear the first time the module is installed and is removed as soon as the user activates their site in their Automatic Backlinks control panel. The format of the displayed links is configurable by the user, and no identifying markup is displayed at all. An example of what the module displays is as follows:

       <a href="http://www.examplelink.com/" title="Example Link">Example Link</a><br />
       <a href="http://www.examplelink2.com/" title="Example Link 2">Example Link 2</a><br />
       <a href="http://www.examplelink2.com/" title="Example Link 2">Example Link 2</a><br />

GETTING STARTED

Questions and answers to help you start getting backlinks:

Is it easy to get it up and running?

Of course it is! Once you’ve registered your free account, all you have to do is add your site to our system. You can do this by clicking on “Add a site” on your Dashboard, downloading the corresponding package and installing this on your site. On this page, we also have the PHP+ code available that you can simply copy paste into your pages. If you are using a platform of which we currently do not have an installation package, you can opt for the manual version. For this you will need to have access to the HTML code of your site. Once you’ve added your site, you will have to activate it and configure the settings for your site on your Automatic Backlinks Dashboard. Our system will automatically discover the pages with sufficient Majestic Rank and start placing links on those pages.

I added my site but no pages have been found. What can I do?

You can try going to your site and clicking on some of the internal links, this speeds up the discovery of your pages. If after doing this, you still have no pages added, it is quite likely that none of your pages have MajesticRank 1.0 or more.

You can click on the green "Get More" button in the top right of the page to purchase Link Credit.

DISPLAYING LINKS

Questions relating to users' pages, sites and outgoing links:

Can I choose to display links from sites in a certain language?

Yes, you can choose to display links in a specific language if you wish. Please note that for more obscure languages, there may be few or no links available.

How many sites can I add?

As many as you like.

How are links displayed on pages?

By default, links are displayed as plain text anchors. We provide simple yet comprehensive options for controling the layout, should you wish to display links horizontally, vertically, as a list, etc.

Can I choose what topics I display links from?

Yes, you can filter out links from undesired topics.

Why does the message "DEBUG-YOUR-URL" appear on my pages?

The debug message appears when you have enabled debugging in your site settings. It is used to verify the exact URL that the page reports back to the Automatic Backlinks servers. This can be useful when trying to determine why a page has no links displaying, or when determining what your real home page URL is (for example, on most Joomla sites, the home page URL is "www.mysite.com/index.php", even though you enter "www.mysite.com" in your browser to visit it.

During normal use, you will want to disable the debugging, which can easily be done by un-checking the option in your site settings page (it's near the bottom).

My dashboard reports that you have placed links on my page but I can't see any links. Why?

We employ caching on users' sites to improve performance. This means that when we place a link, it might not be visible until the site's cache clears. Caches are cleared automatically at least every 24 hours.

GETTING BACKLINKS

Questions relating to getting and maintaining backlinks:

Are my backlinks permanent?

Once you receive a backlink to your site, the link will remain there for as long as that page and your backlink campaign are still in our system, and you have sufficient Link Credit to maintain that backlink. Occasionally, a site owner may reject your link or delete the page. In such cases, the Link Credit you spent on that link is returned to your account and the system will look for another page to place your backlink on. The same happens if you reject the page that your backlink is placed on. If a page’s MajesticRank changes, but the page still meets the requirements of your backlink campaign, your Link Credit balance will automatically be adjusted accordingly.

How many backlinks can I get?

As many as you can afford with your Link Credit balance. Your balance depends on the amount earned and the subscription you have. We do not differentiate between earned and bought Link Credit. There is no limit on how much Link Credit you can earn.

How can I be sure of the quality of the backlinks I get?

At Automatic Backlinks we pride ourselves in having the world’s best high quality link exchange network. Only pages with a MajesticRank of at least 1.0 get admitted to our system. This means, that you will never get a link from spammy, low quality pages or sites. Additionally, we have made it easy for our users to reject pages that their backlinks are placed on if they don’t believe the page is a good fit for their backlink. The same goes the other way around. You can also easily reject a backlink that our system has placed on one of your pages.

Our Quality Guidelines outline the policies we enforce to ensure quality in our network. It defines bad practices we don’t accept and could potentially lead to a site being suspended, penalized, or banned from using Automatic Backlinks.

How do I get backlinks?

The only thing you have to do to get backlinks is create a backlink campaign. You can do this by clicking on “Add Backlink Campaign” on your Dashboard. This will lead you to a page where you can configure the settings for your campaign. You can select the topics of websites you want to be linked from, the minimum (and maximum) required MajesticRank of pages you want to be linked from, how much Link Credit you want to spent on that specific campaign and more. Make sure to also create Link Variations for your backlink campaign. Without these, we cannot create backlinks to your site.

How many backlink campaigns can I add?

As many as you like.

I have received a backlink but when I visit the page I can't find my link placed anywhere. What can I do?

Some users may try to hide or obfuscate the links on their pages. This is a totally unacceptable practice and should be reported to Automatic Backlinks either by contacting us via care@automaticbacklink.com or by deleting the link, telling us the reason for the deletion. We will manually investigate such rejections, and take necessary action against any offending sites.

Why have some or all of my backlinks been removed?

Sometimes, other users will reject your link from their pages. We will inform you when this happens. Occasionally, you might see many "backlink removal" entries in your updates. This probably means that the system has removed some or all of your backlinks in order to balance your Link Credit total to 0.

Automatic Backlinks will always try to keep your available Link Credit as close to 0 as possible. It will let you drop slightly below 0 (about -1.00) if you don't quite have enough to afford a link. The situation can also occur that your Link Credit drops to well below 0. This could be due to one of several reasons:

• You rejected one or more links from your own website (meaning you no longer earn the relevant credit for displaying that link).

• You deleted a page from one of your websites, thus removing all the links you were displaying.

• Other users rejected their links that were placed on your pages.

• We repeatedly could not find your links on 1 or more pages when we checked that links were being displayed. This will eventually cause your page to be deactivated for a period of time.

Why do I have a backlink from a page that has a MajesticRank below 1.0?

We only allow pages with a MajesticRank of at least 1.0 to be admitted to our system. However, it could happen that a page that was already in our system drops to below 1.0 after a MajesticRank update. We allow these pages to be in our system for a short while, hoping they can get their MajesticRank up to a 1.0 or higher before the next update. We will never place a backlink on a page that is already below 1.0 when the link is being placed.

Why is my site suspended?

A site will be suspended for failing to follow any of the Quality Guidelines. When a site is suspended no further links will be placed on the site’s pages. Although no links will be removed other than those lost through normal means, the naturally lost links will not be replaced during suspension.

Why is my site penalized?

When a site is penalized, it is because the user has repeatedly and/or deliberately ignored requests to rectify a serious contravention of our Quality Guidelines. It will usually follow a site’s suspension and requests to rectify the problem.

When penalized, a site will have all Link Credit removed for that site, although the links will remain. This is to allow the site owner a very short time to rectify the serious quality issue before the links are also removed. Without immediate remedial action a penalized site will be banned from using Automatic Backlinks.

LINK CREDIT

Questions relating to Link Credit and how it is used:

What is Link Credit?

Link Credit is the “currency” we use throughout the system. You automatically earn Link Credit for every backlink you allow our system to place on your pages. You can spend this Link Credit on getting backlinks to your own site through a backlink campaign. If you want to receive backlinks but don’t want to, or can’t, display other users’ links on your site, or if you simply want more backlinks to your site than you can currently afford, you can also decide to purchase a monthly Link Credit Subscription.

What is the Link Credit value of backlinks?

How much you earn for a backlink, or how much you have to spent on getting a backlink depends on the MajesticRank of the link. In the table below you can find the Link Credit value of backlinks of different quality.

When earning Link Credit through placement, Automatic Backlinks will deduct 10% of the link value before crediting your account. This is done to ensure that we have a small reserve of Link Credit for those users’ who choose to purchase a Link Credit Subscription instead of solely earning Link Credit by displaying backlinks on their pages.

My account reports that I have a negative amount of link credit. Should I be worried?

Generally no. We allow accounts to drop slightly into negative Link Credit in order to accommodate daily fluctuations such as MajesticRank changes or pages being removed from the system. Automatic Backlinks continually monitors your available Link Credit and will try to balance it out.

In a situation where your Link Credit drops to well below zero, (for example,: because you removed a site from the system or deleted some pages that had links placed on them), Automatic Backlinks will give you some time to try to recover the lost Link Credit. If you fail to do so within a specified amount of time, you will have some or all of your backlinks removed in order to balance your Link Credit out to zero again.

Can I cancel my Link Credit subscription at any time?

Yes. Just log into the Paypal account that you used to purchase your subscription and cancel it. You will still retain your bought Link Credit until the end of the subscribed period.

Can I sell Link Credit?

No, it is not possible to sell Link Credit.

How much does Link credit cost?

1 Link Credit costs $1 (USD) per month. We also offer discounts on larger amounts, according to the following table:

If I subscribe, does unused Link Credit rollover?

Unfortunately, no. The idea of our subscription model is that you are "renting" the use of a certain amount of Link Credit which you pay for on a monthly basis. Therefore, we encourage users to spend all of their available balance on backlinks when subscribing to Link Credit.

COMPATIBILITY

Questions relating to the compatibility of Automatic Backlinks with different kinds of sites:

What kind of sites will Automatic Backlinks work with?

Automatic Backlinks will work on any site that runs in PHP. For added convenience, we have developed ready to install modules for the popular content management systems Joomla, Drupal and WordPress. We also feature several user-contributed modules that have been adapted to work with other systems.

My site is in plain HTML. Can I still use Automatic Backlinks?

Probably! If your server runs Apache and PHP, you can try adding the following lines to your .htaccess file in the root of your site*:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .html .htm
addhandler x-httpd-php .html .htm

This tells the server to process all files with the extension .html and .htm with PHP. From here, it's a simple case of pasting the PHP Link Display Code into your HTML pages (don't forget to wrap them in PHP tags).

*Always backup your files before making any changes!

Do you support web site builders?

Yes! Any website can join Automatic Backlinks by using manual backlinks.

Here’s how it works:

• Website owners will receive an email for every backlink that we would like to place on their page and should place the backlink within 48 hours of receiving the email.

• Once a backlink has been pasted into the correct page members can verify the backlink by clicking on a link in the email we send them or from the pages list in the Automatic Backlinks dashboard.

• All sites and pages must still have the required amount of MajesticRank to qualify.

• Members who are quick to add our manual backlinks will be offered more backlinks. Likewise members who repeatedly fail to place the backlinks within the 48 hour period will be prioritised lower and may eventually stop receiving additional placement offers.

ACCOUNT

Questions relating to your user account:

I have lost my password. What can I do?

On the login page, click the "Lost password?" link. We will then ask you for the email address that you registered with. Once provided, we will send a new password to that address.

How do I close my account?

We sincerely hope that you benefit from using Automatic Backlinks, and that it has a positive impact on your search engine rankings. If, however, you no longer wish to use our service and want to cancel your account, you can use the "Close Account" link on your "My account" page. Please note that you will need to cancel any active subscriptions you may have via PayPal before you are able to proceed.

Why do I see the word Aliases next to my site title?

If your site displays very similar or identical content across 2 or more sub-domains where you have the Link Display Module installed, we will recognize this and make the second and subsequent sub-domains aliases to the first one. In practice, this means that the page:

http:// subdomain.mydomain.com/directory/page.html

will display the same links as:

http://www.mydomain.com/directory/page.html

Subdomains that have different content will not be affected by this.

AFFILIATE SYSTEM

Do you have a minimum payout?

Yes. The minimum payout is $20. When you have a balance higher than that amount, you can withdraw if from your account.

What is a tracking cookie?

In order to track who clicks on your URL we use a tracking cookie. A cookie is a tiny file with your affiliate id saved in the users browser. We then check that code whenever the user makes a new purchase.

How long do you save the tracking cookie?

We save the tracking cookie for up to 1 year or until the user clicks on an affiliate link from another user.

Where can I share my affiliate link or affiliate code?

You are welcome to share your link or affiliate code, which works as a discount code, wherever you like, but please do not spam (send unsolicited email) or perform any action that may harm our reputation.

Will users who registered using my affiliate link automatically be offered the 10% discount?

No. You will need to share your affiliate code with them instead (or additionally).

What happens if someone is already registered using someone else's affiliate link but the customer uses my affiliate code?

As the affiliate code is the last signal sent to us before purchase we will reward the commission to the owner of the affiliate code.