Scale· Backlinks, powered by PlacementAPI

Put relevant backlinks behind your best opportunities. Only where they pay.

Scale finds placements you can actually buy for the pages worth investing in, buys within your budget, and uses the results to guide next month's spending.

See my growth opportunities See the complete workflow

Which pages

Help the right pages compete. Most months, most don't get links.

A backlink is a link from another website to yours, and one of the signals Google uses to rank pages. Scale only spends on pages with a business case: a search from people ready to buy, real demand, room to climb, and content Ship has already fixed.

This month's decisions · cardrail.exampleExample

/corporate-card
“startup credit card”
27 links for $24,760 pay back in 4 months.
Buy links
/expense-management
“expense management software”
Its own content fixes are worth most of its upside. Ship goes first; no link money yet.
Fix content first
/virtual-cards
“virtual cards for business”
$9,800 of links would take 26 months to pay back.
Not worth it
/blog/corporate-card-vs-business-credit-card
“corporate card vs business credit card”
The marketplace can close about half the gap. The rest needs PR or a linkable asset, and we say so.
Partial
/blog/what-is-a-virtual-card
“what is a virtual card”
18,100 searches a month, but people learning, not buying. Content only.
Hold
/blog/expense-policy-template
“expense policy template”
Already #3 with nobody above worth chasing. Protect it, don't pay for it.
Hold

Link gap · /corporate-card · “startup credit card”Example

Link to the pages above you, not to yours80
The page-level gap
Available in PlacementAPI's marketplace41
Of 605,948 placements
Verified, DR 50+, under your $2,500 cap30
Suspect domains never pass
Not already bought for this site27
$24,760 in total, price held 4 hours
Bought this month9
A third of the need, within your natural pace

Which links

Links chosen for that page. Not for your whole site.

Scale looks at the websites linking to the pages ranking above yours, and finds the placements available through PlacementAPI. You see each website, its price and why it was chosen.

How much to spend

Spending tied to what it should earn back. Within a year.

Scale compares what the links cost with what moving up a few places is worth, discounted for uncertainty. Under 12 months to pay back: bought. 12 to 18: shown to you, never bought automatically. Over 18: not recommended.

Why this budget · /corporate-cardExample

Extra revenue at the next rung (#6): $12,400/mo; Modelled from your clicks, CTR curve and value per click
× confidence it happens: 50%; Your setting; the default is deliberately cautious
= risk-adjusted: $6,200/mo; What the plan counts on
Cost to close the gap: $24,760; 27 links at marketplace prices, no markup
Payback: 4 months; Under 12: bought. 12 to 18: shown, never bought automatically. Over 18: not recommended.

Buying

Carry the plan through to purchase.

Approve each month's plan, or let it buy automatically within your limits. Orders use your PlacementAPI account and credits at marketplace prices, and each one is recorded with its cost, page and reason. PlacementAPI's delivery and refund terms apply.

A monthly budget and a maximum price per placement, never exceeded
Links spread out at a natural pace, never the same website twice
Pause future purchases at any time

Results

Let results shape the next round.

Scale tracks each page's position and clicks after purchases and rebuilds the plan every month. New opportunities can receive budget; pages whose results don't support more spending stop receiving it.

Questions

Before you buy links.

Read Google's policy

Are backlinks included in my subscription?

No. Link purchases have their own budget on both plans. You pay PlacementAPI's marketplace prices from your own PlacementAPI credits, with no markup on your own purchases. PlacementAPI and Ship/Scale are run by the same team.

Will each link pay for itself?

Not necessarily. The payback is an estimate used to decide what to buy, not a promise of what will happen. Ship/Scale shows the estimate and the measured results side by side.

What should I know about paid links?

Google treats links bought to manipulate rankings as link spam, and such links can be ignored or, in serious cases, lead to a penalty. Scale reduces the risk with relevant, verified websites, a natural pace and a brand-led anchor mix, but it can't remove it. You can set your link budget to $0.

Ship · Page improvementsShip first: pages ready for buyersLinks only go to pages Ship has already improved. See what it changes, and how.

See which pages and placements belong in your plan. Costs and reasons shown.

Connect your site. Scale shows every page's case, the websites it would buy and the payback, and waits for your approval.