Ranksider review

This review is based on Ranksider’s public pages and third-party ratings, checked on 4 October 2026. The rating out of 10 is the editor’s own judgement.

How it works

Ranksider is a German link marketplace run by impulsQ GmbH. Most marketplaces show you a catalogue with prices. Ranksider works by tender: you create a campaign in the browser, set filters and a budget, and publishers bid to place your link. You choose the bids you like, the links go live and you receive a report.

The homepage says Ranksider has stood for link building since 2011, that more than 100,000 sites in more than 100 countries are available, that over 8,700 companies use it and that it has paid more than one million euros to publishers. The site and its pages are in German. Our lesson on link building in Germany, Austria and Switzerland explains the market it serves.

Pricing

Ranksider is more open about money than many marketplaces. The homepage states that backlinks start at €25 and that the minimum budget is €100. Its cost page says posting a campaign is free and that you transfer your budget to your account before accepting bids.

Advertisers pay no platform fee on top. The one exception is a €5 charge if you close a campaign without selecting any bidder. Ranksider earns its money from publishers: the terms say a fee is charged to publishers and point to the FAQ for the current rate. We could not find the rate on the pages we read.

The company also sells agency services at fixed prices on the same site, including a link audit from €2,490 and a press release package at €5,900.

The guarantee

This is the weakest part of the public record. The homepage and the terms we read do not state how long a link must stay live. A search listing of Ranksider’s own site refers to a minimum retention period of one year and to a money-back guarantee, but the page that explains it returned an error when we tried to open it on 4 October 2026.

Until you have read the conditions in your account, do not assume more than that. For comparison, WhitePress publishes a 36-month guarantee and Bazoom does not state a term on its homepage.

Public ratings

We found no Trustpilot profile for ranksider.de in October 2026, and no other independent rating we could verify. That is not a mark against the service, but it means the figures above rest on the vendor’s word.

What to check before ordering

A bidding model changes the vetting job. The publishers who bid fastest are often the ones who sell the most links.

1. Vet every bid. Check traffic in Germany, topic fit and recent outbound links, using the steps in how to vet a publisher.
2. Write a tight brief. Filters and a clear brief decide who bids. See how to write a placement brief.
3. Labelling. German law on advertising disclosure is strict. Our page on paid link disclosure law covers it.
4. Retention. Get the minimum term in writing before you accept a bid.

The page on link marketplaces explains the margins and footprint risks that apply to any platform of this kind.