How Satelo works

Satelo is a network where websites of a similar level and niche publish labelled partner articles about each other in a circle (A→B→C→A), never as direct swaps. You earn satellites (◉), Satelo's internal credits, by hosting articles, and spend them on articles about your own site. Satelo is in public beta.

Updated: 2026-10-16

Satelo in five lines

• What: a cross-promotion network for small and mid-size websites and blogs, plus a free website Quality Score checker.
• How: sites publish partner articles about each other in circles A→B→C→A; no direct A↔B exchange within 180 days.
• Currency: satellites ◉, earned by hosting and spent on articles about you; can be bought, cannot be cashed out.
• Labelling: every article is marked as partner content and its links carry rel="sponsored".
• Connect: WordPress plugin (one-click join, auto-publishing), an API feed for any other site, or an AI agent through the MCP server.

Step by step

1. Check your site. Enter a domain on /check/. You get a free Quality Score from 0 to 100 with the evidence behind it. No sign-up needed.
2. Sign up and add the site. Sign-in is by an emailed link, no password. One account can hold up to 20 sites.
3. Prove you own it. On WordPress, install the Satelo plugin and join in one click from Settings → Satelo (you enter your email and accept the terms; nothing is sent before that). Any other site joins through the API feed and proves ownership with a verification file or meta tag. Details: Connect a site.
4. Host your first article. The first article on every newly connected site is about Satelo itself. Satelo pays for it: your site's price plus 20%, at least 2 ◉. That is your starting balance.
5. Host articles about other sites. Articles from sites of a similar Quality Score, language and niche arrive at your site. Auto-placement is on by default; you can switch it off and approve each article. When an article goes live, you receive your full price in satellites.
6. Spend satellites on articles about you. You (or your AI agent) write an original article for the host's readers, at least 1,500 characters with one or two natural links, and choose a host. You pay the host's price plus Satelo's 10% fee. Satelo publishes it through the host's plugin or feed and confirms publication by checking the page.

The circle: why A→B→C→A and not A↔B

Two sites linking to each other by agreement is a reciprocal link, and Google's spam policies name excessive link exchanges as link spam. Satelo never forms those pairs. When it looks for a host for site A, it skips sites of the same owner and any site that A itself published an article about in the previous 180 days, and it does not send a second article about A to the same host within 7 days. Candidates are ordered by the same niche first, then the same language, then the closest Quality Score. Because everyone pays in satellites rather than in favours, A can host an article about B, B about C, and C about A.

Satellites ◉

Satellites are internal credits, not websites and not money. You earn them by hosting partner articles and spend them on partner articles about your sites. They can be bought in packs (10 ◉ for $25, 50 ◉ for $120, 200 ◉ for $460) but never withdrawn, converted or transferred outside Satelo. The word has nothing to do with “satellite sites” in SEO; see Satellite sites (PBNs) vs Satelo satellites.

Prices

• The owner sets the price. Every site has an article price in satellites. Satelo recommends one from the Quality Score and verified traffic; the owner can keep it or set their own (from 1 to 10,000 ◉).
• Recommended price: 1 ◉ for a site with a score of 0, then 1 + 0.02 × score², multiplied by a small factor that grows logarithmically with verified monthly visits. Without verified traffic that is 3 ◉ at score 10, 9 ◉ at 20, 19 ◉ at 30 and 51 ◉ at 50 (computed from the formula).
• Fee: the host receives 100% of its price; the buyer pays the price plus a 10% service fee. That fee is how Satelo makes money, along with optional satellite packs. No subscription.
• Free: the Quality Score checker, joining, the WordPress plugin, the API feed, the MCP server and earning satellites by hosting.

All numbers and limits are on Pricing.

Rules and protections

• Verified owners only. A site joins only after the plugin handshake or a verification file / meta tag proves ownership.
• The host decides. Auto-placement can be switched off; topics and whether the site accepts articles at all are set in the dashboard. Deactivating the WordPress plugin stops new articles immediately.
• Automatic refunds in satellites if an order fails to publish, if the host does not approve it within 7 days, if it stays an unpublished draft on the host for 14 days, or if an API-feed site does not render it within 7 days.
• Content rules. Articles must be original and useful to the host's readers, 1,500–30,000 characters, with one or two natural links. Up to 20 orders per account per day.
• Labelling. The WordPress plugin adds a “Partner content” label and sets rel="sponsored" on outgoing links by default.
• Verified traffic without tracking. The plugin counts pageviews without cookies, IP addresses or personal data and sends daily totals; after about 7 days the Quality Score uses them instead of estimates.

Quality Score in short

The Quality Score (0–100) is built mostly from open data. Evidence of use: traffic signals (Tranco rank, Chrome UX Report, verified plugin pageviews; Similarweb or Semrush estimates for network sites), link popularity (Open PageRank, Majestic Million, Common Crawl web graph) and age (RDAP/WHOIS, Wayback Machine), weighted 45 / 35 / 20. That evidence is multiplied by 0.5–1.0 for content and technical health from Satelo's own crawl. Parked or nearly empty sites are capped at 5. A brand-new site scores close to 0. The score is Satelo's estimate; it is not a Google metric and does not predict rankings.

Ways to connect

• WordPress plugin “Satelo”: one-click join, verifies ownership, publishes articles with cover image, inline images, category, tags, SEO description and a “Partner content” label, auto-placement or drafts. Connect WordPress.
• API feed for any CMS or framework: the site renders articles from a JSON feed at its own URL pattern (by default /partners/<slug>), and Satelo confirms publication by crawling that page.
• MCP server io.satelo/satelo at https://satelo.io/mcp: an AI agent can check a site, enrol it with the owner's consent, find hosts and place articles. Satelo for AI agents.

What Satelo is not

• Not a PBN. Satelo does not create, buy or own the sites in the network. Every site belongs to a verified owner. See PBN.
• Not a link seller. Satelo does not sell links and does not take cash for placing links on sites it controls; sites exchange labelled articles for internal credits.
• No dofollow promise, no ranking promise. Links are rel="sponsored". The value is a labelled mention on a related site with real readers.
• Not direct link swapping. No A↔B within 180 days.
• Not a cash-out scheme. Satellites cannot be withdrawn.
• Not a big network yet. Satelo is in public beta; the network is small. The live number of active sites is returned by the satelo_about MCP tool.
• “Satellites ◉” are not satellite sites. Read the explainer.

Who it is for

Owners of small and mid-size websites and blogs (especially on WordPress), indie makers and small-business marketers who want their first real mentions on related sites without outreach or a budget, in English or Russian. It is not for anyone looking to buy rankings fast.

FAQ

Is Satelo free?

Joining, the Quality Score checker, the WordPress plugin, the API feed and the MCP server are free. You earn satellites by hosting articles. Each placement costs the host's price in satellites plus a 10% service fee; satellite packs are optional (10 ◉ for $25).

Is Satelo a PBN or a link farm?

No. Satelo does not create or own websites; every site in the network belongs to a verified owner who connected it. Articles are labelled as partner content and links use rel="sponsored".

Do I get dofollow links?

No. Exchange links carry rel="sponsored" and Satelo does not promise rankings or transfer of ranking credit. The value is a labelled mention on a related site with real readers.

Why can't two sites just swap articles?

Direct swaps are reciprocal links, which Google's spam policies list as link spam when excessive. Satelo never offers a host that your site published an article about in the previous 180 days, so articles move in circles A→B→C→A.

Can I withdraw satellites?

No. Satellites are internal credits: earned by hosting, spent on articles about your sites, optionally bought, never cashed out.

Will articles appear on my site without my approval?

Only if auto-placement is on (the default). Switch it off and every article waits for your approval; orders you don't approve within 7 days are refunded to the buyer.

Are “satellites ◉” the same as satellite sites?

No. In SEO a satellite site is a site built only to link to another site. Satelo's satellites are internal credits.