As a webmaster you no doubt understand the importance of SEO for bringing high-value visitors to your site. You also likely know that link-building is a big part of the SEO equation.
Whether we like it or not, link building is an essential aspect of SEO, and one of the most powerful ways to improve your website’s visibility and drive more traffic to your site.
By acquiring high-quality backlinks from other websites, you can signal to search engines that your site is relevant and authoritative, which will help to improve your search engine rankings. Not only that, but link building can also bring referral traffic to your site, which means that people can click on the link and visit your site.
This can help to increase your website’s visibility and drive more potential customers to your site. Additionally, link building can also help to improve a website’s branding and reputation. By reaching out to other website owners and building relationships with them, you can promote your brand and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
In short, link building is an essential aspect of SEO that cannot be overlooked if you want to achieve long-term success and make your website more visible to potential customers.
But how does Manual Link Building fit into this strategy? And why is it a mission-critical component of your SEO plan?
What is Manual Link Building?
Manual link building refers to the process of actively seeking out and acquiring backlinks from other websites to your own. This is typically done by reaching out to other website owners and asking them to link to your site, or by creating high-quality content that others will naturally want to link to.
The goal of manual link building is to increase the number of high-quality backlinks pointing to your site, which can help improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your site.
Why is Manual Link Building So Important for Websites?
Search engine rankings
The number and quality of backlinks pointing to a website are one of the most important factors that search engines use to determine the relevance and authority of a website. By manually acquiring high-quality backlinks, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your site.
Referral traffic
Backlinks also provide referral traffic, which means that people can click on the link and visit your site. This can help to increase your website’s visibility and drive more potential customers to your site.
Branding and reputation
Manual link building can also help to improve a website’s branding and reputation. By reaching out to other website owners and building relationships with them, you can promote your brand and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
Long-term success
Manual link building focuses on building relationships and creating high-quality content that others will want to link to, whereas automated link building may only provide short-term results. By doing manual link building, you can have a more sustainable and long-term success.
Compliance
Manual link building is more natural and organic, which aligns better with search engine guidelines. By doing manual link building, you reduce the risks of penalties from search engines.
In summary, manual link building is important because it helps to improve search engine rankings, referral traffic, branding and reputation, long-term success, and compliance with search engine guidelines.
What About Automated Link Building – after all, it’s faster and cheaper
Automated link building refers to the use of software or tools to automate the process of acquiring backlinks for a website. This can include using link-building software to find and contact potential link partners, or using tools to automatically post links to your site on different platforms.
Automated link building can be faster and more efficient than manual link building, but it is generally not considered as effective as manual link building. Additionally, automated link building may also have higher risks of getting penalized by search engine. Since it’s not aligned with search engine guidelines. It is recommended to use manual link-building techniques that are more natural and in line with the search engine guidelines.
What are the Main Differences Between Automatic & Manual Link Building?
There are several key differences between automatic and manual link building:
Quality of links
Manual link building typically results in higher-quality backlinks, as website owners are more likely to link to your site if they have a personal relationship with you or if they find your content valuable. Automated link building, on the other hand, may result in lower-quality backlinks from sites that are less relevant to your own.
Search engine penalties
Automated link building is more likely to result in search engine penalties, as search engines can detect when links are being acquired through automation and may penalize the site. Manual link building is less likely to result in penalties, as the links are acquired through natural, organic means.
Time and effort
Manual link building takes more time and effort, as it requires reaching out to other website owners and building relationships with them. Automated link building can be faster and more efficient, but it may not be as effective in the long run.
Scalability
Automated link building can be more scalable than manual link building, as it can be used to acquire a large number of links in a short period of time. Manual link building, on the other hand, may be more limited in terms of the number of links that can be acquired in a given period of time.
Cost
Automated link building may be more cost-effective than manual link building, as it may require less time and effort. However, the cost of automated link building software and tools can add up, while manual link-building is free.
Overall, while automated link building can be faster and more efficient, it is generally not considered as effective as manual link building, and it has higher risks of getting penalized by search engine. It is recommended to use manual link-building techniques that are more natural and in line with the search engine guidelines.
Why Is Manual Link Building Better For Your Website?
Manual link building is generally considered to be better than automated link building for several reasons:
Quality of links
Manual link building typically results in higher-quality backlinks, as website owners are more likely to link to your site if they have a personal relationship with you or if they find your content valuable. Automated link building, on the other hand, may result in lower-quality backlinks from sites that are less relevant to your own.
Search engine penalties
Automated link building is more likely to result in search engine penalties, as search engines can detect when links are being acquired through automation and may penalize the site. Manual link building is less likely to result in penalties, as the links are acquired through natural, organic means.
Natural & organic
Manual link building is considered more natural and organic than automated link building. Search engines like Google prefer natural and organic link building over automated link building, which may result in penalties.
Long-term success
Manual link building can lead to long-term success as it focuses on building relationships and creating high-quality content that others will want to link to, whereas automated link building may only provide short-term results.
Branding and Reputation
Manual link building can also help to improve a website’s branding and reputation. By reaching out to other website owners and building relationships with them, you can promote your brand and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
Best Manual Link Building Techniques
1. Broken link building: This involves finding broken links on other websites and offering to replace them with links to your own content.
2. Guest blogging: This involves writing high-quality content for other websites and including a link back to your own site.
3. Resource page link building: This involves finding resource pages on other websites that are relevant to your own and asking to have your site added to the list of resources.
4. Skyscraper technique: This involves finding popular content in your niche and creating even better, more detailed content that can outrank the original.
5. Influencer outreach: This involves reaching out to influencers in your niche and asking them to share your content or link to your site.
6. Testimonials: This involves leaving a testimonial on other websites, and including a link to your site in your testimonial.
7. Community building: This involves building a community around your brand, and encouraging members to link to your site.
These are some of the most effective manual link building techniques that can be used to acquire high-quality backlinks and improve your search engine rankings. However, it’s important to keep in mind that with any link-building strategy, the quality of the links is more important than the quantity, and always to follow the search engine guidelines.
Final Thoughts on Manual Link Building for Your Website
In summary, manual link building is considered to be better than automated link building as it leads to higher-quality backlinks, less likelihood of search engine penalties, natural & organic, long-term success and can help to improve a website’s branding and reputation.
