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Manual Link Building: What Is It and How to Do It in 2025?

Manual Link Building What Is It and How to Do It

Search engines like Google aren’t just looking for keywords and content; they’re also seeking signs of trust and authority. One of the best strategies to gain this trust and authority is through link building – but not just any kind of link building. Forget about shady shortcuts and quick fixes! 

Manual link building is the answer! It’s a long-term investment in your website’s success. This genuine approach helps you earn high-quality backlinks and fosters community and collaboration within your industry.

Let’s understand manual link building and learn the strategies that will boost your website to top rankings!

What is Manual Link Building?

Manual link building is a strategy where professionals actively reach out to website owners to gain backlinks, rather than relying on automated tools. It’s like building bridges between your site and other relevant content on the internet.

Unlike automated ways involving software and bots to produce links in bulk, manual link building is a hands-on way. You carefully search for websites that match your niche or audience and then put links in the valuable content.

You can take an example from Outreach Monk’s manual link-building techniques. As a reputable link-building agency, we got backlinks from respectable platforms like HubSpot, which provides marketing and content management. 

Manual link building by outreach Monks

It’s like earning a recommendation from a respected and well-established website. When a high-quality website links to yours, it’s essentially vouching for your content, telling search engines, “Hey, this website is worth checking out!

5 Proven Manual Link Building Strategies

Now that you know about manual link building, let’s learn some proven strategies that may help you earn those backlinks. Also, consistency and quality are the keys to successful link building.

1) Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is writing and publishing articles on other websites within your niche. In exchange for the good content, you can include a link back to your website in the article or author bio.

This strategy will help you get backlinks from authoritative sites and also promote your brand to a new audience.

✅Fact 

 

2) Broken Link Building

This tactic involves finding broken links (links that lead to 404 errors) on relevant websites and suggesting your content as a replacement. 404 errors can negatively impact a website’s user experience and SEO.

So, it’s a win-win! You help the website owner fix their broken link and get a valuable backlink in return.

Here’s an email template for blogger outreach when asking for a broken link replacement:

Broken link building email tempelate

3) Local Citations and Directories

For companies targeting local audiences, being listed in the local citations and directories is important. Beyond being great for your local SEO, it also delivers some good-quality backlinks.

Consistency in NAP citation can sometimes form a ranking factor for local SEO. Effectively, ensure the information about your business is the same across the directories.

4) Resource Page Link Building

Many sites have resource pages that have links and tools that are useful to their readers. You can contact the owners of the websites, indicating the value that your content brings to their audience, and you may be able to get your site added to their resource page.

Resource pages are often highly linked-to, making them valuable targets for link building.

To find resource pages, here are some Google operators which might help:

  • “Keyword” + inurl. For example – SEO tips inurl:resources
  • “Keyword” + intitle. For example – content marketing intitle:resources
  • “Keyword” + “useful links”. For example – digital marketing “useful links”
  • “Keyword” + “helpful resources”. For example – fitness tips “helpful resources”

Here are the search results that I got when searching for “digital marketing “useful links”

Finding resource page for manual link building

📝NOTE

  • It’s important to note that search engine results pages won’t always neatly present resource pages. You’ll need to carefully filter the results yourself to pinpoint the most relevant and valuable opportunities for your link building efforts.

 

5) Influencer Outreach

Influencer collaborations can further give you a chance to reach new audiences and may get you backlinks as well. You can offer them exclusive content, a product sample, or other benefits in exchange for their promotion on social media among their followers. This can lead to natural backlinks and increased brand exposure.

📚Fact

 

Automatic vs. Manual Link Building: What’s Better?

As automation increases day by day, the quality of automated link building drops. However, manual link building stands out because quality matters more than quantity.

So, it is important to understand the difference between these two link building techniques.

Aspect Automatic Link Building Manual Link Building
Definition Uses software or tools to create backlinks automatically. Involves human efforts to manually build links.
Control Limited control over link quality and placement. Full control over the quality and relevance of links.
Time Consumption Quick to implement; results in a short time frame. Time-consuming as each link is created individually.
Quality Often generates low-quality or spammy links. Typically results in higher-quality, relevant backlinks.
Risk of Penalties High risk of Google penalties due to unnatural links. Lower risk as links are more organic and relevant.
Cost Low cost, as it requires minimal human effort. Higher cost due to manual outreach and effort.
Scalability Easily scalable with little effort. Less scalable as it requires personal outreach and curation.
Relationship Building No relationship building with other websites. Builds relationships through outreach and collaboration.
Effectiveness Short-term gains but may harm long-term SEO. Long-term SEO benefits with sustainable link profiles.

After learning about the difference, it became clear that Manual link building is far better than automatic link building. The best option for getting trustworthy and authoritative links is to opt for manual link building.

However, building links manually on your own can be time-consuming and might take a lot of resources. That is why choosing a reliable link building agency is important for authority backlinks.

Real-Life Case Studies of Manual Link Building

At Outreach Monks, we have helped many brands grow with the help of manual link building. They trusted us, and we gave them the results they expected.

Here are some link building case studies:

1) Healthcare Link Building

BlueMagic Group, a renowned hair transplant clinic in Istanbul, was facing challenges. Despite their expertise, their online presence wasn’t reflecting their real-world success. 

After link building services by Outreach Monks, BlueMagic Group started ranking for highly competitive keywords, saw their targeted organic traffic skyrocket by 4x (from 6k to 22.8k), and traffic value jumped from $13k USD to $20k USD. 

Organic Traffic Bluemagic Group after manual link building

Even their Domain Rating got a boost, moving from 19 to 22. For a monthly investment of $2k USD, they achieved an organic traffic value of $20k USD – a clear testament to the power of manual link building. 

2) E-commerce Link Building

Nolabels, a fashion brand focused on individuality and style, was ready to make its mark on the global stage. But amidst the crowd of established brands, gaining visibility was a challenge. 

Outreach Monks stepped up to help them navigate in this crowd. Through competitor analysis and targeted outreach, they secured valuable backlinks from authoritative fashion sites and prominent Indian fashion blogs. 

In just ten months, Nolabels saw their organic traffic increase from zero to a remarkable 99.1k monthly visits. Their organic keyword count grew from 0 to 14.5k, with 455 keywords now ranking within the top 3 pages on search engines. 

Nolabels Traffic after manual link building

Their Domain Rating jumped from 0 to 55, a testament to their growing authority. Traffic value soared from a modest $2 to an impressive $3329.

How to Choose a Reputable Link Building Agency?

Choosing a reputable link building agency involves careful consideration. These include factors such as experience, services offered, transparency, client reviews, cost, and value. 

Outreach Monks is a reliable agency with a proven track record. We provide a full-service offering of guest posting, niche edits, SaaS link building, and many other services. With us, you can be the partner in achieving your SEO goals with high-quality backlinks that will take the traffic and ranking to a new level. 

Outreach Monks Home page

Remember to prioritize agencies that align with your specific needs and budget. Contact us and get your free proposal today!

Conclusion

Manual link building is more than just an SEO tactic; it’s essential for a strong online presence. It’s about building genuine connections and establishing your website as a valuable resource. It takes dedication and strategy, but the rewards like increased organic traffic, improved search visibility, and lasting authority are worth it.

Remember, manual link building is an ongoing journey. It requires consistency, adaptability, and a willingness to evolve. Whether you go solo or partner with an agency, prioritize quality over quantity. Focus on relationships that benefit your site in the long run.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is manual link building?

Manual link building is the human-driven process of acquiring backlinks to your website, as opposed to using automated techniques.

Why is manual link building important?

Manual link building helps build high-quality backlinks that boost your website's credibility, domain authority, and search engine rankings.

How does guest blogging help?

Guest blogging provides valuable content for other websites while earning backlinks and increasing your online visibility.

What is broken link building?

Broken link building involves finding broken links on websites, offering your high-quality content as a replacement, and earning backlinks.

How can I track my backlinks?

Use SEO tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Moz to monitor your acquired backlinks and their quality.

What are some best practices?

Focus on quality over quantity, diversify link sources, personalize outreach, and maintain consistent effort in your link-building strategy.

Sahil Ahuja

Sahil Ahuja

Sahil Ahuja, the founder of Outreach Monks and a digital marketing expert, has over a decade of experience in SEO and quality link-building. He also successfully runs an e-commerce brand by name Nolabels and continually explores new ways to promote online growth. You can connect with him on his LinkedIn profile.

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