You’re trying to drive traffic to your site. You have a product, a service, or information that you know will add value to your audience’s lives, but you can’t seem to nail down the backlink part of your plan. Maybe you started trying manual link building, but you gave up after a while and opted for automating.
The problem with automating, you’ve likely discovered, is that you’ll pay a ton of money and often won’t get great results. In fact, you can often get results that get you in big trouble with Google.
Instead, with manual link building, you build relationships, grow authority and authenticity, and will most likely drive quality traffic to your site.
Let’s dive in further.
Key Takeaways
- Manual link building is the act of finding reputable websites and publications that will link to your website for the purpose of driving more traffic to your website.
- Manual link building is better than automated methods because you are playing the long game, which requires establishing a reputation in your industry and forming connections with others who can help promote your business.
- Reporter Outreach is where you can bridge between you and websites and publications offering you backlinks because they have SEO experts who have established the relationships necessary to get the job done.
What Is Manual Link Building?
Caleb Riutta, co-founder of DUSK Digital, says:
“Manual link building is all about personally reaching out and building relationships to earn backlinks for your website. Think of it like networking for your site—connecting with blog owners, influencers, or industry peers and showing them why linking to your content is worth their while.
It might involve pitching, writing guest posts, getting your resources listed in round-ups, or even asking for a shoutout on someone’s blog. The beauty of manual link building is that it’s deliberate and controlled. Each link is thoughtfully acquired to ensure it benefits your site’s SEO and builds trust with search engines like Google.”
Meanwhile, the automated version of link building allows you to outsource this work to software services or a platform that will find a website willing to link to your site.
Nikola Baldikov, founder of InBound Blogging says that:
“Automatic link building aims to minimize human intervention in order to scale the processes. This is typically done with the help of special tools; however, I don’t recommend doing so because there is a high risk of ending up with a random mix of backlinks that Google may consider spammy. Moreover, creating automated links to your website violates Google's spam policies.”
Why Manual Link Building Works in 2025
As we head into 2025, manual link building makes the most sense because it calls upon you to play the long game. You can focus on finding relevant sites and publications, building authentic connections, and gaining search engine preferences for natural backlinks.
Search engines like Google have gotten really good at identifying spammy, paid-for backlinks, and this can lower your ranking on the SERP. It can even get you in trouble with Google.
When you build these relationships yourself, even if you work with a reputable outreach service like Reporter Outreach, you get authentic backlinks from sites with high domain authority that make sense to your readers and theirs.
Benefits of Manual Link Building
The benefits of manual link building are those that will elevate the status of your website to one that should be paid attention to. You become a premier site for your niche, and your audience takes you more seriously. Here are a few of the concrete benefits:
High-Quality, Targeted Backlinks
When you build connections and relationships with reputable websites, your backlinks are authentic and relevant. This means your website will be seen as of higher quality and authoritative.
Long-Term SEO Success
As mentioned above, Google has gotten really good at identifying inauthentic backlinks. When you practice manual link-building, you won’t have to worry that the next algorithm update will penalize your website for spammy backlinks, pushing your ranking way down.
Builds Relationships and Brand Visibility
Each website you reach out to and each publication you contact, becomes a potential networking partner in your industry. They may not link to your site right away, but you may be able to help them now, and then see that favor returned later. Each piece of content you create becomes another opportunity to showcase your talents and expertise and to reach out again.
Effective outreach like this fosters industry connections and community, so you become a part of something rather than having to scramble for false links you pay too much for that may not even get you credible traffic.
And you don’t have to do it alone.
Services like Reporter Outreach, with their team of SEO experts, have already made critical connections in your industry. They can act as a bridge between you and top-tier publications.
Strategies for Effective Manual Link Building
There are many approaches to effective manual link-building, but all of them require patience, persistence, and hard work. If you’re creating quality content, you can form these connections. Here are a few ways to go about that:
Pitching
Baldikov says that “I think for me it’s HARO link building. While HARO as a platform doesn’t exist anymore, there are a number of similar platforms, like Qwoted or SourceBottle, where writers post questions about topics in various fields. When you spot a question you can answer well, you share your knowledge. If they use your quote, you'll usually get a backlink to your website. Plus, over time, you build a name for yourself as an industry expert.”
You can also use Reporter Outreach to help bridge the gap between you and industry experts, streamlining the process and smoothing over the introductions. So you both know you can take each other seriously.
Guest Posting
If you know your industry, you know the publications that post content about your industry. Look for ways to get featured on their sites. Create a high-level article or blog post on a topic that hasn’t been covered or hasn’t been covered recently, on their site.
Then pitch!
Contact the publication with your piece and let them know why you think you should be featured on their site, mainly to add value to their readers’ lives.
Broken Link Building
Now that you’re familiar with the main relevant sites you’d like backlinks from read their content and look for broken links. You can also use a service like Ahrefs or Check My Links.
Then, figure out if you can replace those broken links with your own content and reach out.
Let them know you’d be happy to fill that space with high-quality information for their readers.
Skyscraper Technique
Skyscraping can be an excellent way to build relationships. Look at what your competitors are doing, what kind of content they’re creating, and where they’re linked on reputable websites. Then, create better content unique to your specific niche.
Finally, reach out to those websites that feature your competitors and ask if they would be interested in replacing their content with yours. If you’ve created something great, it will at the very least be tempting.
Resource Link Building
If your business provides a natural resource in your industry, find websites that feature resources such as yours, and pitch your site as a reputable site to link to. This is where you’ll want to make sure your website is optimized, helpful, and professional enough to be showcased as a valuable addition in a resource section.
Tools & Services to Support Manual Link Building
Now, how do you get in touch with these sites you’re hoping will offer backlinks? Here are your most important tools and services:
Outreach and Email Tools
Tools like Mailshake will help you build lists of industry publications to reach out to, so you can start pitching influencers at a mass level and get real distribution for your content.
Competitor Analysis Tools
Don’t worry. You don’t have to visit every site of every competitor and scour the internet for all the websites that might feature your competitors. That’s what competitor analysis tools are for.
When you work with Ahrefs or SEMrush, they have AI that can do the scouring for you in a matter of minutes. Then, you can discover competitor backlinks and start pitching.
Media Placement Services
Services like Reporter Outreach will act as a bridge between you and the journalists or industry publications you’re hoping to connect with. You’ll both be vetted, so you can feel confident you’re working with reputable websites that will link back to your content.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Manual Link Building
Remember, your goal here is slow and steady wins the race. You want to build relationships and form long-lasting connections as well as backlinks. Here are ways to make sure you don’t burn bridges when you’re trying to build them:
Spammy Outreach Tactics
Get specific with your pitches rather than sending out blanket emails that are overgeneralized and pushy. Your email will get sent directly to the trash for this, and no one will take you seriously.
Tell your contact what you love about the publication, and why, specifically, you think you’d be a good fit as a backlink.
Irrelevant Targeting
Don’t just reach out to everyone! You want relevant links that make sense to both you and the website providing your backlink. This lends credibility and authority to your site and helps your readers and theirs, take you seriously.
Neglecting Follow-Ups
Remember, you want to be persistent but not pushy. So, follow up with new content, with new information, or with a regular check-in to see if you can be of service as a resource. Services like Reporter Outreach can help you stay on top of campaigns for backlinks because they’ve become experts at contacting, following up, and persuading.
Why Use Reporter Outreach for Manual Link Building?
As you can tell, Reporter Outreach is a valuable resource for manual link building. They’ve got the expertise and the experience for securing links from high-authority publications. Their experts can also tailor strategies for healthcare, SaaS, and eCcommerce businesses, so you ensure you’re targeting relevant sites.
Finally, working with Reporter Outreach will save you the time it takes to build relationships by getting you vetted. It will provide you with ethical, effective results backed by proven methods.
Final Thoughts
In the end, manual link building makes much more sense than automating this task and taking the chance that you’ll end up with low-quality backlinks or worse.
You’ve come this far in your business: building a website, optimizing your site, and becoming an expert in your niche. It’s time to trust the process and take your time building quality relationships and backlinks that are relevant, authentic, and high-quality.
Of course, you can work with reputable services like Reporter Outreach to make the process easier for you and gain experience through a strong partnership. Valuable, professional support that can legitimately help with your earnest outreach efforts should always be welcome.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What makes manual link-building better than automated methods?
Manual link building ensures you’re working with reputable websites and publications you can trust and establish relationships with. Automated methods can land you in trouble with Google and lose your credibility and integrity as the links are not always reputable. They also often cost way more than simply building the links yourself.
How long does it take to see results from manual link building?
There is no right answer to this question because there are so many factors involved. But, if you have everything else on your site optimized correctly, and you add a reputable backlink, you can expect to see a jump in rank in a matter of a few months.
How do I find sites to target for backlinks?
First, think about what kinds of publications you could imagine relating to your website. Which publications might you share an audience with? You can start with Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz, which can help you search for relevant sites and those within your industry.
Can manual link-building help all industries?
If there’s a website for it, manual link building can help, so, yes, it can help all industries.
How does Reporter Outreach help with manual link building?
Reporter Outreach has a team of SEO experts who have built strong relationships with a variety of publications across industries. They make it their business to connect relevant website owners to each other for the exact purpose of helping you with your manual link building.
