Digital PR Vs. Manual Link Building: Adapting to the Modern Search Landscape

Digital PR and Manual Link Building are two different approaches to acquiring backlinks for your website: improving website SERP rankings and building a strong online presence. Employing these two qualitative approaches is paramount, especially if you’re an SEO agency or head of SEO.

According to a BizTimes report, 82% of businesses believe digital PR is crucial to any marketing strategy.

Source: Semrush

What are the differences between digital PR and manual link building?

• Digital PR: Digital PR is the promotional tactic of using media coverage to boost your brand’s market attention, increase online presence, drive organic traffic and quality links to your website, further boosting organic following, sales, and engagement.
• Manual Link Building: Manual Link Building is acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. It is one of the most effective off-page SEO techniques to build high-quality backlinks and increase passive website traffic.

While digital PR and manual link building boost brand authority and accelerate your business’s sales cycle, they’re technically different at ground level. You can interchangeably employ them in your SEO services strategies, subject to your business goals.

Digital PR and Manual Link Building Strategies 

Digital PR Strategies:

Build Strong Media Relations:

Build strong media relations by finding journalists who write in your industry to pitch your story. Tools like Muckrack, Prowly, Pressrush, Roxhill, etc., can help you find journalists or media persons looking for a quick expert turnaround.

Sending occasional pitches is fine. But you need to adapt to the changing global media scenario.

Keep An Eye On Evolving Media 

Track, monitor, and analyze social media conversations. Use a social listening app (Brand24, YouScan, TalkWalker Analytics) to keep tabs on references, including your brand names, particular keywords, industry, data, trends, or hashtags. This will help you get ideas for new stories for media coverage.

Image: Brand24

Community Panels: Join the local community to discuss, provide feedback, or participate in decision-making. These panels will serve as a platform for you to engage with the community and enable collaborative efforts and inclusive decision-making.

Newsworthy Content:

Craft compelling stories based on your research to generate media coverage and attention. Choose a trendy topic or include information journalists and media outlets find compelling and worthy of sharing with their audiences.

Pitch your story. Remember that journalists need more time to keep up with all these pitches in their current workload. The subject line of your pitch should be super clear and concise.

Here is the email template to pitch the journalist:

Image: Source: Search Engine Land

Generating Backlinks with Digital PR:

Here are the two key strategies that you can use to boost your backlinks with the help of Digital PR:

• Research the places where your audience spends time:

Proper research is crucial to earning quality PR backlinks. Search for platforms where your audience spends time. Search on these resources: Podcasts., Communities, Webinars, News Publications, and Conferences.

A tool like “SparkToro” is good for audience research. This tool automatically lists search data and organizes it according to different audiences.

• Submit topics that align with your expertise and are pertinent to your audience:     

The most effective way to acquire links is by contacting the desired website. Ensure the proposed topics are relevant to your platform and tailored to meet your target audience’s interests.

Manual Link Building Strategies:

Manual link-building is a powerful strategy for earning more organic traffic and boosting your brand’s reputation.

Some of the popular tactics are:

• Writing testimonials.
• Using Strategic Guest Blogging
• Creating and distributing infographics.
• Being Active on Social Media.
• Using Resource Links From Trusted Sites.
• Leveraging the Broken Links Strategy.
• Growing Your Personal Brand.
• Checking Competitors’ Backlinks.
• Networking with Influencers.
• Relevant blog comments.

Examples

Guest post strategy in SEO for high-quality backlinks:

• Research and Identify Relevant Websites
• Review the content on these websites
• understand their writing style, tone, and the topics they cover.
• Create a well-researched and engaging article
• align your guest post with the website’s audience and content
• Craft a personalized and concise pitch highlighting your expertise and the topic
• Follow guest posting guidelines, such as word count, formatting, submission process, etc.
• Include keywords in the content and author bio (if allowed).
• Monitor and Promote your guest post
• Keep contributing new guest posts to authoritative sites in your niche

Read more: How to Use AI for Link Building to Boost Website Visibility

Influencer Networking: 

Your brand can’t prosper without building relationships with influencers in your niche. Build relations with influencers who charge to include backlinks on their websites and social media accounts.

Four strategies for networking with influencers:

• Reach out to them with the help of social media channels.
• Connect with them through their website or blog.
• Reach out to them at events, shows, or conferences.
• Connect with them through mutual connections.

Bottom Line:

The debate between digital PR and manual link building persists in navigating the modern search landscape. At the same time, both approaches aim for valuable backlinks.  They depend on your goals and resources.

Digital PR focuses on relationships and content for natural backlinks, while Manual Link Building is more hands-on. The key is to strike the right balance based on your needs to boost your online presence and search rankings.

Take action today with ResultFirst to enhance your SEO concepts and watch your website thrive.