Semalt: Manual vs. Automated SEO: Which Is Right For You?


When starting or growing your business, designing and building a winning website is the first step. However, driving traffic to the shiny new website is just as important, perhaps even more so. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is key to this process. It’s also a relatively cheap and simple method of ensuring your site gets plenty of quality traffic. 

SEO is one of the most efficient and inexpensive mechanism to drive highly targeted organic traffic to a website. SEO optimises web content in such a way that it ranks top in the Search Engine Page Result (SERP).  

In driving traffic to a website, SEO mechanism take different factors into account such as keywords, secondary keywords, short-tail keywords, long-tail keywords, title, meta description, internal links, natural and relevant content, external links (backlinks), etc. Keywords, internal links, title, and meta descriptions lie under the on-page SEO, whereas developing and gaining backlinks lies under off-page SEO. Mastering on-page and off-page SEO will help a web page rank higher in the search results, driving in maximum organic traffic. Keywords should be highlighted in titles and meta descriptions. Also, webpage content needs relevant and naturally used keywords. This will help to reduce the bounce rate of visitors, which will be beneficial in the long run.

There are many companies around the world that will offer to help you and your business with your SEO. Choosing a reputable, efficient company is paramount. First, though, you need to figure out what you want and how your strategy will look moving forward.

Considering the best SEO practices is important, but one of the main choices is around manual or automated SEO. Which is better and which should you choose? 

Manual SEO vs. Automated SEO

Today, there are many SEO software and platforms available and this has made it very difficult for businesses and marketing teams to decide what to do for the best. Choosing between getting to grips with a SEO platform or hiring an SEO agency is fraught with conflicting factors. As with most business-related choices, cost and time are important considerations. However, some of the decision comes down to personal preference and what works for you as an organisation.

Most SEO software and platforms can carry out a whole host of SEO-related tasks including forum posting, keyword research, directory submission, blog commenting and social bookmarking.

Manual SEO involves an individual or team of SEO experts implementing the various on-page and off-page SEO strategies into a website by hand. Automated SEO, on the other hand, involves the use of software (or SEO platforms like posirank.com) to implement SEO strategies into a site.

Put simply, Manual SEO refers to hiring a manual SEO Agency or experts who will then optimise your website content. Automated SEO, on the other hand, motivates the use of existing SEO tools, software, and platforms in order to optimise the website content. 
Let’s examine the pros and cons of each method: 

Manual SEO

Manual SEO is carried out by an SEO team or individual and takes a high level of skill and expertise. The person or group plans and organises various on-page and off-page SEO strategies to boost a site’s rankings. Effective manual SEO is carried out by dedicated experts and this secures the method’s reputation as authentic. There is a common misconception that Auto SEO is spam. Manual SEO also seems to do better when it comes to link building. Gaining backlinks from other highly ranked sites will help your website’s SEO. It builds trust and authenticity of a website's content. This may be difficult to achieve through SEO platforms and software. 

Benefits of Manual SEO 

  • Better planning and strategy implementation among SEO experts
  • 100% control over your SEO technique and strategies
  • Priorities can be monitored and certified
  • Offers opportunities for link building
  • Control the selection of quality backlinks
  • Delivers trust and authenticity 

Drawbacks of Manual SEO

  • Long timeframe – an SEO expert can take a long time to deliver
  • Requires a high level of time and dedication
  • Can be expensive as the work is manual, often involving a large team of SEO experts
  • Unlike auto SEO, manual SEO is not available as a subscription package
  • Manual SEO can be considered inefficient for large websites 

Automated SEO

Automated SEO allows you to use SEO platforms/software, moving away from manual SEO work. In recent years, online SEO software and platforms have become superior in many ways to manual analysis. Furthermore, many website-creating platforms and blogging platforms offer built-in SEO tools. These automated SEO platforms deliver keyword research, blog commenting, social sharing, forum posting, and content recommendations in just a few clicks. Auto SEO efficiently delivers 100% results, much faster than manual SEO. 

Benefits of Automated SEO

  • Auto SEO is cost-effective – the available software may be a one-time purchase. 
  • Many online SEO platforms are subscription-based, offering different features for different costs
  • Automated SEO is faster – an algorithm used in the SEO platforms can analyse keywords and other aspects faster than a human brain
  • Keyword research and linkings are suggested automatically
  • Time-consuming tasks such as site audits can be handled easily and efficiently – they automatically offer broken link checks, keyword density analysis, tags, meta descriptions, and titles
  • Auto SEO platforms provide accurate and up-to-date results and analysis
  • Easier analysis of competitors internal links, keyword competition, and backlinks  

Drawbacks of Automated SEO

  • One major problem with automated SEO is backlinks building – it does not ensure quality backlinks, which may penalise the site and result into low ranking in SERP.
  • Most SEO platforms focus on the quantity of keywords rather than natural relevancy – this may increase the visitor bounce rate
  • Backlinks delivered by automated SEO platforms do not ensure the quality of organic traffic 

Choosing the right option

Since SEO can make or break the success of your website, it is vital to select the right SEO approach. You will want your website page to rank highly in SERP and, therefore, drive in the maximum organic traffic. Both SEO approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. Larger websites, for example, are far better suited to auto SEO than they are to manual SEO. However, when it comes to building trusted backlinks, manual SEO has the edge. Many businesses choose to mix both approaches. Strategies and tasks such as keyword research, competitors research, readability and keyword volume can be maintained by Auto SEO, while the planning and trusted backlinks are better handled by the manual method. There is no quick solution to building an ideal SEO website. Take your time and use both approaches if necessary, which will surely lead to success in the future. 

Which AutoSEO platform should I use? 

There are many website SEO systems available and it’s important to choose a complete tool from a trustworthy company with a good reputation. Semalt AutoSEO offers a top-class system that will take care of all of your SEO needs. 

Who is Semalt?

Started in 2013, Semalt is a leading full-stack digital agency. They provide the most powerful SEO tools for business. Semalt has many satisfied customers, a variety of whom have left glowing reviews on the company website. 

Semalt can help you with:
  • Selecting the most suitable keywords
  • Website analysis
  • Website research
  • Website error correction
  • Building links at the niche-related websites
  • Rankings update
  • Customer support 
Wherever you are in the world, the team at Semalt can help. They speak many languages including English, Italian, French, Turkish, and many others, so language needn’t be a barrier between you and your business development. Semalt’s team members are experts in SEO and other web tools and are ready to help you and your business.

Choosing the right SEO options for you can feel overwhelming. You want your business to thrive and your website and its rankings and traffic are crucial to this growth. Having a solid SEO strategy in place can make the difference between a business that booms and one that plummets. Therefore, it’s vital to do your research and think carefully about what’s right for you. The next step is to speak with an expert at a reputable company who will listen to your business needs and create a strategy that is unique to you, your products or services and your customers. The experts with Semalt will speak with you and ask questions so that they can create a personalised strategy and service, checking in with you throughout the process with progress updates. Semalt knows about SEO – it’s what they do. They take pride in doing all the hard work for you, allowing you to focus on other areas of your business. Once Semalt have taken over an organisation’s SEO, traffic to their website tends to increase and with that, so does their customer base. With that taken care of, you’ll be free to concentrate on your new booming customer base.