Los Angeles, CA, Oct. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Manual Links is a manual link building service agency for SaaS and healthcare companies, today announced that it has completed five years of operation.
Over that time it has delivered high-quality backlinks to more than 300 brands in the two sectors. As the anniversary arrives, the agency is changing what it measures.
It now judges success by whether a brand ranks on Google and also by whether AI assistants mention, cite, and recommend that brand when buyers ask them for answers.
Five Years, 300+ Brands, One Method
Manual Links was founded on one principle: every backlink should be earned through real outreach to real publications. The agency does not use automated link schemes, private blog networks, or bulk placements. Its team researches each publication, pitches editors directly, and secures placements that fit the client’s industry and audience.
The agency chose to specialize in SaaS and healthcare because both sectors set a high bar for trust. A software buyer comparing tools and a patient researching a provider both look for credible signals before they act. Links from relevant, authoritative publications supply those signals. Over five years, that focus has given Manual Links a working knowledge of which publications, angles, and content formats move results in each niche.
Why the Agency Is Prioritizing AI SEO
How people search is changing. A growing share of buyers now ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google’s AI Overviews for recommendations instead of scrolling through a page of links. These systems build their answers from content they consider credible, so the publications a brand appears in, and how consistently it is described there, help decide whether the brand gets named at all.
Manual Links sees this as the biggest change to off-page SEO since its founding, and has rebuilt its manual link building service around it.
“At Manual Links, we are not focused on traditional SEO alone. Our real focus is AI SEO,” said Muhammad Owais, Founder of Manual Links.
If your brand is not being cited by ChatGPT or other large language models, you are 50% hidden, no matter how well you have done traditional SEO. Brands that do excellent work in traditional search but ignore modern SEO are leaving half of their visibility on the table.”
What the Service Includes
The ManualLinks manual link building service combines traditional link acquisition with work aimed at earning AI citations:
- Guest posts on relevant, editorially vetted publications in the SaaS, technology, and healthcare spaces
- Niche edits that add contextual brand mentions to existing, already-indexed articles
- AI brand mention campaigns that place a brand in the kinds of sources large language models draw on when they generate answers
Before anything is pitched, each publication is checked for legitimacy, topical relevance, and editorial standards. The agency favors branded mentions and natural anchor text over aggressive keyword-matched links. This approach protects clients from search penalties, and it also creates the clear, consistent brand associations AI systems need in order to recognize and cite a company.
What Five Years Has Taught the Team
According to Manual Links, the brands that do well in AI search share three traits:
- Consistency. They are described the same way across many independent sources, so AI systems can confidently connect the brand to a category.
- Specificity. Their coverage contains concrete facts, such as years in business, customers served, and services offered, rather than vague marketing claims.
- Relevance. Their mentions appear in publications that actually cover their industry, not in unrelated sites chosen only for domain metrics.
The agency’s process for its next phase of growth is built on these three traits.
Looking Ahead
Having passed the five-year and 300-brand milestones, Manual Links plans to expand its AI brand mention offering and help more SaaS and healthcare companies measure how often they appear in AI-generated answers. Its long-term aim is to make AI visibility as trackable and achievable for brands as traditional search rankings have been.
“Five years ago, the goal was page one,” Owais added. “Today, the goal is to be the answer. That’s the work we’re doing for our clients now.”
Key Facts
- Company: Manual Links
- Website: manuallinks.io
- Founder: Muhammad Owais
- Years in operation: 5
- Brands served: 300+
- Core sectors: SaaS and healthcare
- Core offering: Manual link building service and AI brand mention campaigns
About Manual Links
Manual Links is a manual link building service and digital PR agency founded by Muhammad Owais. Over five years it has helped more than 300 SaaS and healthcare brands build authority through hand-secured backlinks, guest posts, niche edits, and media placements. The agency specializes in AI SEO, helping brands earn mentions and citations in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews alongside traditional search visibility. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
Media Details:
Name: Muhammad Owais
Email: support@manuallinks.io
support(at)manuallinks.io
