In this paper we investigate the application to the motion control of n-link robotic manipulators of the recently developed stable factorization approach to tracking and disturbance rejection. Given a nominal model of the manipulator dynamics, the control scheme consists of an approximate feedback linearizing control followed by a linear compensator design based on the stable factorization approach to achieve optimal tracking and disturbance rejection. Using a multi-loop version of the small gain theorem [17], the applicability of the linear design techniques and the stability of the closed loop system are rigorously demonstrated.