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Focus on content instead of backlinks?

by Wide
25 replies
So.....

What happens if I focus on content, content, content (quality content) and not create a single backlink? Will Google value content more than backlinks (not counting short-term)?

I'm not looking into a short period of time, but +1 year of posting quality content on a daily basic.
#backlinks #content #focus #no backlinks
  • Profile picture of the author brunom
    What works best for be is a balance between both. I try to get my websites updated (got around a month worth of content already scheduled) but I build campaigns to those as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author SirKonstantine
    instead of writing 10 articles, write 8 and do 2 press releases on a free site like prlog.

    good mix right there. You are already writing a lot of content, so you might as well use it to get some backlinks.

    And yes, you can focus on only content but make sure your content has linkbait in it.
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  • Profile picture of the author brunom
    Google will see and index your content. Unfortunately, with no backlinks, Google won't see your content as relevant and you won't rank for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Copy
    Content is king as long as it is in context.
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  • Profile picture of the author marketingdynasty
    Quality content and backlinks go hand and hand! You should use them both.
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    • Profile picture of the author Metrics
      Originally Posted by tywonf View Post

      Quality content and backlinks go hand and hand! You should use them both.
      Exact. If 2 people write about dogs and no one else ever wrote about one particular subject (lets say a disease) then those two post will be in the top position in search engines for that term. If one got a link from his friend's blog, which one would get the first position?
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  • Profile picture of the author David Sneen
    For SEO, it's not an either or, it's a both and...thing. Google wants you to have content. They also want you to have quality backlinks. You cannot please Google by having one of them. You need them both.

    Certainly, you know that you are not the only one doing SEO. And, if you think certain keywords are worth pursuing, isn't it reasonable to assume that your competition is also going after them, too? So, if they optimize for content and backlinks; and you only optimize for quality content, isn't it reasonable to assume that they will get placed ahead of you?

    You have tons of competition for any worthwhile keywords. SEO is about doing everything you can to beat them; not one thing at the expense of another.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Wide View Post

    So.....

    What happens if I focus on content, content, content (quality content) and not create a single backlink? Will Google value content more than backlinks (not counting short-term)?

    I'm not looking into a short period of time, but +1 year of posting quality content on a daily basic.
    That content brings the backlinks naturally if it is good enough. That's how you get the Google rankings. If you're doing things right though, that Google traffic doesn't even matter .
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    • Profile picture of the author tess47
      Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

      That content brings the backlinks naturally if it is good enough. That's how you get the Google rankings. If you're doing things right though, that Google traffic doesn't even matter .
      Exactly Why depend on Google? Sure, it's great to have a page one ranking - but more important is that your content is of the quality that it gets syndicated by other sites relevant to yours. The old saying "there's more than one way to skin a cat" definitely holds true online. Write valuable, interesting content that others want to share, and you can get all the targeted traffic you'll ever need - without Google's help!
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  • Profile picture of the author megansays
    I think it could be done, though. If your content is good, eventually it will get out in the form of true, natural backlinks, which is what Google wants anyways.

    Even if you don't have backlinks, getting traffic is not impossible. I have about 30 posts on a nutrition blog that I keep saying I will get backlinks to...someday. It's getting about 30 visitors a day without any promoting, but yes, someday I will get around to building links.
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  • Profile picture of the author seobuzz
    Backlink is one of the main SERP ranking factor and its importance is more than even the content. But crappy content will not help either with quality links.

    It is always advisable to do something which will maintain both sides, i.e. most effective.
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  • Profile picture of the author elexmedia
    If a tree falls in the forest will anybody hear it?
    You must have BOTH. Good Contents and Quality Backlinks.

    If you just write good contents, Google will index it only. Not rank it. So your contents will not read by thousands of people. Your efforts to create the contents will be wasted. Your site will take no where.

    "Good contents always come with good SEO."
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
      Banned
      Originally Posted by elexmedia View Post

      So your contents will not read by thousands of people.
      You're right, because everyone knows that your traffic has to come from Google or it doesn't count.
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  • Profile picture of the author Drew Cleveland
    Don't go all in on either side. I have sites that I post very high quality content to that get no traffic, and I have sites with crap conetent on the first page of google because of SEO, in fact one of those crappy quality sites was recently de indexed because it was part of a blog network.
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  • Profile picture of the author joey19333
    Originally Posted by Wide View Post

    So.....

    What happens if I focus on content, content, content (quality content) and not create a single backlink? Will Google value content more than backlinks (not counting short-term)?

    I'm not looking into a short period of time, but +1 year of posting quality content on a daily basic.
    I think what you could do is outsource the backlink building and just focus on building content yourself. This way, you can get the backlinks that Google value as well as quality content that Google craves for. Many people outsource backlink building because it can be a tedious way to do SEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author indiadesign
    Partially agree, content rules the game but quality backlinks is equally important for an average ranking and traffic getting site. For engaging content and article sources there are umpteen authentic sites. How we can override them, so the practical way to get mileage for our site in search engines is through quality backlinks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris-
    Yes, increasingly content is becomming a better bet than backlinking, over the long-term.

    Backlinking can still work, if done very carefully to look very natural.


    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author adamj2
    Originally Posted by Wide View Post

    So.....

    What happens if I focus on content, content, content (quality content) and not create a single backlink? Will Google value content more than backlinks (not counting short-term)?

    I'm not looking into a short period of time, but +1 year of posting quality content on a daily basic.
    Hey, this is the approach I have been focusing on.

    I have recently started putting much more of a focus on consitently writing content and just getting it out there and am getting much more traffic as a result.

    When I started out I used to write one page for one or two keywords and spend all my time backlinking it and it was very frustrating!

    But now I just get the content written and published on a daily basis, focusing on using numerous long tail keyword variations and people seem to find the content and traffic seems to come through even if they don't necessarily rank on Google for a major keyword.

    The only backlinking I do now is to interlink relevant blog posts and articles, press releases etc as I write them. So I don't post content just for the sake of backlinks, I only post it for traffic but fit in some backlinks within this content as I go along.
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesrich1
    You will have results with this if you follow MYOB, and Alexa Smith's article syndication for your content. There needs to be someway that you get exposure for your content. Playing the SEO game is pretty tough because you must beat 99.9999% of your competition to get any traffic. Were talking hundreds of thousands to millions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim Franklin
    Wow lots of really interesting comments, but I can show you that the truth is that premium content is valued more than backlinks, targeted contextual backlinks are valued more than just backlinks alone, its a brave new world and few there are that find the path.
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