Any marketer or digital marketing professional will readily agree that search engine optimization is complicated. You need to keep adapting to keep your website ratings high across the constantly evolving parameters of various search engines. While indulging in this exercise, the question that pops us in the minds of SEO professionals is whether they should give priority to content or focus on backlink building. Which one is better?
Some would say that both are equally important as they both go hand in hand.
[bctt tweet="Building links without a powerful and engaging content of high quality and content devoid of an effective link building strategy are unlikely to succeed." username="relevance"]
However, if you have to choose between the two, the content will tip over the link and for the following reasons.
Content is one of the most important aspects of Search Engine Optimization. It is the only tool that can be effectively used for marketing products or services across digital platforms.
[bctt tweet="High quality and engaging content can act as a connecting medium between a brand and its customers." username="relevance"]
Content is the only way you can engage with visitors and entice them to buy your products or services. You need content to fill out lead forms. Importantly, without content, it’s pointless for any website to give you a backlink.
The context of the page can be defined only by using the appropriate content. Content also defines the topic of a page through the header and title tags. Backlinks only provide a hint of the topic on the page when appropriate keywords are used.
Another reason for assigning more importance to content is that content provides people the reason for linking to your site organically. You can attract people by creating powerful and informative content, sharing quality data, providing tips on various aspects, or creating any such content format (read quiz, games, etc.) that can quickly attract visitors repeatedly and keep them engaged for a longer time.
[bctt tweet="Content is necessary to create the reasons for someone linking to your website in a natural manner." username="relevance"]
Content is mandatory for building site structure and architecture. This is achieved through internal linking. However, it is important to note that site structure and rank sculpting are two different things. The latter is done for the purpose of SEO only. Content can help build a natural internal linking structure. It is a great way of guiding visitors to various resources. Content can also influence purchasing decisions when provided in the form of comparative charts or informative tables.
A crucial role of content is that when created properly and when focused on high quality, it can help search engines discover the most important pages on the website. This can also help website visitors access the kind of content they are looking for when they search online for the subject information they want.
The above four points establish the fact that content is more important for your website than backlinks but links have a key role to play for your website to appear in the top pages of search engine rankings.
If you have quality content on your website, those looking for the relevant information will come to your website looking for the same. If attracting relevant visitors is what you are focused on, then quality content is what will do the trick for you. At the same time, backlinks cannot be put on the backburner as authority building is also important for achieving high ranking.
Research about the top authority blogs around the globe shows that the best blogs are the ones with high-quality backlinks from websites that enjoy high ranking naturally. This means that a website can attract quality links only the content is unique and provides high value to visitors. It is a mutual process. When the best content is noticed by or shown to authority websites, they will eagerly share the content, and in turn, give backlinks from their blogs.
Many SEO experts are also of the opinion that content comes first and backlinks later. From their experience, they state that content is capable of holding on its own without the support of links. They can come in later to boost website rankings.
In conclusion, it can be safely assumed that content is the greatest asset of a website when it comes to SEO. It is the content that triggers link attraction. It is the content that provides the foundation on which your website can be built.
Thus, it proves yet again that ‘Content is king’ is not merely a clichéd slogan. It is the reality and the ultimate truth.
