I have been working hard on my blogs to build great content and have read far too many times that “Content Is King” If this was true then useless content won’t rank in search engines.
How do I know useless content ranks in search engines? I know marketers (myself included) that create mini sites. Just type up some content just to rank in search engines. Content that isn’t any use for the user, just to get the user on and off the page to make money via google adsense and affiliate programs. (Which I should do more to raise my adsense income)
A great example of a marketer that runs a set and forget online business is Vic at Blogger Unleashed. Many people hate him because he speaks his mind and don’t hold anything back. He does great with his mini sites. (He has around 500+) Vic feels just like me when it comes to what is king. He will quickly tell you backlinks is king, as I will tell you SEO is king. (Pretty much the same thing as backlinks is part of SEO.)
A lot of big name bloggers and so call SEO experts will tell you content is king. I find it a joke. Yes, content plays a small part in SEO but its not the bulk of the work. A blogger can write the best content about his or her topic but it won’t rank as high as some useless content that has tons of backlinks.
1 big name blogger wrote a really great article on site SEO tips for bloggers. I mean it really showed a beginner blogger what to do for search engine optimization for each post on a blog. There was 2 problems I had with the post.
1) He said “Content Is King”
2) He said “It’s not just about what keywords you have or how many links that you get”
Here is the comment I made on his blog post.
“It’s not just about what keywords you have or how many links that you get”
You can’t be serious with this line. The reason your posts rank so high in search engines is because your loyal readers link to your posts with author text. Its funny how you suppose to be helping your readers yet you keep them in a position were they stay wondering if they are doing the right thing. I am also sick of reading “content is king”. I have seen some really bad content rank number 1 because of the amount of backlinks with author text it had.
Next time you think about speaking on SEO, tell your readers the “TRUTH!”
Well making this comment I come to realize how a big name blogger that blogs about blogging stays on top. Provide the right things to do but leave out other things. Truly keep their readers in a mindset set of “I am doing the right thing”
I am going to stop reading this big name blogger? No. Why? Because I get ideas for posts. As I said in the post “How to grow your blog faster” After you comment on a blog post and feel you have more to say make a blog post about it. Which led me to writing this blog post.
What is king in your eyes content, backlinks, or SEO?
as well.
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that both SEO and Content are the kings. SEO will make your website more competitive and will make your website rank higher in the srps, but content will keep your visitors on the blog, and will make them come back again.
I’m going to say that I believe content is king. You’re making a distinction between what you consider as good content or bad content.
In a search engines eyes, they don’t care; they only want to see content. Without content, you don’t have the chance to optimize anything. Without content, what reason do people have for visiting you? Without content, you don’t get any backlinks. Without content, you don’t have any keywords or keyword phrases to even think about writing for. Without content, you have an empty shell of a blog, or of a website, and nothing’s happening.
Now, without good content, you may not keep people coming back. But in some circumstances, people don’t care about whether people come back or not; they’re looking to generate high numbers, and they want to get them from the search engines. Those are people I don’t follow all that much, because they’re not saying anything interesting.
So, yeah, I still say content is king. Whether good or bad content is king depends on the visitors.
I have read so many posts about content and SEO that it sometimes confuses me. There are 100′s of posts detailing the con’s and pro’s.
Some say it’s content, others say it’s SEO. I agree that content plays a role as it keeps your readers hooked for longer, but SEO is the final winner for me as it brings people to your site. Once at your site, the user decides whether he/she wants to carry on reading the post or looks at other posts you have written or they close your site window.
It boils down to what the author actually wants to achieve, loyal readers for long term benefits or just search engine rank.
What I do:
If I visit and the content is bad, I normally look for google ads or advertisements that grab my attention and click on them. If there are none, then I close the browser window. I do know that I’m making them money when clicking on ads/advertisements, but it does not bother me.
Alright I must admit were in the dirt now Deneil!
Here’s the deal! He who has content and He who has Backlinks is he who makes the money.
Backlinks “currently” is the most effective way to build page rank, serp ,and organic traffic. I read from Matt Cuts Blog saying the way Google rates backlinks could be changing so we have to wait and see what that brings.
It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 6 months.
Whatever it is, I still believe that content always be the king! =D
Backlinks is no.2 and SEO is no.3.
p.s: Believe me, I’m making money with that
Backlinks and SEO come into picture only if you have content on your blog. So content is king
The approach that Vic follows is to make money, not generate visitors..
Cheers
Sandeep
I view SEO, like you view Pizza. There are so many parts that play a role.
If you’re talking about SERPS then I think the only way to go about figuring out what matters most is to look at the real world.
Content is king – No chance. Do a Google search right now and you’ll find just as much crap content in the top 10 as good content. Do a search for my name (Paul Barlow) and you’ll find one of my sites near the top. The site has NOTHING of any relevency to the search Paul Barlow. The name isn’t even mentioned on the website and yet Google still ranks it highly. I’m also doing an experiment at the moment where I’m having great fun ranking blatantly duplicate content. Crap content at that. You need to have “something” to rank, that is true but to say that quality content rules is completely fake. It did once but that was before going stopped looking at what was on a page and instead decided to concentrate and what links to it.
On Page /On Site SEO – I class this as all the bumf about having optimized titles and headers/ word counts and internal linking. I see this as quite important but more so in getting your content indexed properly – not so much ranked better. It does have some influence but it’s minimal (especially with Google) Do this wrong though and your page will not appear in the search results at all.
External Links – The daddy. It’s entirely Google’s fault but there is a huge over emphasis on links in all 3 of the top search engines. By making the over riding factor something that can be bought has resulted in a big class divide online. They have made something which used to be the most natural thing in the world i.e. linking out to another website something which is seen as being of great value and only to be done if there is some gain. Its a bit like handing peoples wedges of cash and asking them not to spend any of it.
So if it was me I’d spend 10 minutes sourcing the content, 20 minutes optimizing the page and then weeks upon weeks of getting backlinks
You do have a good point. Good content is important for a blog, but it must also contain the elements that are marketable online. I’m somewhat new to marketing blogs, so I’ll have to research this. But good that someone else is spreading something different.
Why do you split it up into content, backlinks and SEO? Isn’t is all part of SEO?
Personally I think it is a combination of both content and links. Sure you can get poor content to rank using backlinks but there is no doubt that you will have to put more effort into it than if you produced good content. I am not saying that I only produce good content on my minisites because I don’t but it is not pure crap either. It is decent content and combined with link building it works wonders.
I do however believe that if you do the same link building towards a site with poor content and a site with good content, then the good content will always win!
Mikael
Not many people would keep blogging for years with very little traffic. Hang in the I am sure your hard work will pay off.
Guess what? Building many many site with SEO, and just like what you say “Just type up some content just to rank in search engines.” I mean that’s not wrong to rank high in search engine, but here’s what’s wrong… content that doesn’t benefit readers.
When this happen the only way you can earn money is through Adsense, no one trust you and no one buy from you, only Adsense that’s what you are earning, but of course if that’s the way, then by all means.
To me I want to build relationship, customer base and joint ventures, but not building SEO just to rank high with “Just type up some content” base.
I went to blogger Blogger Unleashed blog last time, he had his own opinion because his earning money through it, I mean his not wrong to raise his opinion, but I feel is all up to personal to decide, which way they want to follow…
Either SEO For Money Or Content For Customer…
I don’t consider any one thing “King” I look at it like Pizza, there’s a bunch of very tasty ingredients that create that Pizza, everything plays a part.
I’m going to have to agree with Deneil. Sure, your content can be great — but with no backlinks, no one is going to see your content (or very few people will). I know this first hand, as I have been blogging for a few years. Used to get no traffic, because I didn’t work on backlinking. Starting backlinking, and the traffic is coming in.
Just to say here, I’m one of those people; at least with my business blog. It’s never had a large following; even after 5 years, I have less than 15 subscribers to my feed on that blog. But its purpose is different; it’s to highlight my business, and that’s the more important thing for that blog.
Yeah, fair enough. Everyone has a different purpose for their blog.
To me all of them are king. I think of them as cocktail for a successful blog. But it just me right? I wouldn’t use the word King though. Any blog can live without them.
Wow… this is one heck of a great topic, as you have received a ton of great comments. Being controversial is great way to a blog noticed.
The way I have always taking the phrase “Content is King” to mean… is you have to have content, or you have NOTHING. You will have no back-links or SEO rankings if you have no content. Content (good or bad) in any type of format is what the entire Internet is made of.
Sure all the things mentioned above are all important if you want people to see your content, but if you don’t have any… there is nothing to see.
Very true; it takes a true blogger to put your name on the line making a statement like this. I feel very ignorant for not thinking of it like this.
I do however think that content is key in some ways and back links and other seo practices are key in other ways. For instance, if you want readers to come back content is key. If you want to make cash of off advertisments ranking well in the SERPs is key.
I like the post. Very unique
I’m going to have to disagree Mitch. There is a 13 year old kid that rankes 3rd for “money online”. I know age is nothing but a number, and to prove that, I’m only 17. But still, I think if a 13 year old can rank on the first page (let alone, top 3) for “money online”, someone like Deneil, with so much experience as for SEO, could make it there. Just my opinion though.
By the way, the 13 year old boys blog is Carlo Cab
Smart man, because I was ready to take that bet. I would have had at least 10th place by the end of the year.
You can do it if you believe you can do it. It’s only a minute.
In my opinion content. Because good content is attract the web crawlers. It helps to increase website traffic.
Good for you to believe that. One question though. How are web crawlers going to find your website without backlinks?
In my opinion content IS king. You know why? Because that’s why i blog. I have fun writing posts and i surely do not intend on making money. I believe that someone starting mini sites, as you said, is a professional money maker, not a blogger. The blogger title has to be earned. Not just because you write on WordPress and leave comments makes you a blogger. I do believe that SEO is useless when it compares to content. In my eyes useless content will be on top quickly and die quickly as well (search engines are not as stupid as you take them to be). On the other hand good content will take some time to build up some rep BUT, once it hits the top, it will stay there. That again is my opinion…
This is what people fail to realize, you can have all the content you want without backlinks nobody will ever see your content. Content is the base of SEO, not the bulk work to rank in the search engines.
For example, you write some great content but no backlinks
I write some b.s. content but have a lot of backlinks with author text.
Who do you think is going to rank in the search engines and get the traffic?
Yeah that is my point. People always saying content is king but it makes no sense. SEO gets the visitors not content. Although content plays a small part in SEO. Good content will keep the visitor coming back.
Google has change things, people had their up roar about it. Yet nothing has change in the rankings. People are still ranking for their keywords. SEO will always be king to get visitors in the long run.
lol, I see you fail to realize that content and backlinks are part of SEO.
Once again I am going to say that content and backlinks play their part in SEO.
You can’t make money without visitors. His business is focused on generating visitors and making money from them.
Actually, that’s not quite true, Deneil. Every one of my posts goes to Twitter. So, I can write a great article, and it’ll post on Twitter, and if I have enough followers some will come to my site and read what I have. Some of those folks will even subscribe to what I’ve written. All without a single backlink.
Now, what’s more important to you; visitors or SERPS? That’s the beauty of Twitter; if you build relationships, you get a great loyalty of people who will then stop by to see anything you write, all without backlinks. What becomes more important then?
However, write terribly, and no matter how many backlinks, no one’s coming back.
And, one more thing. The backlink thing, I hate to tell you, is somewhat overrated. If you’re someone who cares about PR (I’m not), then you’ll see some sites where you know they have no backlinks, yet their PR is 4 or 5. Why is that? Internal linking, which is as important, if not moreso, than backlinks. Search engines like good internal structure also, and if you optimize what it is you’re all about, you’ll be rewarded for it.
But it still all starts with content.
Twitter is social media marketing which needs to be done all the time to keep getting traffic. I know the effects of twitter as I do both social media marketing and SEO. SERPS brings visitors so there’s no picking between the 2. No, I am not a person that cares about PR. It means nothing to me. What matters to me is ranking for the keywords I am after. Content, internal linking, backlinks, and among other things all go into SEO. So my point still remains SEO is King. “Social Media Marketing” only can take you so far.
We’re probably going to have to agree to disagree on this point, because I’m sticking with content. For instance, in some circles, no matter how good your SEO is, you’re not cracking the top 10, certainly not cracking the top 10. Most people don’t go beyond the first page, definitely not past the second page. Yet, you can always write good content, always advertise it on Twitter, and you’ll have those people.
That, plus, if you’ve seen some of the reports I’ve written about my site, I don’t get the majority of my visitors from the search engines, but from direct sources. So, our audience just might be different.
Wow you broke it completely down. I hope all my readers learn from your comment. Thanks for stopping by and explaining it far better than I did in the post.
Yes, we can agree to disagree. Mitch it sounds like you counted yourself out from ranking in the top 10. I personally feel anybody can rank in the top 10 for any keywords they want to. It may take a few months to a few years but sooner or later your site will rank in the top 10.
For me twitter is a quick and easy way to get traffic until I rank for the keywords I am after.
Yes, it’s always good to research more than one view on things. Contact me if you have any questions about blogging.
lol stop focusing on what I do for mini sites and focus on what’s king to get traffic. Yes, mini sites make money if it helps visitors or not.
For example, here I write for the readers but at the same time I do my keyword research to rank high in the search engines. In the long run I will be getting traffic from Social Media Marketing and SEO. Even though the traffic from SEO will be a lot more and longer lasting than Social Media Marketing.
So the fact still remains SEO is king.
I’m just being realistic, Deneil. There are things oneo can get ranked number one for, definitely. But try getting ranked for “make money online” now; I would bet you $100,000 that you couldn’t do it in 5 years. For that matter, I’m betting you couldn’t get in the top 10 in five years. There are things that some folks are entrenched in; that’s the reality I know and can live with.
Just like I know that, at almost 50, I’ll never be able to play point guard for the Lakers. But I think I could still hang with one for at least 30 seconds. lol
I ask the question at the end like that because some people say Content is king, some people say Backlinks are king, and others say SEO is king.
I ask the question at the end like that because some people say Content is king, some people say Backlinks are king, and others say SEO is king.
I ask the question at the end like that because some people say Content is king, some people say Backlinks are king, and others say SEO is king.
My focus is on getting traffic. Content is not king. SEO is king. Because content, backlinks, etc. is all in SEO.
I am being realize as well. I know a blogger that is in the top 10 for the keywords “make money online” and he did it in 5 months. Since I am not going for those keywords I won’t bet you. But if you can prove that you have $100k to bet. I will take that bet for sure.
Little hint before you bet me: I never take one on one bets unless I know for a fact I am going to win.
I think you could do at least a minute against a pro. I would love to play one on one against Kobe.
I never take bets I’m not sure I’ll win either. Still, I also wouldn’t make a bet where I wasn’t going to get something other than an “I told you so” out of it either.
I don’t know that I could do a minute. Ten years ago I could, but now,… nah.
No blog can live without the base which is content but living without backlinks and the rest of the stuff to do with SEO won’t be successful.
I see your point. You also have to take in account that their are many blogs with great content and no backlinks nor ranking in the search engines. Content for me is a base of SEO. Without SEO in the long run there will be no traffic. (Well the friends you make on social media sites.)
SEO is like making koolaid. Water (Content) is the base. Without you can’t add anything. Having water (content) without koolaid (On site SEO) and sugar (Off site SEO) will not get you drinkers (visitors). Get my point?
Yes, I get your point and they are great…. but my point is if you don’t have the “BASE”… SEO doesn’t matter. Before you can do anything… you MUST HAVE content. We could debate this all day long, but to be successful… you need all the ingredients
Yeah you right we could debate this all day and maybe a week or month. Glad you ended that comment with “to be successful… you need all the ingredients” Because it is so true.
lol, I really didn’t think I was putting my name on the line. I just spoke how I feel about a topic.
You right, content bring visitors back. SEO gets the high SERPs which brings the visitors in the first place.
I am happy you like it.
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