SEO - Content v/s Linking, an Old Debate

[jacksonp]

Hello friends
There are two schools of thought about optimizing the Search Engine Optimization technique. The proponent of the first school of thought beleive in what is known as “Content is King”.

The other school of thought belongs to what is known as the “Link is the King”.

Even I was confused that which one plays more significant role in SEO, Content or Linking. SEO is not a precise science and it requires some degree of art and experimentation. It is an art that takes some experience, experiment and and patience.

[nickjett]

Content is still king, but you not going to get your content seen without links! Unless you do a lot of other advertising.

I always try an create what i feel is decent content, then work hard on links!

[zzpot]

My guess is there is only so much you can do with content; but with links, you can get 10 links or one million links; this will make a difference in SERPS; in other words the content optimization you can make on a page is somehow bounded, while the amount of links you can add is not bounded.

So for not too competitive terms, some links and some content are what is needed, but for the most competitive terms, this is not enough; more links is what is needed.

[dietcola]

dood - you need two things for SEO

content and Links - the rest is just best practice...

Content is the King - people dont buy from your backlinks they buy because you provide them with something - content - that encourages them to purchase...

if your content is shit - ppl wont convert - so yes -- content is king my man - links are just required to back up the authority of your content.

[michal89]

Both are necessary as air and water are necessary for a human being. Both has their own importance, so we can't say that which one is the most necessary.

Don't be confuse, make quality content and build quality links.

[gerrypolt]

One follows the other.

Create great content and the links will follow.

Create shitty content and you will be out a fortune paying people to link to you.

So I still think content is king.

But, If you have an infinite budget, Im sure you ll rank by buying links to shitty content.

Just my thought process though.

[Mark]

When you create great content, it will give others something to link to. Now, you can't just create great content and expect that others will see it. You have to do some networking and promotion of your great content so others will at least think about linking to it. It all starts with the content though.

Mark

[Feda]

Yes, it's still both. Good content makes people come back to you and getting loyal to your community/site, but you also need to do your SEO-job

[Giorgio]

Links = traffic
Content = sales

One can't live without the other.

PS: I have many content rich sites without traffic, as well as numerous of mini-sites with traffic, hence I don't consider content to be King.

[Michael Martinez]

If there is no content, there is nothing to link to. Ergo, Content is King.

If there are no links, there is no Web. Ergo, Links are Queen.

Trying to argue that one is more important than the other is an absolute total waste of time.