You may have heard the age-old statement “Content Is King” thrown around in connection with SEO, but what does that really mean? Can you actually build organic search rankings through content alone? It is possible, but not easy. Instead of focusing your efforts solely on link building, relying on strong content that is deemed by Google to be rich and relevant may give you much better long-term results than link building alone.
What Is Good Content?
Good content is defined as content that Google finds relevant to actual user queries. If you think about that statement, you will see that there is inherently a great deal of work involved in creating good content. You must create content that:
- Meets high standards for Google’s search engine algorithms. The bots are getting smarter, and they now have the capability to use semantic analysis to spot spammy content techniques. It is no longer enough to put in various keywords in 500 different configurations; in fact, when it comes to keywords, less is more, especially when compared with the early years of SEO.
- Website is accessible. You must get users to your site before you even begin to worry about how they interact with your content. That means that you must get your website into their line of vision not only through organic search results but through other methods as well, such as paid search and local search optimization.
- Content must be relevant to user queries. Creating good content is not enough if it does not match what users are actually searching for, so it is important to research real-life user queries to give your content that extra reach.
- Content must answer user queries. Besides guiding users to your website when they query various topics, it must answer their questions. Users will not stay on your website if it is not user-friendly or they cannot find the answers to their questions.
Should I Just Stop Link Building?
Focusing on content does not mean that you should simply stop link building. In fact, link building is much more effective when you have good content in place, so now is the time to use link building to your best advantage.
However, remember that link building is an artificial, not an organic, process. To make a long story short, you should probably focus on link building after you worry about your organic search impact from good content.