With a headline like that, you are probably expecting some flames to be flying and I promise, I will not disappoint.

It has been some time now that rules of SEO have been rewritten to now place a major focus on the actual content that is found at the top of the search results, more so than the sites that link to that content. Or so it is thought. Content is King, right? I mean Google says that you just need to write (create, publish) good quality content on your website and that they will take care of the rest.

Don’t go about creating any links from other people’s websites, just to boost your rankings because Google will just magically find your content boost it to the top, as long as it is “quality content”, right? Watch this video from Google…

Well, let’s just think about the logic behind this for a minute…

Let’s just suppose there are 10 plastic surgeons who are all excellent doctors with outstanding medical histories, a long list of satisfied patients, and essentially well-established surgeons in their own right.

Now they have sufficient resources at their disposal to not only build a high-quality website but publish it with high-quality content complete with extensive before and after photo galleries. They all appear to be great choices when it comes to quality content.

So the questions beckons, “who does Google decide is the best, and sits at #1?”. The answer is they don’t know and can’t tell just purely based on the quality of the website and it’s “King Content”.

They need more information before they can make this decision.

What information and where do they get it from?

Other people’s websites, and what they have to say about these doctors, via what is referred to as a “backlink”. Now, these backlinks are not all of the same power when it comes to balancing the equation on what is a valuable link.

Let’s take a look at two examples, and see if you can determine which is the higher valued or valuable link to have.

Website A:

The first website that has a backlink pointing to a surgeon’s website is all about plumbing supplies. The link is in the sidebar, along with other advertising banners. It is a text link surrounded by mixed content that ranges from plumbing supplies, building information, and links to other construction websites.

Website B:

The second website is a health-related blog. It has topics that cover women’s health issues in particular. The link that comes from this site is in a blog post by a guest author, who is talking about the pros and cons of a particular form of facial plastic surgery. There are references to alternatives that don’t require going under the surgeon’s knife and also a list of doctors who are widely accepted as authorities on the subject. There are quotes from one of the doctors and it is also a link to his website.

Now before you decide which is the better link, times this equation in your head for the 10 surgeons we mentioned above. They all have a range of different links but for the sake of the argument, let’s just imagine that there is one doctor in the list who gets more and more of the Website B styled links and the rest get a mixture, but mostly weighted towards the Website A style links.

It is pretty obvious that the doctor with more of the relevant links is going to fare higher in the search results than the others, purely because he is demonstrating a higher degree of authority in his field of endeavor.

Yes, it is more complex than this simplified version I have used for my illustration but I think it demonstrates the point that content is not really the king it used to be or is at least made out to be.

Content yes it is important, and sort of kingly but is KING, no I don’t think so. Everybody can produce top quality content, it is easy, just hire a good copywriter and plan your site well and you are in the running for being a great content producer. The kind that Google says they love.

Google also says that you don’t need to do anything else, they will take care of it. Matt Cutts the former (now vanished) Google engineer turned SEO spokesperson aka Webspam Fighting Team Leader can be seen in the video at the beginning of this post espouse exactly that.

Don’t build any backlinks, that are risky and will get you banned by Google. That is also what they say, but it is not what they do. Even so, SEO companies will tell you the same thing, “Don’t build backlinks, that is old school, we have a better way…”

So if you can’t build any backlinks and nobody is going to link out to you, i.e. create a backlink for your website, unless they can find you in the first place, how are any links every going to be established if your site is totally invisible?

Good question. It is a real chicken and egg situation.

Someone is lying when it comes to the Content is King and Backlinks situation. Could it be Google is not being entirely transparent or truthful here?

One way of finding out what the truth is is to see what Google allows to rank at the top of the search engines and with the help of some fancy backlink discovery tools, one can easily see what backlinks are actually doing the work required to get this website to the top.

When you can see the actual links, and see how they have worked their magic, you know that Google has access to this information as well, so you can draw your own conclusion on what the truth is.

The fact of the matter is this, backlinks do count and will continue to count. They are not going anywhere when it comes to Google’s algorithmic calculations about who is the top authority on any given subject. They need backlinks to prove the value of their choice. Naturally, the higher valued backlinks are more difficult to acquire but they need to be there to make content the King that he is supposed to be.

If you want to get an idea of your own backlink profile and see how this stacks up against your competitors who are currently outdoing you in the Google search results, I suggest you get in contact with me and I can arrange a free 30-minute strategy call. We will do an audit on your website and show you what your current SEO company doing that is good and as the case may be, not so good.

Schedule your call with us today.