The link building vs. content seo debate is still raging in the forums. John Scott, a staunch advocate of link building, keeps the thread hopping with his beliefs that, for competitive search terms, links are the only way to top rankings.
Learn about this crucial aspect of SEO!
Which Is More Important? Ken McGaffin, author of Tuesday’s article on building the link value of your site, entered into the fray with a testament to links and link building that advocates both the content and link building aspects of SEO.
In response to the question of whether links or content is more important he said, “It’s a bit like asking a professional golfer which is more important, driving or putting? Some will be fabulous drivers, others fabulous putters, but you need elements of both if you are to be successful.”
The Power Of Links. He recently decided to test the power of linking. He wrote a free report on link building strategies and started his LinkingMatters site to measure the power of linking on its own. He did no “formal SEO” on his site, but his pages are SE friendly.
His results? Check this out: “on Google, we now rank between position 8 and 10 in results for the term linking’ (6.5 million results returned) and positions 1 and 2 for the term linking strategy’ (1.6 million results returned).”
His best advice?
You absolutely must have great content (and should never be afraid to link out to great content)
A linking strategy, targeted at top sites can produce tremendous results
Those results will be greatly enhanced through SEO
Keeping adding content.
Read his post to learn more about his actual linking strategy.
While we’re far from closing the door on the debate (you can tell from the posts that it’s a complex issue), I think it’s safe to say that link building must accompany content SEO to produce the highest possible rankings and best possible response from your site visitors.
Here’s another excellent linking discussion thread from WebProWorld.
Garrett French is the editor of Murdok’s eBusiness channel. You can talk to him directly at WebProWorld, the eBusiness Community Forum.
