Is Content Still King?

[somarco]

Which is better for high vis SERP? Good content or offsite "SEO" with links? Will good content automatically generate quality links or does it need . . . encouragement? Are RSS feeds worthwhile? Are any better than others?

My sites automatically notify pingomatic on updates. Is this useful or are there better services?

How do you get picked up by Google reader for inclusion in their daily feeds? Does Bing have a similar feed?

I have been getting frustrated with Google searches which seems to have a page 1 crowd of paid results and the most annoying captcha when you want to modify your search or even view page 2 results.

Bing seems to provider fewer results (often less than 30) vs thousands with Google for the same search term. Is this good or bad (other than the fact that Google is dominant)?

 

[lrixford]

For unique content to have the full effect we have found that you need to still earn backlinks. When you have fresh and unique content on your website...then you have other sites talking about the same subject matter...and they backlink to you, you get the highest bang for your buck. This is due to the fact that the search engines now look at not just the anchor tag but the context of the article as a whole.

Look into Feedburner (Feed 101 - FeedBurner Help) for details about getting Google to see your feeds.

We have also noticed that Bing has dropped their search result numbers. We speculate that this is due to the fact no one goes more than 3 pages deep when actually searching for something. Just something Bing is trying to differentiate themselves on.

 

[somarco]

We have also noticed that Bing has dropped their search result numbers. We speculate that this is due to the fact no one goes more than 3 pages deep when actually searching for something.

I wondered the same.

Rarely use Bing but have made it my default SE on one of my browsers (on a laptop) as a test. Seems to me finding your page out of 34 results vs 296,038 is a good thing, but perhaps it is just wishful thinking.

Google seems to distort the results, showing my pages higher (especially those shared on Google+) higher than when I switch browsers from Chrome (my default) to FF or IE. It's almost like Google wants me to actually believe I am better than I really am.

Or something like that . . .

 

[Alex1]

Content is king, but it has to be at least 50% original content. That means if you straight up want to copy something you better find a good way to re-word it. Google doesn't like copy pasted content. Ofcourse, you need backlinks to your site if you want it to have any effect.

Speaking of which, if you want someone to create content for you, there are people on the internet offering to write something for you, for relatively cheap.

 

[Josh]

Not meaning to sound coy, but why not do both? I put a lot of work into my sites and by far the ones with good content AND offsite links do the best. I've been trying to spend less time here and more time blogging, but in all fairness I do get extra attention from being on here too, so I suppose both have merit.

Content is always going to yield more consistent results.

 

[JohnWalker]

If your looking for success in SEO, you really need both. Because Google crawls the web through links, link building is still king but like laird said Google is more and more taking into account page content (usually to help you rank for long tail phrases and check link relevancy).

I see a ton of people trying to frequently post blogs or churn out fresh content at a rapid pace and expect to rank. Anybody can post new content why would you end up on page one because you wrote a blog post (unless you have domain authority like that... and it happens think news sources).

I made a topic on this board "the secret to link building" but I'm assuming everyone thought I was joking. I did purposely try to sound like a troll so its understandable. But if you do your research, the reality is all effective link building is now..... sales and marketing.

Ill be more specific. In my case, I identified my target consumers (.edu pages with the target page being at least a pr 3-5 and plenty of desirable link metrics). I then created 1 page worth of content (maybe 750 words) based on what I thought could add value to the target pages and actually picked up the phone and called universities and colleges to post my content on their website. This is my first month doing it and my 1 page has already secured 6 .edu links with about 5 more approved but pending. I also have a huge pool of high authority link prospects, there are about 450 colleges and universities in California. This means I potentially have a huge pool of highly relevant and highly authoritative pages that my competition will probably never get. Hence why I currently rank for most of my keywords on the first page next to national companies like allstate and geico. I even outrank the DMV and right below the DOI for some competitive "low cost auto" terms (its a california auto insurance program).

This is the new link building. Don't just create content,

1. figure out who are the people you want to read or link to the content
2. create content based on those peoples needs or wants
3. sell sell sell

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

right on point John, that's out good until you get spammed with 25k guestbooks...lol

 

[JohnWalker]

right on point John, that's out good until you get spammed with 25k guestbooks...lol

LOL guestbooks what decade is this? I remember using those to pull girls they have other uses?

 

[davidrichard899]

Yes content is still king for getting more SERP in search engines. Some of the powerful techniques like Guest Posting , Article submissions , Web 2.0 creations with unique articles get the boost for your SERP. But need to keep in mind the guidelines of the content to submit in the directories. Unique content draw more quality traffic and visitors to your website.

 

[padthaiforlunch]

I have a new blog post at least four days each week. The site had very few links, but the blog ranks well for local results. Post, ping, twitter, fb. Repeat.