Content is KING is a MYTH... Learn the Truth!

Honestly, I think the content is king propangada does more harm than good.

It's true you need to have good content, but people take it too far.

I am more and more meeting people who don't want to do much marketing because all they want is to produce good content and let people come to them.

If this is true, why do I poke around google and see crappy websites with poor content and even poor grammar & writing at the top?

Because these sites had superior marketing (SEO, Backlinks, whatever you want to call it).

There are plenty of examples of people making huge money on the Internet with crappy content.

What this means for YOU is that writing good content with EXCELLENT Marketing(Backlinks, Seo, etc) is crucial!

 

Backlinks + unique content = profit.

You might want to post some examples of these 'crappy content sites' making lots of money in order to 'prove' your case, otherwise everyone else will just think you're a ranting, bitter little nid.

 

Well, in a highly competitive keyword query, you will see that content IS king as other factors remain the same

 

I agree with you. It don't have to be quality it just has to be content. Google talks about these "quality standards" and saying everybody has a fair chance but that's all BS. You have to have money and lots of it to get any where in this game.

 

Content is king is a legimite expression in it's own context. "Content is King" is a SEO expression, it's about SERP-rankings. Content is THE RULER which rule everything else. You must have a good content to promote, something to link.

However, TRAFFIC is GOD. Even the King has to kneel in front of God.

 

I would say it is mixture of the following;

• Not trying too hard for one key phrase, sometime it is better to target smaller multiple keywords/phrases. Especially in the case for saturated keywords, e.g. "Webmaster Forum", "SEO", "Web Design". I actually find local keywording easier, i.e. "Plumber in Hull", and more beneficial in converting traffic into custom.
• Reviewing where you are going to link better, not just posting a link because it's free. Linking within bad neighbourhood I say is more of a disadvantage than you all think...my own research and experience.
• Branding and Marketing come in to play more than anything, if someone has heard of you before, you'll stick out like a sore thumb on the SERP's, extra advantage...it's not just the SERP it's the users interaction also!
• Excellent, keyword saturated relevant content, ONLY if it is relevant.
• Well names directories, images, alt/title tags, as relevant as possible.
• And one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is....Don't try too hard, if you can't do it, try another Search term, at the end of the day, people spend good money getting links and hiring SEO geniuses.

Thanks.

 

I have seen many crappy websites you said are being listed in Google while I have also seen many crappy websites got de-indexed from Google each and every day as well. I would like to say that crappy content + crappy link cannot hold them for that long, unless the keywords itself is much longer tail version or noncompetitive.

Quality content + quality links + steady link profile = Win

 

While you are correct. Content alone will not do the best job for you. However, Having poorly written content will not help sell your product, even if you are #1 in SERPS. The key is to provide good content and then market that content.

You have to understand that Google is very smart. If you constantly do nothing positive for the internet, it will eventually catch up to you. Any monkey can build a site and make it rank highly in SERPS. We have all seen it many times. But, maintaining longevity in the higher rankings is what separates the pros from the amateurs. Regardless of content, backlinks, or design, the only proven method of doing well for a long time is to work hard and contribute something worthy.

 

Yes, Quality content is King

Quality content = KING
+quality links = QUEEN
+Consistency (steady link profile) = Good rule

Together
= Pleasing HEAVEN and GOD (SE+Traffic)

 

Getting good content is much cheaper than getting good links.
In order to get rankings for competitive keywords, you will need not a few but hundreds of quality backlinks.

 

You got it in one sentence, exactly why the search engines devise their algorithm to accept SEO techniques the way they do. Otherwise it wouldn't be feasible. It is blatantly obvious, and it almost a rule of Physics, you don't nothing for nothing. And you're 100% right with the quality back links....with technology today, Google and other SE's aren't daft.


Thanks.

 

This.
What are you searching for? Because all of the searches I make in Google provide the most relevant, accurate, content-driven results at the top!
If you're searching long-tail, then yes, I agree any site can get there on links alone because their competition for that phrase/keyword is so limited. But for known and highly popular terms, content really is king I'm afraid.

People simply don't want to accept this because it actually means working. It means writing original and creative content that isn't just a cut/paste of someone elses hard graft.
Yeah, who'd have thought "making millions on the internet for doing nothing" was a fantasy! lol

 

The things I search for I tend to find the first few results are complete crap and I regularly need to go to page 2 or 3 or keep messing with keywords until I actually find what I want. It didn't use to be like this.

Some of my own target keywords the first page or two of results don't even HAVE those keywords in, or they do but are actually utterly irrelevant because they aren't together, or aren't in the title. And there's my own site, a perfect match with good, relevant content, languishing on page 3 or 4 (or 20). But I still get a lot of traffic from google and every month I check my site is closer to page 1, and I'm collecting all sorts of organic backlinks so perhaps my content will eventually get me to #1.

 

Hey Great Post T.M. I learned something new : )

 

Just because some sites have bad grammar does not mean their content is not king.
I believe that kontent that is valuable to others will bring traffic even if it has bad grammar.
Content is king, though you will still need to get people to your content in the first place, but if you
have good content, the visitors will read more and come back many times.

Do you think sites like smosh.com have a lot of visitors just because they have many backlinks?
No, it's because their content is good and by posting good content they have build backlinks and gotten more attention.

 

I find that writing content is a lot easier that acquiring backlinks. Perhaps this is the reason why most individuals prefers doing contents than acquiring backlinks.

 

I may have to defend the person calling "Content is KING is a MYTH".

Check out this site: http://mobileblackjack.org/

Ranks on first page of Google for a ultra-competitive keyphrase: "Mobile Blackjack". It's been ranking strong for the better part of a year now!

(yet the homepage literally says "there's nothing here"). It has no content nor links.

 

Great example! I'd like to know too how a site with no backlinks and no content can rank #5 (when I did the search) out of 3.6 million results.

It has keywords in the domain and is a .org but neither of those factors are supposed to count for much.

It's not in the first 10 pages of Bing.

 

I think google still values content as king. But, smart individuals may always find a way to have exception!

 

I have found with wordpress blogs that posting with a good subject line and then good keywords in the post itself relating to that subject line gets indexed fast in google.
So content is great!
You have a blog, you do need your own unique content.
But as pointed out, just content alone will not bring the masses!
You must get backlinks, advertise, and seo.

Static websites are the ones that are hardest to rank with unique content.
It can be done, again with backlinks, etc.