I well remember the good ole days of ALtavista, where all you needed to do was put up any content and you will rank with just keyword spamming. There came the Google. Everyone sings praise of mighty Google, how they have reformed the Internet. Content become king once again. The reality probably is like Altavista was a keyword whore, Google is a link whore. Obviously with keywords, everyone with access to internet was able to litter the Altavista with keyword filled spammy pages. In case of Google, not all can get massive amount of links. However all you need to get rank is big G is have an average to below average content, get massive links and bingo you are at the top of the world. The time has probably come for a new 2.0 Search Engine that has right focus (Content as well as links). Who, where, when is a question mark, but it is inevitable.
Well said man but I think Google gives value to both content and links. with links and no valuable content it is tough to rank. We should have link and content equally Good to rank well. Link only can achieve PR for you.
It does give weightage to content, but the weightage is just may be 20%. Serps are filled of just below average content with lot of backlinks. It is real hard to find out an excellent content ranking with little backlinks. Obviously if the content is in authority site, it is going to rank, but then again the quality of content hardly seem to be the criteria.
A search engine isn't build to help webmasters. It is build to give the most relevant content to the searchers. Google has done a good job of doing that. Every time I need to find something I find it within minutes of searching in google. I wouldn't say content is 20%. I would say that content is a major part of ranking high. Without it you can expect to earn from your site. And that is the whole point of starting a online business isn't. Too many people focus on getting backlinks first. I never understood this. If your site doesn't convert well than why overwork. When you build great content people will come. Now this doesn't me you shouldn't forget all about backlinks either. If your site isn't out there than how you going to earn. Put link development should only be done after content is built.