Which Is More Important In SEO Backlinks Or Content?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial task for every digital marketing team.

SEO helps websites to rank high in the search engine results pages and be visible to the viewers, who are actively searching for topics in the particular niche.

There are many advantages of SEO in terms of improving visibility and attracting traffic to a webpage. 

Search Engine Optimization is a complex task that involves many variables. However,  one of the most pertinent questions asked by digital marketers and business owners about SEO is which is more important in SEO! Backlinks or content?

What are Backlinks? 

Link building is an important aspect of SEO.  Backlinks are also known as “incoming links” or “inbound links”.

As the name suggests, when a link is created from one website to another, it is known as a backlink. i.e. the link takes the viewers to another website when they click on it. 

For example,  if you are writing an article about “ the best hotels in Kashmir for summer” and provide a  link to the website of a hotel, then the hotel has a backlink from you. People can visit the hotel’s website directly from your article. 

Now if a travel blogger, cites your review and provides a link to your article in his blog, then you have got one backlink from the blogger. 

How are Backlinks Important for SEO?

Backlinks are important for SEO because they provide proof of authenticity to search engine bots. The more people cite your website or article in their works, the more authentic your work is.

Backlinks improve the credibility of your content and show your authority on a subject. High-quality backlinks signal to the search engines that your content is relevant and is worth featuring on the search engine result pages. 

In fact, backlinks are one of the most crucial ranking factors for search engines. The more the number of backlinks from high-ranking pages to your content, the better are your search rankings.

However, it is important to note that backlinks that occur naturally are the best type of backlinks and are handsomely rewarded by search engines.

You should avoid blackhat link-building tactics that promise hundreds of links within a short time but ultimately will lead to penalties. 

Which is More Important in SEO! Backlinks or Content? 

Content and backlinks both play a crucial role in SEO.  But when you are faced with the question of which is more important in SEO! Backlinks or content, always choose content. The phrase “content is the king” sums up the debate. 

Here are some reasons why content creation ranks over link building

• Content is for your audience while backlinks are for search engines. Your users visit the website for getting relevant answers to their queries or solutions to their problems. They engage with the content and spend more time on your website and explore it further. The more time your audience spends on the website, the more chances to convert them into paying customers.  If there is no quality content on your website, to begin with, there is no reason for the users to visit your website. 

• Content lets you connect with the audience using your brand voice and tone. It helps to build relationships with your audience. You can interact with the audience through the various content distribution channels such as emails, social media, forums, chat groups, etc., and know about their preferences and demands. 

• Without any credible information on the website, there is no reason for others to link you.  Creating content that provides rich and meaningful information to the viewers or sharing relevant data that adds to the viewers’ knowledge is the main reason why other people will refer you and provide a backlink. 

• Content helps to define the page topic through the use of title tags, headers, schema markup, etc. Though keyword-rich backlinks also define the topic of a webpage to some extent, they are not as effective as what content is doing for your business. 

• Content also helps to improve the site structure. By providing internal links throughout the website, you can gently guide the viewers deeper into the website and convince them to buy your products or services by providing them with relevant information such as unique features of the product, product comparisons, etc. 

• SEO-optimized content can signal search engines about the important pages on your website. This improves your website traffic as viewers can directly access the content they are searching for. This in turn affects your search rankings as more and more people find your content useful and engage with it, the better your search rankings. 

Verdict

Though content is an important aspect of SEO, backlinks help you to establish authority and improve your search engine rankings. Both content and backlinks are two critical aspects of Search Engine Optimization.

However, if you have to choose which is more important in SEO! Content or backlinks, always prefer content. Well-researched and useful content not only gets visitors to your website but will also fetch you backlinks from credible sources, which in turn affects your search engine rankings. 

Dynamic content with a lot of depth and differentiation is the key requirement to excel in SEO at current times. Create rich content with evergreen keywords to ensure that your content remains relevant and gets good rankings on the search engine result pages.