Content or SEO?

[yogesh]

This is some thing I have been wondering for a lot of time, do most of the web developers pay more attention, time and resource at developing the content of their site or SEOing them for the search engines.

[alpha]

Content can't be found without SEO. SEO can't be done without real Content!

[kingjacob]

I focus more on creating content because I hade websites that are mfa and that are simply fluff and dont actually offer the user anything but I spend just as much time on seo just because its time consuming.

[buffalo]

Your site is only as good as your content. SEOs might get the traffic in, but it's your content that will keep them there and keep them coming back.

[jason12390]

Originally Posted by alpha

Content can't be found without SEO. SEO can't be done without real Content!

This is a very true statement. You can't do SEO(good SEO) on a blank page that has nothing on it. This was actually a topic at Ad-Tech in San Fran was pretty interesting hearing what people had to say about it - the whole "content is king"

[Stroh]

I tend to focus on content because I want my existing users to have something to come back for. I already know its impossible for me to get in the top 10 spots on a search engine...

[subodh]

I focussed on Content. If you have good different content they provide keyword to get good place in search engine. Duplicating content from another site not worth. I agree with Stroh, it's really hard unless you spend lots of money. There are many big website companies that can spend. What we can do is publish good content and advertise site to get at least visitors to the site. If they found content is good, they can come back and also tell others.

[The Walsho]

I voted for both. A site is useless without quality content, yet quality content would be completely wasted without proper work on SEO. The two just go hand in hand.

[wesley]

I think people need to get back to the basics when building websites. In the early days when the internet was wide open to be developped, people only thought about how to present their content - usually their area of expertise, the products they sell, their hobbies.

Nowadays, people are making sites for what I believe are all the wrong reasons. Sites with no content and only SEO'd for traffic or fast money are not what people should focus on.

I believe that building what you know with good content will build your business long term.

just my 2 cents

[G11-Tech]

IMO it's all about content. Google are really cracking down on SEO techniques (link buying and whatnot) so I really think it's not worth it. If you focus on building content the traffic WILL come - just that it won't be as fast if you used a bunch of SEO techniques.

[buffalo]

Imagine that! After all the cheating and scamming, people are beginning to realize that honest, hard work is the thing that pays out better in the end. Hmmm...

[gladiator]

I focus on content because that is the main attraction of my site. However in the development of my content I take into account SEO techniques because they can help my site get noticed by search engines.

[buvo19]

They're both important, but if I had to pick just one, I'd go with content. Because if the content is there, the search engines will find you.

[Xenigo123]

I do some work with adult websites, and this is a huge problem there. In an effort to optimize their posts for SEO they use the same keywords over and over in the post and it ends up making little sense. Even someone looking for porn is not going to keep visiting the blog if the posts are unreadable.

[G11-Tech]

^ Wouldn't that be considered black hat SEO? The site could get dropped from the SE's completely if they keep the keyword stuffing up.

[yogesh]

I would surely term it as a black hat method; however it is surprising to see that even some of the regular sites/forums try black hat tactics.

Take this site for example theindiatree.com, I am member of this forum but I am not active any longer. Just see how they have hidden the text just under the image on the right hand side.

I wonder how long they can continue like this, before their site get penalized by google.

[chum112]

Content and Seo work hand in hand. Content leads to a good seo thats why i think both are essential. SEO though is a bit more important as it leads to the traffic but you need to make the traffic entertained and thats through content.