I found this interesting article on search engine optimization where the author starts out trying to create blogs on a number of American Idol contestants to see how highly he can rank, and discovers that he has the best results with the site that has... the best actual content. He says:
So, while keeping my SEO experiment going, I decided to really “blog†about Bo Bice. In doing so, I learned many valuable lessons about creating a successful blog that can generate sustainable traffic, including many repeat visits.
He even starts to include content contributed by readers of the site. But though I wish it were a neat happy ending, where someone realizes that good content triumphs over all the search engine trickery in the world, that's not exactly the case. One of the tipoffs comes earlier in the story:
Being that this was an SEO project, I didn’t aim to provide any valuable insights into the candidates... I only planned to "blurb" news articles that mentioned each contestant.
Someday, someone in the SEO industry is going to write a tutorial that says "How to make money by writing about topics that you're passionate and knowledgeable about." And there's lots of folks out there doing that now. But just imagine if someone had actually tried to provide valuable insights?
Actually, the way I read his article, the Bo Bice blog had the highest rankings from the get-go, before he had done anything to differentiate it from the other blogs. It had nothing to do with it having better content. He only started tweaking the content on that blog after he noticed the trend.
Of course content is the ultimate if you can produce it, but that doesn't negate other techniques. I know someone who makes millions - yes, millions - through legitimate SEO techniques. He, like a million other non-A-list bloggers, sells products over the Internet. He started hist site from scratch 18 months ago in a fairly competitive keyword space, and now he is #1 in Google for the main keyword and also for a dozen or so secondary keywords. The result: more than $250k/month in sales from Google referrals alone.
He's *not* passionate about the product he sells, and the content is limited to description of the products like any other e-commerce site. He *is* passionate about delivering good products, so he spends his time sourcing them in Asia rather than pontificating on a blog.
He also is passionate about SEO. And you know what? It's paid off handsomely for him. Those SEO guys don't knock you. Why do you have an axe to grind with them?
"Why do you have an axe to grind with them?"
Because I care about the web, and I think a lot of people don't respect the medium or those of us who value it. For the same reason people care about protecting a physical environment.
Anil, I'll write one like that for ya. The only reason I haven't written one like that to date is because if I share the info on writing great copy that you're passionate about I'm afraid it will too be used for selfish reasons. But if you think it's something the world needs to hear about then I'd be more than happy to oblige you.