The debate between backlinks and content quality has been word of mouth for several years in the Search Engine Optimization world, and now, with the year 2025 at the door, it’s no different.
SEO gurus, marketers—even Google’s algorithms—preach both louder than ever, but which one does actually deserve the bigger pair of shoes?
Let’s be honest: every website owner wants higher rankings and more organic traffic.
But does a strong backlink profile hold the secret, or does creating top-notch content do a better job?
Well, spoiler alert—it isn’t quite as clear cut!
Both content and backlinks are, as we like to say, considered critical to your SEO strategy; therefore, finding their balance holds the secret to long-term success.
According to a 2023 study by Ahrefs, pages with more backlinks tend to rank higher. They found that the #1 ranking page has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10.
However, Semrush’s State of Content Marketing 2024 report revealed that websites producing long-form, in-depth content (3000+ words) received 3.5x more traffic than those focusing on shorter articles.
The introduction of Google’s Helpful Content Update in 2022 shifted publisher’s attention towards creating content that provides value to users. Google now prioritizes “human-first” content over pieces designed solely to game the search algorithms.
But at the same time, backlinks remain a key indicator of a site’s trustworthiness and authority.
In this article today,
1. We will go in-depth into the debate, discussing how content and backlinks weigh in on SEO performance.
2. We’ll reveal how setting goals can help clear up things,
3. How each of these two elements works with or without the other, and that one may be more vital than the other going into your industry or type of business.
Let’s get started!
Content vs Backlink – Define Your Goal First
Before you start making your SEO strategy, you should have a properly defined goal.
Just think of this: If you don’t have a target, then where would you shoot? Whether it is brand awareness, generating leads, or sales, each one of these goals will focus on different elements in SEO, and that’s where the debate—content versus backlinks—comes into play.
Here’s a quick explanation:
1. Brand Authority and Trust: Quality content can position your brand as an authority in your industry. Production of consistent, valuable content helps build trust with your audience and can naturally attract editorial backlinks over time. This is a very organic method of earning backlinks from reputable sources back to your website.
2. Quick Traffic Growth: If your goal is to generate immediate traffic, focusing on acquiring backlinks from high-authority websites may yield faster results. A strong backlink profile can elevate your site’s domain authority and help you rank higher, faster, for competitive terms.
This process will involve outreaching to website owners requesting backlinks. Anyway, if your content is not up to the mark and provides an actual value, sourcing backlinks from well reputed websites will be difficult. So circling back the point of “creation of good content” is imperative.
Let’s take Backlinko for an example, their site is built on valuable content but gained immense authority through strong backlink-building strategies. Similarly, Moz (also a company in the similar niche) is another platform that thrived by creating authoritative content, backed by editorial backlinks from trusted sources.
The point here is, every business has different objectives; hence, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Setting your goal will directly bring you to decide whether you should focus more on the content or backlinks in your SEO strategy.
Content vs Backlink: The Weight of Content in SEO
Content is at the heart of SEO. You’ve probably heard it before: ‘Content is king.’
But why does content have such an integral role in traffic growth and search rankings?
Google algorithms have gotten better to the point that only content which adds value, solves a problem, or answers questions comes to the top.
That kind of content ranks high because it meets user intent, digs deep into a topic and provides relevancy to the reader.
For example, an article which can explain the answer to ‘how to improve organic traffic’ with high detail will outrank any other article with shallow info.
Why? The more comprehensive the coverage of a topic, the more value will be given to the readers, and the more organic search traffic one could receive.
Take HubSpot, for instance. The company built a content empire by creating detailed, helpful blog posts that not only rank but also generate backlinks because other websites want to reference such valuable information.
Moreover, content quality directly impacts user engagement.
High-quality content keeps visitors on your page longer, reducing bounce rates—a signal Google uses to determine if your content is valuable to users.
Here are some of the major ways quality content influences SEO:
1. Improved Search Rankings:
It goes without saying that Google’s algorithms rank comprehensive, well-structured content that answers users’ questions matching the search intent. A 2023 study by Backlinko found that content rated as “very high quality” by human reviewers was 4x more likely to rank in the top 10 search results.
2. Increased Dwell Time:
Engaging and relevant content keeps users on your site longer, signaling to search engines that it’s a positive user experience. Websites with an average session duration of over 3 minutes usually rank higher than those with shorter sessions.
3. Lower Bounce Rates:
Well-written content tailored to user intent reduces bounce rates. A recent SEMrush study showed that pages with bounce rates below 40% were more likely to appear in the top 5 search results.
4. More Natural Link Building:
Great, well researched, in depth content naturally attracts links from other websites. According to Moz’s 2024 Link Building Survey, 65% of SEO professionals believe that creating linkable assets (like comprehensive high-quality content)—is one of the most effective link-building strategies.
5. Improved E-E-A-T signals:
The four most important signals Google uses to assess content quality are experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It has been evident that websites that consistently produce expert-level, well-researched content tend to perform much better in search rankings.
Next, we’ll explore the flip side of the coin: backlinks, and how they influence SEO.
Content vs Backlinks: The Weight of Backlinks in SEO
While content is the backbone of any SEO strategy, backlinks act like votes of confidence from other sites.
When a trusted site links to your content, it is informing Google that “This content is worth paying attention to.” In sum, backlinks are signals of authority and trustworthiness.
But not all backlinks are created equal, and there is a significant difference between earning a link from a high-authority website—Forbes, for example—compared to a no-name blog that has never established any credibility in the eyes of search engines.
Backlinks from authority websites pass on more “SEO juice,” giving your site a far better chance of ranking highly.
Let’s look at some points signifying the importance of backlinks for SEO:
1. Backlinks improve Domain Authority:
The more top-quality links pointing at your site, the more powerful your domain authority becomes. This makes your whole website look more authoritative to Google, helping all your pages rank better in search results.
2. They indicate trust:
When backlinks are built from authoritative sites, they act as signals to Google that your content must be trustworthy. Google assumes that if other trusted sources link to you, the content is valuable and reliable.
3. They provide referral traffic:
When a person clicks on a backlink from another website, it drives visitors to your site. This is often overlooked, but referral traffic can be just as valuable as traffic from organic search.
For example, Ahrefs is a well-known SEO tool that enjoys a high level of trust among webmasters, partially due to its backlink profile. Their educational content is cited frequently by other websites, creating backlinks and boosting authority for them and helping them rank highly for competitive SEO-related keywords.
So, are backlinks more important than content?
Not quite. Both serve very different functions, and backlinks alone with thin content can only have a very little impact.
Content vs Backlink: Which is more important?
Now the question arises: which should you focus on?
In reality, it’s not either-or. Both combined together provide a sound SEO foundation.
Here’s how:
1. Quality Content Attracts Backlinks:
Great content attracts backlinks organically because those linking out find it valuable and insightful.
2. Backlinks Amplify Content’s Reach:
If you have great content but no one knows about it, what’s the point? Backlinks help get your content in front of more eyes, driving traffic and improving your rankings. In this case, you could say that backlinks serve as a promotion tool for your content.
Pro Tip: The 2nd point might vary for different industries. For example, we have seen many saas companies ranking higher for high volume keywords with their blogs – and without a good backlink profile or no backlinks at all.
On the other hand, websites from the ecommerce industry and service based industries often need a good backlink profile in order to rank higher for competitive search terms.
Hence, just like we discussed in the first section, having a goal is imperative as it will decide what you want to achieve, how you can achieve that, what is the competition you are in, etc.
The truth is, overemphasizing backlinks without creating valuable content is like building a house on quicksand. On the other hand, creating great content without any strategy for backlinks is like yelling into the void—nobody will hear you.
To get the most out of your SEO efforts, you need a balanced approach that prioritizes both content and backlinks.
How Good Content and Quality Backlinks Complement Each Other
The relationship between the two is like a symbiotic partnership where both elements help each other when used correctly.
1. Great content is the linchpin of backlinks:
Websites link to you when your content is insightful, educative, or solves a problem. For example, in-depth guides, infographics, and research-driven content are types of content that tend to attract editorial backlinks, the most valuable type of link.
2. Content Needs Backlinks to Rank:
No matter how great the content is, it still needs links to rank. When search engines see that high-authority websites link to your content, it gives your page a significant boost. This is especially crucial if you want to make it onto the first page of search results, where more than 70% of clicks happen.
3. Content Builds Credibility, Backlinks Cement It:
When people link to your content, it’s a form of validation that your content is credible and worth referencing, making it more trustworthy to Google and your audience.
When to Focus on Content Instead of Backlinks—and Vice Versa
While it’s ideal to have a balance between content creation and link-building, sometimes, depending on your situation, you’ll need to focus more on one than the other:
1) New websites: If your website is new, it will need to focus mainly on creating content. If there’s no content, what would people link to? Start by creating great content that solves your target audience’s concerns and meets their needs.
2) Established websites needing a boost: If you already have good content on your site but aren’t getting traffic, it may be time to focus on backlinks. Building backlinks through guest posting, outreach, and link reclamation campaigns can help improve your authority and rankings.
Wrap Up
What carries more SEO weight today—content or backlinks? It depends on your goals, where you are at the moment, and how well you have the capacity to balance both elements.
Backlinks and content quality are teammates, not competitors. To achieve top rankings, you need excellent content that addresses user intent, and you need backlinks to signal to Google that the content is credible and worth ranking.
In 2024, a holistic SEO strategy that blends content creation and building backlinks will give you the best shot at ranking higher, driving organic traffic, and standing out from the competition.
The takeaway? Ensure quality in both content and backlinks, and the rankings will follow.
