SEO Strategy | Relative importance of adding new content versus adding new backlink

Hello,

When you have a very limited budget (which is a relative notion I admit!), and say you have a ~50 pages website that's been around for 6-12 months but not doing much in ranking,

would you rather put your effort on purchasing backlinks or adding new content (pages)? Where should the priority go?

My personal feeling is that backlinks are much more important nowadays (please correct me if this statement is nonsense), but on the other hand, it is also much more expensive (to me), with links going from $200 to $600 (very rough average) to get decent DR, compared to content writing which usually hurts the wallet significantly less.

I guess there is not an absolute answer to this, but strategy-wise speaking, what are your thoughts on this (especially when you feel like you are stuck in a tight budget).

Looking for the best way to get a boost!

Thanks!

What's the site about?

50 pages around one subject might be exhaustive, 50 pages around another would be wildly nowhere near enough.

How good is what you have?

If it's just about OK, any number of links might not do any good, and you could just be throwing $s away.

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The answer is they're both important. But, if your content is exhaustive/unique/original/good/answers queries better than competitors, you might find it surprising how few links you really might need.

Assuming this is a igaming affiliate website we are talking about.
I can share my own example for reference. The website in question was around 40 pages and a bit over a year old. Wasn't doing much in terms of ranking / traffic.
It took me $800 worth of paid backlinks to start getting traffic for the KWs I wanted.

That said, some things to consider:
- I haven't gone for large volume short popular KWs. I spent quite a lot of time figuring our the low (enough) hanging fruit KWs
- I've spent a lot of time trying to find the best (price / quality) places to buy links and spent an equal amount if time trying to drive the price down :D I've had my posts published on some pretty decent places for <$100 along with several links in a single post.

For a new site i would always focus on content, buisling trust and authority with google going straight for backlinks with little content is soemthing that worked 8 years ago but not something i have seen working latley

In my experience there is no exact answer, the truth is probably a bit of bot is needed in balance. I built my website with a content first attitude, i didn't have the $$$ to buy links so relied on getting them from people i met and knew in the indusrty.

You could trade something for a link, like an article or a link to them or by providing some special talent you have?

I went the Authority route, like Wonderputer mentioned.

I have more recently started to buy a few links, but honestly i have no idea if they are having a positive impact. I do it because everyone else does. (it feels a bit like the story of the Emperors New Clothes!) I suspect if I stopped i wouldn't notice a difference.

Thanks all for the replies!

By reading you I realize I didn't mention any specific website indeed, as I own various at different maturity points, so my question was rather generic.

This one is about sportsbetting for the regulate Italian market, holding articles and bookmakers reviews, it's about 7 months old, rather simple website (in terms of template) -> www _ scommesse247 _ it (looks like I can't post links yet, too new here!)

Ahrefs shows a 97 health score, which I find encouraging but that doesn't mean it's ok...

From what you're saying, basically I understand there is no one-size-fits-all answer. But I get that I should work on content first before even starting to think about buying links :) Which surely also takes time to assess... I was not sure, I see so many things evolving in the digital iGaming affiliate industry, plus Google constantly updating its "rules".

Thanks, really appreciate your thoughts!

In theory, content on a page is much more important than links. Why? Because if the content isn't there, there's nothing to link to. And if the site is simply weak, then linking won't do much either.

However, it seems that just as the previous speakers say, there is no single answer. Links may work in one topic, in another they don't count.
Rankings are also a bit of a gamble, unless it's a lack of knowledge on my part, but search engine sympathy is also sometimes a bit of a gamble that can be helped.

I personally don't buy links, I can't afford them. If I had a budget, perhaps I would buy some. I would certainly be guided by quality, not quantity.
And certainly having a weak, incomplete site I would not play with links.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gshub

Thanks all for the replies!

By reading you I realize I didn't mention any specific website indeed, as I own various at different maturity points, so my question was rather generic.

This one is about sportsbetting for the regulate Italian market, holding articles and bookmakers reviews, it's about 7 months old, rather simple website (in terms of template) -> www _ scommesse247 _ it (looks like I can't post links yet, too new here!)

Ahrefs shows a 97 health score, which I find encouraging but that doesn't mean it's ok...

From what you're saying, basically I understand there is no one-size-fits-all answer. But I get that I should work on content first before even starting to think about buying links :) Which surely also takes time to assess... I was not sure, I see so many things evolving in the digital iGaming affiliate industry, plus Google constantly updating its "rules".

Thanks, really appreciate your thoughts!

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Exactly. One size doesn't fit all.

I think the first question you have to ask yourself before making an investment (considering it's at least a few hundred dollars) is whether you can truly afford it or if it's money you would need a quick return on.

My recommendation is to continue working on your content while simultaneously evaluating the best websites to purchase backlinks from and negotiating the terms of the agreement, which takes time. This way, you can continue improving your site so that when you finally get the backlinks, the traffic you receive will be of high quality, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

And one last thing that I cannot emphasize enough: review carefully the terms of any agreement you make.

Thanks for your last addition guys!
Will definitely put more focus on content quality.