Fresh content versus quality backlinks

question_markLately I’ve been wondering what Google favors more – fresh, unique content or quality (PR 4 or higher) backlinks.

There’s oceans of people that are on either side of the argument.  Some say it’s best to have lots of one-way backlinks from respected, authority sites.  Others say it’s best to be constantly adding new, unique content.

Personally I think both are useful in their own way.  But the nerd inside of me wants to figure out the “magic formula”.  Should I spend 50% of my time on each, or 80% on content and 20% on backlinks?  It’s quite the quandary.

So I’ve decided to perform a test.  The parameters and execution of the test won’t be perfect, as there’s only one of me and I’m not a robot.  But nevertheless, I’m hoping it can provide some useful insight into this problem.

Here’s what I aim to do:

  • Site A (CONTENT)

    • Niche topic to be determined
    • A subdomain of an existing generically-named domain that I own (primary keyword subdomain name, with “A” on the end)
    • WordPress template with all SEO-related plugins activated
    • Initial content will be 2 or 3 posts, keyword-rich, appropriately tagged
    • After indexed by Google, I’ll add one new article a day for a month
    • Each article will use the keywords that I’m targeting
  • Site B (BACKLINKS)
    • Same subdomain setup as Site A, but with “B” on the end
    • Same WordPress setup
    • Same initial content, but each post rewritten to be unique
    • After indexed by Google, I’ll add one high-PR backlink a day for a month
    • No new posts

Sounds like fun, eh?   Does anyone have a prediction on which site will rank higher with Google at the end of the month?


Poll: Which does Google favor more?

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