[case study] - is it possible to rank with only content (no backlinks)

[Nut-Nights]

In the interests of transparency I am posting this update - 7 weeks after the post was indexed and there are no signs of any searches or traffic coming to the post after checking on both ahrefs and google search console. My thought was that it would rank at least somewhere on content merit alone, but clearly this is not the case and now I feel like I am making a super-obvious statement but backlinks are clearly of primary importance above all else.

David I just built a new site and its already started ranking for keywords without any backlinks. I think its more about interlinking and choosing right keyword and proper navigation instead of lengthy content. Improve your site structure and divide the long article in multiple page and interlink them. Maybe you will see some positive result?

 

[Shion]

David I just built a new site and its already started ranking for keywords without any backlinks. I think its more about interlinking and choosing right keyword and proper navigation instead of lengthy content. Improve your site structure and divide the long article in multiple page and interlink them. Maybe you will see some positive result?

with an old domain I assume with backlinks, or?

 

[Nut-Nights]

with an old domain I assume with backlinks, or?

Its brand new domain. No History.

 

[HenryObi]

site has 5 pages in total. The Article that I wrote is around 6k words but the content on the rest of the pages is quite thin. Maybe building the rest of the site out would help.

If it's a niche that you could create more content in, why not create more content, especially related ones and interlink as well structuring them to create a sort of topical map. This could boost the chances.

 

[davids355]

If it's a niche that you could create more content in, why not create more content, especially related ones and interlink as well structuring them to create a sort of topical map. This could boost the chances.

Good point I will try this.

 

[TooCorny]

Good point I will try this.

This video interview from Matt Diggity is really itneresting.

They really go in depth about topical relevancy and how the guy ranked a site quite fast without backlinks, technical seo or any web optimization, he didnt even have a header

 

[Hircus]

I feel this only works if you mean no backlink strategy. And even then it’s a shot in the dark.

If the content is great, and somehow gains shares/backlinks due to resonating with viewers, you can rank.

But how will they see the content? Social shares are backlinks too

 

[achiever2011]

Inspired by a post from @k2h2 here - https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/is-a-good-writer-enough-to-make-blog-succesful.1436926/

I am going to do a case study to determine if content alone is enough to rank on page 1.

Here is the scenario - I have a brand new website (not quite live yet, just finishing the build, pending content). The site is in the technology niche.

My plan is to write an informative and well researched peice of content which covers a particular topic in my niche.

I will be researching all of the top ranking articles on this topic and I won't be looking at any particular keyword but rather on the broad topic and all of the keywords related to it.

I am also looking to add some real value to the topic, with a sort of case study that nobody else has done - the idea behind this being new content and ideas that Google has not seen before.

I won't build any backlinks to this site either, so we can see if it ranks (and how well) with just content alone.

It is possible to rank only with content. Some criteria need to be met. Like the keyword targetted should be easy.

 

[jeffpakulonan]

in my 6 years experience, yes....
i created a website that practically has no backlinks.. only unique content..
the catch is i share some of the content to social media, and they rank so hard in google.. traffic everyday is around 6k

this is a site where if you look in ahrefs their DR is 0.6 their UR is 5, basically non existent backlinks

 

[davids355]

I had forgotten about this case study but just got an email from ahrefs today about this domain so I thought I would post an update. This is now just over 6 months since I published the article.

It does now have a few keywords ranking in the top 100, as follows -

Not the best obviously, but still I guess the content is doing OK seeing as its only 1 post on a new domain with no backlinks. Now that its been sitting for a long enough time (6 months) I would assume its not going to get much better than this. I will build a couple of backlinks now just to get a feel for how much improvement a few backlinks will make (Homepage only and brand/generic anchor).

 

[tazarbm]

disappointing results to be honest. For how good (admittedly) your content was I would have expected at least several top 10 rankings (for for long tails I mean)..

Anyway, conclusive results in the end. Your case study proved exactly what we thought we would see

 

[davids355]

disappointing results to be honest. For how good (admittedly) your content was I would have expected at least several top 10 rankings (for for long tails I mean)..

Anyway, conclusive results in the end. Your case study proved exactly what we thought we would see

Yes, I feel the same I expected it to do better. But that’s what case studies are for I guess- still got an answer just not the one I wanted.

 

[Ezzra]

I had forgotten about this case study but just got an email from ahrefs today about this domain so I thought I would post an update. This is now just over 6 months since I published the article.

It does now have a few keywords ranking in the top 100, as follows -

View attachment 281867
View attachment 281868

Not the best obviously, but still I guess the content is doing OK seeing as its only 1 post on a new domain with no backlinks. Now that its been sitting for a long enough time (6 months) I would assume its not going to get much better than this. I will build a couple of backlinks now just to get a feel for how much improvement a few backlinks will make (Homepage only and brand/generic anchor).

"I guess the content is doing OK seeing as its only 1 post on a new domain with no backlinks"
So that mean all this time your website only have 1 post? If so, it is not enough to prove that you can rank a website without backlinks.

 

[Patrick111]

2 things.

1. As I mentioned on this thread a few months go I rank all my sites, all my keywords without ME building any links.
That doesn't mean they don't have links, they do, they are just all organic.

I build my posts so that one post might rank for 20 to 40 keywords. I have hundreds of posts. This nets me thousands of KW's ranking above the fold and hundreds at #1.

I saw a huge increase these last 2 updates and that also coincided with a lot of internal linking, so I can't be sure which did what?

2. I'm sorry, but IMHO 1 post is not a case study, it's a single roll of the dice.

Put 100 articles on that site with optimized original images (10.1% of all web traffic is Google images), internal linking and 5% of posts being stats, charts, numbers and other super link worthy stuff.

If you're not making $3K per month you are doing something really wrong in article structure or monetization.

 

[yogib34r]

2 things.

1. As I mentioned on this thread a few months go I rank all my sites, all my keywords without ME building any links.
That doesn't mean they don't have links, they do, they are just all organic.

I build my posts so that one post might rank for 20 to 40 keywords. I have hundreds of posts. This nets me thousands of KW's ranking above the fold and hundreds at #1.

I saw a huge increase these last 2 updates and that also coincided with a lot of internal linking, so I can't be sure which did what?

2. I'm sorry, but IMHO 1 post is not a case study, it's a single roll of the dice.

Put 100 articles on that site with optimized original images (10.1% of all web traffic is Google images), internal linking and 5% of posts being stats, charts, numbers and other super link worthy stuff.

If you're not making $3K per month you are doing something really wrong in article structure or monetization.

Thanks @Patrick111 I found your post very interesting, would you mind answering a couple of questions?
Do you market your content via any other methods like social?
How long is a typical post for you?
Would you share your overall niche to give some context to the 3k per month?

 

[Patrick111]

Thanks @Patrick111 I found your post very interesting, would you mind answering a couple of questions?
Do you market your content via any other methods like social?
How long is a typical post for you?
Would you share your overall niche to give some context to the 3k per month?

Hi, sure thing. I won't give out the actual URL, but the rest is cool.
1. As I kind of hinted at I get a lot of traffic from Google images (about 8-10%) because I take all the photos and then optimize them to the Nth degree. I do post to all the regular social networks and that's about it.

2. My normal posts are 2,500 plus words with maybe one out of 20 being a pillar post of over 3,000 to 5,000 words. I write topical authority clusters of 10 to 50 posts.

3. I do affiliate marketing, so the site(s) is/are just to build my list(s). I don't run ads because that person is worth way more on my list.

I have sites in multiple niches, shoes, helping people become millionaires, travel - which sucked during pandemic but is now back, Green/minimalist living and a couple more that actually don't do well (make a few hundred maybe each).

I make really good content and then let it sit.

I'm generally seeing newer site articles ranking in 9 to 10 months and established sites in about 7 months.

Have a great day.

 

[hk dogar]

I think it does not depend upon the quantity of the content but the quality of the content

 

[onlinemarketer12]

David I just built a new site and its already started ranking for keywords without any backlinks. I think its more about interlinking and choosing right keyword and proper navigation instead of lengthy content. Improve your site structure and divide the long article in multiple page and interlink them. Maybe you will see some positive result?

How much time you spent on keyword research for this ?

 

[Patrick111]

I think it does not depend upon the quantity of the content but the quality of the content

IMHO you are correct.

That's why i go the extra mile and do all my own images, make charts and graphs and other linkable items.

I know a guy who has a site with over 40 articles. Just ONE of my pillar posts gets more traffic than his entire site. That article has over 5,000 words and over 50 keywords in sub-titles each being written about. It's a beast. But it works.

And I would bet that people in my niche have seen it and decided they are not going to attempt to compete with it and just skipped writing that article.

It has over a dozen charts or graphs and over 40 original optimized images. And it has a natural backlink from the government.

Would you want to have to beat it?

 

[demoviip6699]

I build and maintain my own blogs for a living.
I build NO links.
I have tons of page 1 #1 rankings.
You just have to know what you're doing.

any advice for us as new comer?