Of course, the whole goal of the search engines’ ranking schemes is precisely to deliver good, relevant content to users. The mechanism for how search engines select and reward good, relevant content is essentially just a technical issue, though admittedly an extremely important technical issue.
But even in purely technical, mechanistic, terms, web content affects search engine rankings three ways:
1. inbound links
2. website mass
3. keyword optimization
1. Web Content and Inbound Links
Inbound links are the number-one factor in getting search engine rankings. They also yield plenty of traffic on their own. The importance of links is what has led many people to say that content is no longer important. But those people forget that content really does play a big role in getting links in the first place:
* At the very least, good content will make potential link partners more comfortable with linking to your site. No one wants to link to a link farm, splog, junk site, or even just an unprofessional-looking site.
* Lots of good content gives other webmasters (and particularly bloggers) a reason to link to your...