Link is President
*
The “Content is King” motto of large media conglomerates like
- Viacom
- Microsoft
- News Corp
has been misunderstood by content marketers.
People appropriated it to mean that content is the most important aspect of your visibility strategy. It’s not.
Content without shares and links is useless.
Don’t forget who decides about the success in a social Web democracy.
Let’s try to find out how the Web really works and why nobody seemingly talks about it.
Content by itself is not the one size fits all solution for all Internet related issues.
Who are what really rules the Web when it’s not king content?
Spoiler alert: link is president! Let me show you why!
Are You Still Applauding the Monarchy?
When it comes to celebrating independence, Americans are true patriots.
We see it every year on the 4th of July.
However, among all the flag waving and God blessing, many US citizens seemingly forget what it means to be truly independent.
What I mean is the independence of thought.
American Independence has been declared in 1776.
Yet people in the US still are hailing the king.
Don’t believe me? Why do
- marketers
- publishers
- bloggers
repeat the “content is king” mantra then? Are only Brits using it? Do they want to denounce it?
Do they mean to say that the content king is to be dethroned and people should fight for their independence?
No, of course not. They use the metaphor without even thinking about what it really means.
Historically, “content is king” has been used by representatives of the British monarchy!
Why? To express the notion that it’s important to keep peasants satisfied so that they don’t rebel against the injustice of the kingdom.
Back then it was “content is king” that is the second syllable of content has been stressed.
Times have changed but the elites are using the same deceiving language it seems.
Content is King for Those Who Monetize it
In the nineties of the 20th century the “content is king” idiom has been used in a new context by media conglomerate representatives.
They tried to explain that corporations need to make money by monetizing content. Why was it an issue at all?
Other big business pundits claimed that only selling technology or hardware was the future-proof business model.
Bill Gates of Microsoft said “content is king” in 1997 for example and Rupert Murdoch of News Corp has said that again and again.
Nowadays Google is the most fervent “content is king” advocate.
Google spokespeople usually say things like “create great content” to rank on Google and succeed on the Web.
Isn’t it intriguing for a global corporation run by two of the richest men in the world that
- neither creates content themselves on a significant scale
- nor used it directly as an important ranking factor until a few years ago?
Google claims that content is an important prerequisite to rank on search by now.
Yet it’s still just an insignificant one among hundreds of ranking signals.
So why is Google so keen to convince you to create more of it?
Remember that both Microsoft and News Corp have been investing a lot in content creation.
Microsoft has been offering software as content and supplying content for the MSN portal.
Bill Gates referred to software as content is his speech.
News Corp has been running numerous media outlets including TV, newspapers and radio stations.
In the UK the Rupert Murdoch owned media empire controls a large part of all media.
- Google relies on third parties (that is you) to create great content for them so that they can monetize it.
- Google uses images, videos and text content (even whole books) others provide to make money off ads.
- Google does not employ content creators. You can only earn some money by adding their text ads to your content.
I’ve done that too on one of my blogs but shortly before payout they closed my account over night without any explanation.
Without Links Content Stinks
When it comes to you and me, content is just one optional ingredient of your online visibility.
There are many cases where content is redundant for example.
There are things you do not have to describe and explain in depth.
Imagine that in real life. It would be absurd to ask your customers in store to read about your products first before you let them buy.
Of course, content doesn’t always work like that. Some people read and like your content while others just buy it in most cases.
Still in many niches, content creation is an additional effort that is only needed to satisfy the need of Google for your content.
The only thing Google offers is a list of links. They succeed because they managed to provide the best selection of links a few years ago.
Other search engines are better by now but nobody really cares because they are so used to “Google” that they can’t break their habit. It’s almost like smoking.
It’s not only that Google shows links as their main offer.
They also use links to find out which links are the most popular ones.
Those links being shown are not the best or most relevant ones at times. Why then?
You may wonder Google doesn’t say “link is king” all the time? It would even rhyme! After all links are at the center of their offering.
Link is not King
Links are what actually makes the Web.
Otherwise disconnected documents would lie around on servers all over the place. Links are also democratic.
People nowadays decide what’s popular, successful and what is not online by linking to it or refraining from it.
Most people link by now without even knowing they do.
You don’t have to learn HTML like during the early days of the Web.
Every share on social media is a link internally.
No matter whether it’s Twitter, Pinterest or Tumblr you use as long as your profile is public (unlike the majority on Facebook).
You can’t simply go on using a monarchist metaphor and replace one king with another.
In case you want a king, just move to Dubai or Saudi Arabia!
There the king’s powers are medieval in scope. It’s an absolute monarchy.
In case you live in the rest of the world, even the UK, you may want to consider why we have abolished most monarchies and why we value democracy so much.
Our political democracy is not perfect yet. We just elect representatives and have to shut up then.
We have no direct influence on the actual decisions other than protesting in the streets.
Corporations like Google are top down organizations with no democratic oversight.
On the Web, it’s different. You cast a vote on each issue separately each time you share or link a page.
Link is President?
You might suspect that the new better metaphor is the one suggested in the headline above: “link is president”.
I used it on purpose as a parody of the monarchist idiom.
In reality it’s not just one link. It’s about many links. Trillions.
Also there is not one person – even in the metaphorical sense – leading.
It’s about the myriads of people who decide every day.
Most importantly, it’s not about content first and foremost but more about the people who are meant to consume it.
Thus, start with the audiences first. Consider who is able to link and share!
Only then start creating content when it’s necessary.
Next time when you say “God bless America” while celebrating independence, do not say “content is king” the next day!
You are actually saying “God save the King” at the same time.
In case you really need a saying simplifying the whole mechanism of the Web, say
- “link is president”
- “link is prime minister”
- “link is chancellor”
depending on where you live. A link or share is a vote.
Always remember that when choosing who to link to or what to share.
Even when you dislike the president: every time you mention him you actually amplify his content and spread the word about it.
Thus be cautious who you link! Every link is a vote on the democratic Web! No matter what your opinion is you add to it.
*Scene from the movie Independence Day (1996)
This article was originally published on July 21st, 2014 elsewhere but was removed later on. Thus I republished it here and last updated on: August 9th, 2017.
I fixed readability, clarified the main points a bit and undid some some unwanted edits by the third party editor.
“I think it’s time I got some recognition, don’t you think?
Legend of Zelda? Screw that! LEGEND OF LINK!”
Hey John! This is the best comment I’ve read in a long time. Thank you!
Enjoyed reading the post. And the title is really eye catchy. But I strongly believe that content and link should work side by side and they strengthen each other. Most importantly both of these are two main pillars of SEO and organic ranking.
Content creation is an art and links are the recognition.
Yeah Soumya!
That’s true! Ranking with empty sites often does not make sense at all. It’s possible but is much harder. Just remember that “content without links stinks”. Likewise links without content won’t suffice in most cases.
Sincerely, tad