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Should I focus on Content (Blog) or Backlink Strategy?
Posted by on February 6, 2026 at 8:07 pmHi everyone,
I am a licensed tour guide and I’ve recently launched a new website to attract international tourists. I'm planning to use Google Ads, but I want to build a solid organic foundation as well.
I’m at a crossroads regarding where to put my primary effort:
Content Heavy Approach: Scaling my blog with AI-generated content (which I plan to personally edit and "humanize" with my local expertise).
Off-Page Focus: Prioritizing guest posts and backlink building to increase domain authority from the start.
Given that the travel niche is quite competitive, which strategy would yield better long-term ROI for a solo professional? Should I "flood" my blog first, or focus on getting high-quality links to a few core pages?
Looking forward to your insights!
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1 Reply
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>Content (Blog) or Backlink Strategy?
Its like should I focus on breathing and living?
Content doesn’t rank itself. SEO = Relevance (aka Content) X Authority (3rd party validation)
PPC = Relevance (aka Content) X $CPC (capital validation)
You can’t rank in Google without Authority?
Your content tells Google what you’re relevant to. So if you write a blog post “Tours of Greece” – then you’re going to be in the index of “Greece_tours” or “Greek_tours”
You’re going to match with “Greece tour guides”
But everyone else has already cumulatively published 200m articles
Do you think your page title is better?
(I’m asking because I’m trying to teach critical thinking)(
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Do both, both are necessary in this day and age to succeed, at the least.
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And consistency is key; SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Google likes to see things evolve regularly and will tend to index content that’s added gradually more easily than spam. And for links to grow, they need content to grow. It’s a combination of factors.
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Most AI generated content for traveling has false information. We have a local hotel that according to AI has a pool and gym. They have six rooms all together, they never had a pool or gym.
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Both?
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definitely both, you need legit content but also you have to start building high quality links. don’t get get spammed by these “buy 100 links” sites though!! be careful, they need to be legit
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You can do both at once. Use the “be the source” strategy and focus on statistics about your area that others will link to. For example, if you’re promoting Los Angeles, start with one fact that’s trending and make a post about it. It could be something like “how many people will visit Los Angeles in 2026.” Use census data and organize your post to answer the question in the first 500 words with supporting data in tables and bulletin points. As others have/will say, AI is unreliable and will come back to haunt you in the end. You can use it to set up an outline or brainstorm but you have to check all the facts.
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Definitely both
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Do both.
However, I’d focus heavily on video content too.
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Do both.
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both.
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links to a thin site won’t do much for you long term, tbf. if you’re a solo guide you should probably focus on the content side first because you need something for people to actually find. if you just have a few core pages you’re gonna struggle to rank for anything except your brand name lol.
the ai approach works but don’t just “flood” it. google is hitting generic ai sites hard lately so that local expertise you mentioned is actually your biggest edge. get a steady flow of posts going but make sure you’re adding specific street names, local tips, and photos only a guide would have. once you have 30+ solid posts then worry about the backlink strategy.
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Go content first. A nothing site isn’t very interesting to anyone else.
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