Backlinks or content? What is the problem here?

[marketing91]

My Moz ranking is 29, Ahrefs Domain rank is 49 and Majestic Citation flow is 44 whereas trust flow is 17.

This is a plain question - If the above are the rankings for backlink problem, then where is the problem more likely to be found? Backlink or content?

In more detail - My site has been dropping in search since the last few weeks. With these rankings, is it likely that a backlink related problem is there? I myself agree that some content is poor and thin and there is a problem of plagiarism also. But overall, do i keep focusing on content? I do not know how good are these rankings as shown above.

My URL is www.marketing91.com

Please let me know whether the backlink profile looks good or not? So that at least i am not worried that there is a backlink problem as well. (i will surely work on toxic links soon)  I can worry only on content.

[marketing91]

Thank you Andy. This was a week long foray into backlink audit and its finally coming to an end. Now its content content and content.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

**They are purely for links. So do i directly disavow them? **

Yes, if there is no way to do anything about it, just disavow.

Should i go ahead and disavow the bad links? Or let it be?

Yes, these sorts of links will be doing you no favours at all. OK, Google might just be ignoring them, but much better to err on the side of caution. If Google was just ignoring them but then changes their stance at a later stage, you know you are covered.

-Andy

[marketing91]

Dear Andy,

I hope you answer this. Yes, i checked ahrefs and Moz.com backlinks thoroughly. I could find 57 backlinks which included "Payday loans" or from link farms or in general bad backlinks. They might have a Domain rating of 40 in Ahrefs, but they were bad back links.

I cannot remove them because these sites just dont have a contact us button. They are purely for links. So do i directly disavow them?

Secondly, my answer to content is that i am rewriting all content which was top of the serps again. I am a problogger now and i have more time in my hands. This solves the plagiarism problem and also ensures that i get the google "answer box" which is repeatedly a pain in the A. I am losing to competition because of some poorly written articles by other authors. So content will be overhauled.

The question in my mind is, even if the loss looks because of content, should i go ahead and disavow the bad links? Or let it be?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi,

** I myself agree that some content is poor and thin and there is a problem of plagiarism also**

This is a biggie - Page quality is a huge thing for Google and you must ensure that pages someone lands on, have a reason to exist, and answer the question they asked correctly.

If you know there are spammy links, just how spammy? Are they damaging? Do they link with money-phrases? Has there been any penalty on the site at any time? All these should be looked at (and more) when assessing a backlink profile.

If you know there are links that are so poor that they could be damaging, either ask for them to be removed, or disavow them.

-Andy

[marketing91]

On an average, in AHREFS, my competitors have a Domain rank of 53 and i have of 49.

In moz, they have a rank of 50 again. But i have around 29. So yes, the competitors are ahead of me. But till date i was ranking well with the same backlinks. At least for my keywords?

So any insight with this data? Major question, do i rectify my backlinks, build more content, or the more exhausting and expensive one, do both?

[OlegKorneitchouk]

Backlinks: depends on the quantity and quality of the backlink profiles for your competitors. If they have a much higher DA/PA/Trust, than you probably need to build that up to compete.

Content: unique, long form content works best. Aim to be share worthy... if people share your link on social media, they will probably link back to your website as well.