[ssharp]

You "A" point is why we've seen the rise of "content marketing" over the past few years.

Of course, that practice gets exploited a lot, with people using word mixers, automated article writing, low quality writing, etc. as a means to just fill up their websites.

However, there are lots of businesses that do content marketing in such a way that it benefits the company's search rankings, but also provides high value content to interested person. Since we're talking SEO, look at Moz. They sell premium tools to help companies improve their search rankings, but also offer a wealth of free, quality information to people interested in online marketing.