But if you also mentioned it to a few people (especially a doctor or cancer victim) then it would be featured in news articles, broadcast, tweeted etc. because it's a big deal. Soon your website would appear first in any relevant search.
That's the thing -- sure, perhaps all good ideas get great publicity and links simply because they're good ideas.
And perhaps all good business ideas make their owners lots of money simply because they're good ideas.
And perhaps all articles get referenced and linked based on their degree of usefulness to the world.
But in the real world, somebody has to go out and peddle ideas. That's marketing, sales, networking -- whatever you want to call it. Nowadays google is forcing us to go comment on other people's blogs, link-trade, and lord knows what else.
Good ideas simply don't always become popular simply because they're good and you tell a few people. It takes a lot more work than that.