JMB wrote of google page ranking and I'm more than grateful to google but I did a bit of a check:URL: http://michellemalkin.com/
PageRank: 7/10
URL: http://www.order-order.com/
PageRank: 6/10
URL: http://iaindale.blogspot.com/
PageRank: 6/10
URL: http://devilskitchen.me.uk/
PageRank: 6/10
URL: http://nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com/
PageRank: 5/10
Right, so these weren't the only people I checked and I was shocked. Firstly, look at the ones above me here - Michelle Malkin for a start, Fox on Sunday, known America wide, 220 000 hits a day - only 7/10?
The Britbloggers here - multiple times my visitors and known throughout the country. 6?
Next I went to another major UK blogger up with them in terms of stats and I'm not showing him as he came out the same as me and he'd be horrified - he's a huge UK blogger.
Then I went to some lesser bloggers and was shocked to see them also on 5. One of my best blogfriends from BP whom everyone visits on 0/10!! What? Or another major American blogger with "Comments 153" on one post alone - rated as 5/10. I shake my head.
Let alone people on 5 who really shouldn't be there while some others with top blogs are on 4 or 3.
How are the rankings calculated? I'm not actually arguing with the google machine as I'm sure it comes out as this score. Is it on photos or diversity of posts or what? If on photos, then someone showing a lot of totty would probably have a high ranking supposedly.
Or perhaps the bloggers who deal in politics don't get many google referrals due to the temporary nature of politics.
And while we're at it - a personal message for John Hirst:
Thanks, young man - you've made a grown man cry today. That's friendship for you. [Actually I didn't cry - bit of editorial licence there - but I did have a coffee!! Yes, that's the main thing.]
I am visiting you James, it's just that mybloglog isn't recognising me for some reason. I have become a faceless YOU.
ReplyDeleteOkay, now I'm going to have to go and check my ratings - if I dare! Will I be depressed all day if I do?
I got 3/10 lol. But I noticed this:
ReplyDelete"PageRank is determined based on both the number and quality of the links pointing to a given Web page or document. The higher the PR of a page's backlinks, and the fewer outward-pointing links there are on a Webpage, the more PageRank (PR) is allocated to that Web page"
I know yours already, Liz. You are actually, on visitors, overall rankings globally etc., a fair bit ahead of me as a blogger.
ReplyDeleteGinro - now that is very interesting indeed. So if we don't link to others and a few link to us, we go up. But if we are altruistic and link to everyone and they don't reciprocate, we go down.
So everyone therefore hopes to be linked.
Aye. And if, as many people do, they have linked to a site in their browser rather than from another webpage, that isn't going to show at all in the ranking.
ReplyDeleteI am a 4/10 now, was 6/10 briefly before google retooled the algorithm :)
ReplyDeleteThe key is the one-way links (from PR3 or greater). Somehow, most 'little' bloggers won't get there (because we all like to link to who links us)
Hi James: Thanks for the message.
ReplyDeleteA problem with michellemalkin stats is that traffic is artificially generated, if you look at her sitemeter you will see that her visitors do not stay long enough to read the posts.
I prefer readers to automatons.
If readers do not click a link, they can stay for a day and show up as 1 second; you can't trust that graphic
ReplyDeleteI'm a five and have been for a couple of years but you have to remember that its not a very big measure of real success, it’s a measure of "authority" via the notion of semantic linking. Which doesn't really exist yet. For bloggers who covet a good rank an easy way up is to get a link from a major news site with a high rank, like the BBC with a 10. I think you can see the flaw.
ReplyDeleteGoogle don’t know everything about search.
I've always maintained though that we should blog for the pleasure of it and not to be popular. If you become popular then it's a bonus. When you get bored or fed up of it it's time to take five and think again.
ReplyDeleteNow, I'm aware that could be perceived as the attitude of a loser (only a 3 ranking, lol), and would I be saying that if I was getting thousands of hits a month?
But actually no. Two to three years ago I ran a page that was getting upwards of five thousand hits a month and after a while you find yourself writing just to maintain the readership, even if you have nothing worthwhile to say. If you try to take a break from it you get inundated with comments from people demanding to know where you are.
And then of course, with the popularity come the stalker psychos who are convinced you are deeply in love with them and want to marry them just because you said 'hello', lol. THAT is a whole other ballgame and one that can take a couple of years to resolve.
Which is why I am perfectly happy with my little corner of the Internet on Terapad. And I hope you are too James, you have a great page that's an enjoyable read. Sod the rankings.
I don't understand it because it's mathematical.
ReplyDeleteAm not concerned about stats and how many peoples come to my site, if they do then good, if not, well so be it.
ReplyDeleteI was starting to think that everyone must be at least a four or a five (obviously not) but I was wondering who the 8 and 9's were. (Amazon.com is a 9.)I tried a very big US blogger who makes her living from her blog and she had a 7.
ReplyDeleteEven after this and Ginro's explanation I don't really understand it. Vic Grace has started to do paid posts and apparently PR is important as you get paid more if you PR is greater.
So how come you didn't give me a link since I "inspired" this post, she asks pouting?
Thought I had - sorry, JMB - now rectified.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it depends on the rank of the blogs linking to your blog, and on not having too many unnecessary and particularly dead links out of your blog.
ReplyDeleteAny Google ranking is good in terms of how many blogs there are out there but the more ranked blogs you have linking to your own will push your own ranking up over time - likewise the more non-ranked blogs you have will keep your own ranking lower.
I'm still a 4, but not that many people to link to me.
That's how it used to work, anyway, the last time I read up on it.
John - that's not how it works with sitemeter. When the length of time shows 00.00 it merely means the person didn't go deeper into the site than the front page - but they could have spent a few minutes reading your front page. Your regular readers will usually show up as having spent 00.00 time on your blog because they've already read your older pages and so are not opening any other pages. When it shows a time duration, that's how long they stayed on either the first page, if the pages they visited is just two - or how long they spent on all pages they looked at except the last, if they visited more than two pages.
ReplyDeleteYou could get quite disheartened looking at the 00.00 - but it doesn't mean they didn't stop to read your post.
:-)
I saw you had a 5 ranking - I checked whn I noticed my ranking went back to 5 after a few months at 4.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day it's the regular returners who really count and the sense of community too... well that's what I think!
Yeah I haven't looked yet- bit scared of finding I'm a zero! Its odd the whole audience thing- I try not to care or think too much about it.
ReplyDeleteIve got 5/10
ReplyDeleteNot sure what that means though. Does this have any prctical use?
Personally I find blogging has become a lot more fun since I stopped worrying about all this kind of stuff.
At the end of the day it's the regular returners who really count and the sense of community too... well that's what I think!
ReplyDeleteThis is what really counts, quality not numbers :-)
Still - it was useful to post on it to see what people thought. I suppose as long as the same people come back and you go to them, this slowly builds anyway.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most here that troubling oneself over visitor numbers is nowhere because of that Malkin factor - the quality of the visitor and what you want.
She wants vast numbers for advertising and to make a living, get deals on TV etc. Most of us are hoping to be heard by at least a few people.
All very intere4sting - I ams urprised I missed getting my oar in on this issue... I rate according to the silly test as 5..
ReplyDelete