Don’t y’all just hate feeling like you are a kid in high school, and don’t get to sit at the “Cool Kid’s Table?” Technorati is the entity that decides if a blogger is “cool.” It counts the number of links to a blog and gives each blog an “authority” and a rank. You would think that if a blog had amassed thousands of links over a couple of years that it would have pretty high authority, wouldn’t you? You would be wrong. Technorati devises complicated schemes to keep all of us in our lowly places. If you don’t know what “Technorati” is, you will have to Google it. I refuse to give it a link, because I refuse to recognize its “authority.”
I despise Technorati, and yet, I’m trying to understand it. I’m wondering if anybody really does comprehend it. If you do, and you have a post to explain it to an idiot like me, please tell me and I will link it here. I’ve been reading in the “Help” section of Technorati. I say “help” with tongue in cheek, because the administration in Technorati gives the same old answers every time. Most people who ask a question in the “Discussion” area never even get an answer. Technorati doesn’t want us to have the information we need to rise in the ranks.
Recently, I tried to help my friend Jessica the Rock Chick get to the “A List”(that coveted pink badge is a sign that a blogger has 500 links or more). She lacked only about 20 links to get there. I had a raffle called “Rock the Rock Chick’s World.” Even though many people linked to her blog, her older links kept falling away. It was heartbreaking to watch, because Jessica’s blog is a good one that deserves to be on the A list. My friend Harlekwin, at Boho Rhap, did some research on Technorati and said it was like trying to fill a leaky bucket.
You see Technorati ranks us only by the number of links we have gotten in the last 180 days. That means that if your best blogging buddy linked to you (maybe put you on their blogroll) 181 days ago the link no longer counts, and your authority has dropped by one point. The links that I just gave to my friends in the above paragraph won’t increase their authority. Technorati only counts the first link I gave them (months ago). The links on this post won’t count until every other link I have given them has dropped away. At least, that’s the way I understand it.
There are a couple of other disconcerting things I’ve found. I had made a separate page in my blog for linking to some of the folks whose blogs I enjoy. I didn’t want to “junk up my sidebar.” It was a waste of my time! Technorati spiders don’t count links that aren’t on the main page of the blog. So, if you have hidden blogrolls, you aren’t doing anyone a favor.
Are any of you on a blogroll powered by Blogrolling? That’s a waste of time, too. The Technorati bots don’t “see” those either. When I started the blogroll for Share A Square, I thought it was so convenient to put everything on a Blogrolling account. I could add people to the blogroll with a couple of clicks. I discovered those links didn’t count, so I spent hours typing the code to add everyone that you see in the blogroll box on my sidebar. I wanted them to have their Technorati links. It’s time consuming. But, if it shares the “link love” I’m willing to do it.
But, I joined some things that have the blogroll powered by Blogrolling, thinking I would get links from all the people on the blogroll. Duh. Wordless Wednesday. Thursday Thirteen. Are any of you part of those memes? To be a member, you have to have the blogroll on the sidebar, but you aren’t giving anyone links, except the homepage for the meme. I joined the writers of TopBlog Mag and have the blogroll on the sidebar. Though I have given the Mag a link, I haven’t gotten a single link from TopBlog Mag or anyone on the blogroll.
Some people are trying to add links by joining the “SEO” memes. Sandee at Comedy Plus posted one and all you have to do is comment and post it on your site to join it. She will add your link. Sandee is also putting her blogroll at the end of each post! It’s a wonderfully generous act (thank you, Sandee), but as I understand the system, only the first link “counted.” I’d do one of those memes, but I can’t figure out how to get my “Read More” tag to work. Leanne designed my blog, but she’s so busy I’m embarrassed to ask her.
Are you wondering why I am all caught up in this? Well, on the 4th of October, This Eclectic Life had a “bloggiversary” of sorts. As a “dot com,” it reached the six month mark. Around the time I hit six months, I reached the “A List.” I had 510 links, and I quietly put that garish pink badge at the bottom of my sidebar. I didn’t say anything about it, because I knew it wouldn’t last.
Today, my links have dropped to 504. I wish I knew what to do to change that. Sigh. I expect I’ll be back to the “D List” before long. But, hey! Kathy Griffin isn’t doing too badly with that.
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{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes!!!! Totally, I agree with you on all aspects here. First off that danged Technorati hangs up when even MY blog is loading. And I have high speed connection. It’s amazing how soon something that is as fun as blogging becomes ‘cliquish’. And that really takes the fun out of it all if you ask me. Afterall, the idea of blogging isn’t to be part of a group that tells you ‘do this and do that’ or else you’re not part of the ‘elite’.
GREAT POST!!!
Thanks for the visit, I’m glad you dropped by from Robin’s.
Robin is always seeing wonderful folks to visit, and I’m glad she sent me to you! I enjoyed your spooky theme for Halloween. Wish I had the gumption to try it. I agree that blogging CAN become cliquish, but what bugs me about Technorati is I guess just the fact of being “judged” by the numbers. Thanks for the return visit!~skt
Embarassed! Puh-lease, girl – have I made you feel uncomfortable to ask me questions?!
Here’s the thing. You can play WW or TT – but if you’re using Mister Linky – all those links don’t count for squat. If you put your name in a mister linky – check the source code on that page. Your link is NOT THERE. And since nobody seems to understand that, people will continue to be disappointed with their Technorati rankings.
Here are some other factors:
1. Technorati is based on incoming links. They drop off after 6 months. (and ML users don’t get the link they think they’re getting.)
2. People are using feedreaders now, they aren’t sporting blogrolls so much anymore.
3. You’ve got to get your link on people’s blogs by having conversation on blogs that “dofollow” or have ca-credits.
Realistically, technorati shouldn’t matter so much. Look at your Google PR, traffic and your feedreader count.
I understand those parts of the game, I think. I didn’t know people weren’t sporting blogrolls! Hmmm. Here I thought I was all “with it.” Shows what little I know. And, yeah, I’m embarrassed to keep asking questions. I should be understanding some of this by now!
~skt
P.S. if you follow the blogrolling source code, the blogroll DOES appear, so those links DO count.
If the blogrolling links DO count, then everybody who plays TT should have hundreds of links (because hundreds of blogs have the TT blogroll on them). I don’t get THAT part.
~skt
hi This Eclectic Life, your link is added thanks. i liked your post Raise Your Hand If You Hate The Technorati Monster
i ran your link as i do each time a new member joins on a new post Hey Technorati My Authority is not getting updated! UPDATE hoping technorati will find them if i run them often enough
oh did i mention that i’m from san antonio… sookietex
Hey San Antonio! A next door neighbor. I really liked what YOU had to say about Technorati. You know so much about it. I wish some of this would work. I wish we didn’t have to depend on it! We’ll just have to see. Thanks, sookietex, for starting the blogroll.~skt
You know, I was thinking about this yesterday. My rank had been 2999+ for a bit — now it’s 34,000.
What matters most to me is my core audience. You guys inspire me and keep pushing me to do better. As do the writers’ groups I’ve been joining — Weekend Wordsmith and the Writer’s Island.
All the rest is fluff.
As for Linky, I use it ’cause it’s the easiest way for me to make sure I return the visits of everyone who’s been to me on Thursday Thirteen day. I understand there’s a way to put the links into another code and then they will become valid links; I need to put the Tour Manager on that. And the do-follow comments, or whatever they’re called.
But that’s mostly to be polite. Truth be told, I have given up caring about ranking and am focused on my community.
You are right that the community is the most important part. But, I guess I have felt that Technorati is a challenge. I don’t know why. My main goal is to write something that I would be willing to read a second time, in which case I would hope that my readers would like it. I’ll just have to get over myself won’t I
~skt
I typically only watch my actual page visits and am more interested in actual comments than ranking, but I did tend to obsess over adsense earnings. I’ve gotten better but on occasion…
…well, nobody’s perfect.
Archsrk, I stopped obsessing over earnings, because mine are such a joke. I rarely look to see, because I figure I’ll never earn enough to get paid!
I guess that I just got all caught up in a secret desire to splash that trashy pink blob on my blog.~skt
I have no idea where I stand on Technorati nor do I even care. It’s been a few weeks since I checked out my number of visits but I guess someone is watching it because I have recently had a few requests to advertise and actually took one because it colors up my sidebar nicely and even gave in to adsense because I was able to color match it as well although I have no idea how they calculate how much you make.
I guess maybe I feel this way because when I was in the corporate world, everything I did was measured so I was always stressing about numbers. I stressed so much that I had to take an early retirement.
Now, I don’t care if anyone reads my blog because writing it relaxes me and let’s me say what’s on my mind. If someone besides my family wants to read it, that’s fine but I honestly don’t care.
Recently someone offered to do some free SEO for me in return for some advertising. I politely declined because I just don’t care if I’m number 1 or 1 million in blogging.
So chill out. You’ve got a great blog. Stop worrying about numbers and you’ll live longer. If you build it, they will come.
I appreciate your kind words. Believe me I DO try to chill out, but occasionally (like this a.m.) get all worked up over that stupid standard of measurement. I know that the main reason we write is for our own enjoyment (hoping that anyone else enjoys it along the way). I’ve just not been able to reach your level of Nirvana
I’ll work on it~skt
Hi! Shelly,
Can’t say as I care about Technorati..I never did check it out. I visit the people on my blogroll only if I find them interesting or stimulating and fun…like yours.
You are too sweet, Matty. I appreciate the kind words. As for Technorati, I think I’m just going to have to get over it! What a fickle monster he is.~skt
Hi Shelly,
Well, as you know, I don’t get it either….in fact, my technorati score is down to 160 now!!!!
Fortunately, we all know who are favorite blogger are and nobody needs that score to be an a-lister with me! You are at the top of my list!
We’ll just make our own little pink icon and tell technorati to take a leap
We don’t need him!
Love you!
Jessica
I did sign up at Technocrappy too but I never understood so I don’t even bother with it. I’m just going the route of trying to exchange links with people. I’m glad I stopped by because I was going to put a seperate post for the links because the sidebar gets really full but after reading your post I’m not going to so I’ll just have to make do with a really long sidebar. Well some of the stuff I could move the links that aren’t blogs.
Well I found that place that you’re talking about with the badges and I’m on the D-List myself but that could have to do with the fact that I’ve only had this blog since the end of May. Hopefully it isn’t a total piece of crap. Just one last thing I’m going to add your link to my section called The Quill is Mightier since I have a Xena theme going and have everything named after a Xena episode. I look forward to reading your blog.
If we were choosing people for a team, I would definitely want to be on your team… you don’t give up!
I think it’s wonderful you’ve made it to the A-list, enjoy it while it lasts. You’re on lots of A-lists that are far more worthwhile and important than Technorati will ever be. Every link you have, in every sidebar is your A-list ranking because someone enjoys you for you and has added your site to their favorites. To me, that’s what counts.
You’re on my A-List!
Yeah, I hit the six month mark from when I joined blogging chicks and my authority just dropped by 2/3. Oh well.
I had made it to the B list on one of my blogs, but then went to my .com… oh well, D list heaven I think of it as, if I weren’t on the D list for a long time, the universe would just have to shove someone else there… but I did get a perverse kick seeing that B pop up months back.
I saw you made the A list recently and FORGOT to swing by and say CONGRATS
So, CONGRATS, SHELLY, for making that list…
in my black book, you are an A+…
At times I think my blog is a joke compared to others and then I have to remind myself why I started it.
I’ve looked a Technorati on occasion. I don’t think I could be any less popular. Just don’t have what it takes I guess and honestly not sure I want to. I feel so committed to responding to comments, some are easy to respond to by having their emails available in reply, other don’t and I’m sure they never come back to look for a reply or at least I hope they don’t. You however are a definite A list gal! Congratulations on ALL your achievements. When I get my groove back I’ll be doing a post on the pink lady. She arrived while we were in Denver. She proudly sits on my old Victrola where I can see her and think of you daily…
Your blog is awesome – YOU are awesome!
My techycrappy score is in the 70’s! That tells ya how bad I suck. I really don’t care, other than the fact that I am trying to make some income from my blog to prove to some family that I CAN do OK working from home. Anyway, those are my own reasons.
I don’t even come close to you – I admire you – you have A LOT of fellow bloggers who admire you and think you are awesome – that should count for a heck of a lot more than techycrappy!
This is so disheartening. I had no idea that only the first link counted. We’ve all been trying to give each other the links back because we truly want to help each other up in the ranks and now this.
My ranking has dropped and continues to daily. It started about two weeks ago and I have no idea why. I finally hit the 10K Top Bloggers list after over a year’s worth of posts and work only to find I’d lost my ranking in Technorati’s scheming. They are posting “Blog Reactions” that happened weeks ago. They are not answering my emails. Big surprise there.
You are right to take their link away. I will do the same. Arrrghhh….
And please join BlogBlast for Peace again this year on November 7th.
Thanks!
Technocrappy- gee this is being creative. But you know where I stand on this, lol, my mind is basically mush by evening and I can’t worry about something I can’t understand.
It’s like that Farside comic where the guy is talking to the dog and all the dog hears is blah, blah, blah. Therefore, I have given up on the link worry. I just put in links for me to remember where I read something that I enjoyed.
Yep, they drive me crazy. I did notice you made the A-list last week. I was up to 422 and then within a few days was down to 361. I don’t know the answer. I’m creeping back up, so that’s good. When I get tired of them I’ll just remove them altogether. Sigh…
There ought to be a way we could rate each other! You are an A-lister, as far as I’m concerned. Keep reminding me to ignore them! Love your new look, by the way.~skt
It is so good to hear someone else has a problem with technorati. I deleted them from my site the morning my “authority” dropped 100 points overnight. Now the column I had written simply could not have so offended a 100 people that they did a mad dash to wipe me off of the blogosphere
If you look at the “discussion” on Technorati, I think EVERYONE has a problem with it. I don’t blame you for deleting them! I wish I could make myself ignore them completely…but…I probably won’t.~skt
As a media grad student I’ve studied some of these things. Some put cred in Truth Laid Bear and those rankings… Technorati’s founder, David Sifry, stepped back and has named a new CEO so I think in some ways they are coasting as they look to monetize their site rather than serve their audience.
The theory of the Long Tail basically means that very few will rank at the top and those that came first and got the edge can probably keep their rankings and those that come after have to work the niches. That said, the ability to make much is slim, money wise, if that is what many bloggers are looking for. Most women aren’t, according to a study I did on female bloggers. Other motivations are at play.
For some, though, being able to “measure success” seems to be very important.
You have an award waiting for you over at my blog!
You are a darlin’ for giving it to me!~skt
Congrats…I think…
I say give up on the technorati monster… But this is coming from a woman who has their “fav my blog” icon in her sidebar. *SIGH*
I know, I know, Ingrid! We should ALL give up on the T monster, but I just can’t help myself.
~skt
I recently took over as editor of TopBlogMag and stumbled across your post while investigating TopBlogMag’s technorati links. I hear you, I hate technorati.
Out of curiosity (as I’m trying to make sense of all that I’ve inherited with the magazine), where did you expect a link to come from via the TopBlogMag blogroll? As I understood the original goal of that particular blogroll, it was to promote your blog on other writer’s blog, as a means to find new readers, not necessarily new links.
You should, however, receive a link from TopBlogMag each time you have a submission published. Has this not been the case?
Now back to poking around your blog. Be sure to stop by TopBlogMag and throw your two cents in regarding what direction you would like to see the magazine go now. From content to design, it’s in your hands as a writer.
Hi Megan,
Congrats on you new position with TopBlog, and thanks for coming by to visit. I joined TopBlogMag to get the opportunity to write, but Heather probably had too much on her plate when I joined. I didn’t ever get an “assignment” from her. The one time I got my act together and wrote on the theme, I linked to the mag, but didn’t get linked. My point was really that the blogroll for TopBlogMag is on a blogrolling account, therefore Technorati doesn’t see that link. While links weren’t my purpose, they would have been nice! I’ll do my best to stop by to visit before we head to the airplane to San Francisco.~skt
I’m a D-List blogger and according to them no one has linked to me in the last six months. I wrote a scathing post and I vented.
I agree with most of the comments – what matters most is who’s blogs we like and we don’t like them because of their A, B, C etc. I read a blog for the content and I don’t care if you are an A or even a lowly D, like me
I stopped by to thank you for visiting my place, started reading and landed down here on this piece of yours. I have technorati but I have no clue really what the heck it means! I don’t recall now when I “claimed my blog” there -don’t really care either, for that matter. It’s just one more thing about blogging that makes me feel like the dog in the cartoon you described where all I see -or hear -is blah, blah, blah. Now, if these things were written in plain ENGLISH and not all the crappy computerese stuff that boggles my pea brain, it might be different then.
I’m mainly just going along, adding blogs to my sidebar as I find more and more than interest me, that I enjoy reading. If it ups my ratings, or “Authority” so be it and if not, well I’m happy having the blog marked for me to visit and read and in my mind, that’s the aspect that really counts. If you don’t mind, I’ll be adding your blog to my list in the very near future too cause I really enjoyed reading your stuff here! (Also hope I can learn more from reading your pieces too about blogging in general -not just with respect to the other junk.)
Okay, I’m pretty lost here, and I do hate technorati because I can’t really seem to figure it out. What you all have explained helps it make a little more sense. As near as I can figure, there are alot of folks who are unhappy with the link counts everywhere, who are doing this DoFollow
thing. (It’s a link to links, because BNP has alot of great stuff there about linking and authority and stuff. As for Mr. Linky, there is an option that allows you to make your links permanent that will show up on technorati and google, etc., but I don’t know if it’s only for premium users or includes the option for free accounts. With a whopping authority of 41, I’m trying to figure it out! LOL