Stats Are In

A little late but Technorati has, at last, updated the test stats I put in over the weekend. Both sites now show links. In the case of the Windows Live site it is showing 1 link from 1 blog. This site is showing 2 links from 1 blog. There is a bit of an issue with the number of links but it may not make any difference to the outcome if the point is that for ranking purposes the number of blogs which link is what counts. Both sites are now showing identical rankings at 1,016,551. There is no doubt that the proper working site is this one so I am very confident that it is not traffic but blogs linking which affects the ranking. So, if you want to rise up the ranks get your friends to link to you. And that is my next step. I have an almost unused site which I set up for a friend and which I have virtually free access to so I am going to use that to make a link to see what happens when a second site links to you.

I will post the results.

Pierre

Tags: stats link ranking

It's Official: Shipping Forecast Is In

Yes, in fact there were many, many nominations. See the entry and write up on this page. Also there is a comment from yours truly. I must say, the main entry does it proud and is better by far than my modest effort. But then, I'm probably better at explaining ethnomethodology, so each to his own.

The original post in this blog is here.

Pierre

Tags: icon British Shipping Forecast nomination Sailing By

Music Music Music

I have come across a very industrious gentleman from New Zealand. Probably, in truth, he has come across me for I have found traces of him all over the place. He appears to have done a great deal in a short time. The main emphasis is on music videos and if you like music I feel sure you will love this site.

The reason I mention him is because he does not simply browse other people's blogs. He takes the trouble to leave a comment. I am sure many, new to blogging, will appreciate greatly his interest. We should all take a moment to leave a word of encouragement as we pass by. That's what makes this a social network and not just a narcissistic journey into our selves.

Also, there are 3 main ways in which a blog becomes noticed. You must post, tag and link. For that reason I am doing my bit for Crowbarred by linking to one of his 3 sites. I hope you enjoy.

Pierre

Tags: music browse comment network post tag link

Even More

So far no results. Everything appears to have updated. I had to post on the Windows Live site to make it update but that's all it did. We still have a link status of 2 to Blogger and none to Windows Live. The ranking also is unchanged.

There are a couple of possibilities here. First is that the link was to the Trackback address and not the site in general. Maybe that format does not credit a link. The way to test that is to make 7 links to the site this time round.

Another possibility is that several servers are involved here (which I am sure there are) and that updating one by pinging is only the beginning. Replication to other servers may be required before the full story is revealed. With this in mind I am going to wait a while before initiating plan B234.

Pierre

Tags: ping link Technorati ranking

And More

Results: The ping updated the stats. Looks very likely, therefore, that you have to post to get the server to whirr into action.

This site now shows 2 links from 1 blog so it does not matter how many times you link to the same item in a post it is only credited as one link. However, each new post will credit another link if it is made in the post.

The link to the title which was itself a link to Technorati did, indeed, take me to Technorati. Conclusion, be careful about using the title to link to a source as this prevents others from linking to you by item. I have a bit of a problem with this one because many of these links are so long they go off the end of the allocated page and upset the layout. I had started using the link to embed the source without having to display it. I suppose the answer is to make a link to the friendly part of the URL.

Next issue is what effect does linking have on ranking. Before I conducted these experiments I had 2 blogs. The first was in msn myspace which became Windows Live. This had a handful of posts in it the last of which explained that I had started a new blog on Blogger and gave the URL for that. I then continued posting on Blogger. Both were claimed on Technorati and pinged. Although I lost touch for a while whilst having heart surgery the ranking situation was, in ratio at least, always in favour of the Windows Live site. The difference is huge, around a third or half a million. Yesterday, when I managed to update the Windows Live ping (by posting) the Windows Live site demoted itself to 1,424,556 whilst the Blogger site (this one) promoted itself to 1,011,387. The essential difference appears to be just one link from the Windows Live site to this one. The next stage in the experiment, therefore, is to see if I can restore the Windows Live site to its former glory simply by linking to it (and possibly posting a little post on it) to make the servers notice its sweet little contribution to bloggery.

Pierre

Tags: ping link Technorati ranking

More Techno Babble

As predicted the links reversed when both sites were pinged. Interesting that the Windows Live site had gone 187 days without updating in spite of being set to ping automatically. I then inserted 6 links in a new post all pointing to the title of the last post on this site (which is a link to my Technorati profile). For good measure I added a link to this site itself and a Trackback to the Technorati link. I then pinged both sites from Technorati. The Windows Live site updated at once but there were no changes or updates to this site, presumably because the changes were external. I am now posting this piece to see what effect it has.

Pierre