Political Blogging: What Measurements to Use
This post briefly explains the measures I will be using when looking at blogs during this series of articles. I will be explaining the following terms: Technorati Rank and Links, Google Page Rank and Google Backlinks. I also comment on Alexa.
Google PageRank
A Google measurement of the importance of a web page.
Google Backlinks
Links back to your site from other websites which Google thinks are important.
Technorati Rank
A popularity ranking among blogs known to Technorati. A Technorati Ranking relates to the number of sources that point to a particular weblog relative to other weblogs. The more sources referencing a weblog, the higher the Technorati ranking.
Technorati Links
The number of links that point to a particular weblog.
Technorati Blogs
The number of sources that point to a particular weblog.
Alexa Figures (cynicism warning)
Alexa data is essentially useless, except for very specialised purposes. The data is generated from people who have installed the “Alexa Toolbar” on their PCs. The Toolbar installs spyware, so you have been warned.
The toolbar is usually installed by computer and IT people - so the figures basically tell you how popular your website is among Geeks wearing Y-Fronts. For me on this blog, this does not help - as political geeks do not necessarily wear Y-Fronts (on MP’s allowances they are likely to be handmade silk boxers). (*)
To see how easy it is to “game” Alexa, simply install the Alexa toolbar on your web-browser, and visit your site once a day. Before long you will be in the top 100,000 sites in the world.
Some people persist in valuing Alexa data, and it is sometimes used as a way to sell them things.
(*) Apologies to female readers for the male example - I am not admitting to sufficient experience to do the women’s version.
Tags: Alexa, Technorati Links, Technorati Blogs, PageRank, Technorati Rank, Better Political Blogging, Political Blogging, Google Backlinks, Definitions of Terms, Geeks in YFRonts
[tags]Alexa, Technorati Links, Technorati Blogs, PageRank, Technorati Rank, Better Political Blogging, Political Blogging, Google Backlinks, Definitions of Terms, Geeks in YFRonts[/tags]
Article Series - Labour Blog Explosion
- Labour blog explosion: I’ll take the Slow Road
- Political Blogging: What Measurements to Use
- Labour Blog Explosion? Crunching the Numbers
Categories: Hints and Tips, Political Blogging
[...] you start, it is worth reading these definitions once. The data was collected in March 2007, as part of a survey of recent data for 100 of the blogs [...]
[...] Political Blogging: What Measurements to Use [...]
[...] Prevously I described Alexa as telling you “how popular your website is among Geeks wearing Y-Fronts“. [...]
[...] Way back when I said: The toolbar is usually installed by computer and IT people - so the figures basically tell you how popular your website is among Geeks wearing Y-Fronts. For me on this blog, this does not help - as political geeks do not necessarily wear Y-Fronts (on MP’s allowances they are likely to be handmade silk boxers). (*) [...]