Introducing Blog Ranking 2.0!
Since January Virginia Right! has compiled a weekly ranking of the top political blogs in Virginia. This was just the first version, and as I wrote at the time. Shortly after I started, I began working on the next version, a far more complicated endeavor that took some time. I had always planned to be totally transparent and released the methods, but it was going to take a bit more work to compile and output the collected data in table form.
I have been testing and debugging the software I wrote to collect the data each Sunday and finally have everything debugged and cranking out the data for the day pretty efficiently.
I am working on an FAQ that will be published in the next few days, but to give you an outline of the data and how I compile the results and calculate the rankings.
The FAQ will have the reasons and logic behind the methods, but here is a quick overview of the process.
First, counters like Sitemeter are flawed and any designs I had on using this site were discarded rather quickly when I began looking at how to accomplish this project. Not everyone agrees with me on this, but they are simply wrong. I documented the findings of an experiment in this post.
The best method to use to rank blogs turns out to be the method that the search engines use to decide how high to rank your listings.
In reviewing the best ranking engines, there was one glaring problem that took some time to overcome. Not all ranking sites rank individual sites on “Community Blogs”. By Community Blogs, I am talking about places like Typepad, WordPress.com and Blogger. When you look up the rank for a particular “sub blog” (which have addresses like myblog.blogger.com) you either get the ranking for the entire site, or none at all. That is a real problem.
With Version 2.0, I decided on four of the top ranking engines, the reasons behind each one will be in the FAQ. The four I selected are Technorati, Alexa, Compete and WebArbiter. The software I wrote visits each of the 4 sites for all of the blogs in the ranking, which is now 63 as I pruned out 11 that had no updates in 6 months (which will probably be the threshold from now on). For Technorati, I grab the US Politics standing.
After visiting each site for each blog’s numbers, the data is stored in an SQL database. For any sites that are not listed, or part of a Community Blog, the ranking is assigned. And it is a draconian number – 100 million. There are two reasons for this number. First, some sites list rankings into the tens of millions, and if you are not listed, you should be ranked below them. The number is also a penalty for not taking the time to get your blog listed. The reason that matters is that if you link to me and you are not listed on the ranking engines, they will never “crawl” your site and see the link to me. It is like a tree falling with no one to hear. But if you are listed in all 4, then the link is pretty valuable and helps me far more. Also, when I publish your ranking in this post, the bots will crawl Virginia Right! and look in their database for your site. If you are not there, you get no love from them, which means your post will probably be listed on the 100th page on Google. Your being listed helps you and anyone that links to you. Trust me on this.
So, how is 100 Million fair if my blog is on a Community Blog? Do I expect you to move to a pay site? Absolutely not! Here is how the ranking averages work:
As I complete all 4 sites for each blog I calculate the average of the top 3 listings. In other words, if you are given a 100 million for a Community Blog, it is tossed out. We only use the best 3 out of 4. On the other hand, if you are not listed in 2 or more, well, that is the penalty part. And there is simply no reason not to get listed. It takes five minutes and costs nothing. Details will be in the FAQ.
After I get the average of the top three for all of the blogs, I sort the blogs based on that average. Sort of a Real Clear Blog Rankings type of average. The order in the sort becomes this weeks standing. That rank is also saved to the database so I can compare your ranking next week to this week. That number is in the table to let you know how much improvement you make week to week. Getting listed in all of the engines will help and it will bring you more readers. Guaranteed!
As I write the FAQ and get it published, if you follow the advice in there, you will see results. And that is what this project is all about. Promoting Virginia Blogs.
Here are the rankings. It is rather pointless to examine the changes from last week, as the way things are rated has changed. So, here are just the tables with all of the data. If you see a zero (or a -1) in one column, go there and get listed, or wait for the FAQ. But either way, do it. (They will all be -1 instead of 0 next week.)
The Overall Standings:
Rank BlogName Weekly Trend Last Week WebTrends Alexa Technorati Compete Average 1 Bearing Drift Upwards 70.64% 1 241562 246763 204 146984 129583 2 Vivian Page Upwards 49.30% 2 222049 223920 1782 1068973 149250 3 Virginia Right! Upwards 42.89% 3 263547 209174 98 739022 157606 4 Not Larry Sabato Upwards 45.70% 5 418906 395352 387 0 271548 5 NoVa Town Hall Upwards 47.34% 7 660733 562729 1202 539318 367749 6 Barticles Down (16.90%) 4 652996 353983 0 258627 421868 7 Blue Virginia Upwards 19.47% 6 455009 490719 0 330824 425517 8 Snapped Shot Upwards 103.53% 10 1445595 1090762 2429 691828 595006 9 On The Right in Va Upwards 169.38% 14 21761177 1855916 5828 239145 700296 10 Too Conservative Upwards 92.37% 12 1358525 1732227 2516 1424510 928517 11 Black Velvet Bruce Li Upwards 171.26% 19 2369076 2550886 3893 626096 999688 12 Va Virtucon Upwards 60.67% 13 1604684 1734519 652 0 1113285 13 Citizen Tom Upwards 245.83% 27 2730804 4113928 1707 1048116 1260209 14 Waldo Jaquith Upwards 152.86% 22 2509857 2582956 730 1349376 1286654 15 VB Dems Upwards 24.04% 15 1028000 1990553 0 1682408 1566987 16 Nova Common Sense Upwards 30.71% 18 2213584 2826048 0 582203 1873945 17 Fishersville Mike Upwards 55.32% 21 2942079 2726291 3331 0 1890567 18 Bacon's Rebellion Down (0.66%) 16 4047701 2013303 1963 0 2020989 19 SWAC Girl Upwards 118.94% 28 1686556 4560301 337 0 2082398 20 Cat House Chat Upwards 56.98% 24 2485894 3898855 0 1031786 2472178 21 Project Virginia Down (14.55%) 17 2337938 2478073 0 3130286 2648765 22 Crystal Clear Conservative Upwards 177.52% 44 4805126 6829433 685 3416761 2740857 23 The Green Miles Upwards 62.74% 31 4047062 4650031 4604 0 2900565 24 Shaun Kenney Upwards 52.77% 33 2117441 5282442 0 2138516 3179466 25 Moon Howlings Upwards 6.19% 23 6385864 3928391 0 423571 3579275 26 The Richmonder Upwards 30.63% 32 2720532 4884205 0 3386241 3663659 27 Schilling Show Blog Upwards 179.02% 51 1791065 10229872 0 149106 4056681 28 Red NoVa Upwards 30.27% 35 6264401 5600957 0 2238274 4701210 29 From On High Upwards 57.81% 46 8213437 7470166 527 0 5228043 30 United Conservatives Upwards 37.58% 43 9789649 5953638 3653 0 5248980 31 Scott's Morning Brew Down (21.99%) 25 10344932 3706848 0 1961636 5337805 32 The American Civil War Upwards 25.59% 39 8696475 6741749 0 582497 5340240 33 Deo Vindice Upwards 89.17% 50 5996010 10170147 2801 0 5389652 34 I'm Surrounded by Idiots Upwards 24.72% 41 8020276 6273912 0 2273313 5522500 35 Virginia Dem Upwards 235.93% 66 5131419 15281685 2516 0 6805206 36 The Right Wing Liberal Upwards 128.63% 61 8620486 12119829 606 0 6913640 37 Skeptical Observer Upwards 19.59% 54 21773325 10444770 4314 0 10740803 38 What IS Right for Virginia Upwards 24.75% 59 24991632 9388597 4096 0 11461441 39 Shad Plank Down (98.20%) 8 586249 602222 0 0 33729490 40 Armchair Generalist Down (95.55%) 11 1105906 1524954 0 0 34210286 41 Disrupt the Narrative Down (96.69%) 9 2097559 1131215 0 0 34409591 42 Virginia Conservative Down (86.98%) 29 2261920 4366507 0 0 35542809 43 Yankee Phil Down (80.35%) 42 1809502 5043368 0 0 35617623 44 Mason Conservative Down (91.98%) 20 4322768 2614280 0 0 35645682 45 Mosquito Blog Down (88.16%) 26 3912901 3696046 0 0 35869649 46 Va Social Conservative Down (80.92%) 40 1537619 6238699 0 0 35925439 47 Rick Sincere Thoughts Down (86.99%) 30 3706338 4281410 0 0 35995916 48 ProgressiveDem Down (82.16%) 37 3499553 5018702 0 0 36172751 49 X Curmudgeon Down (75.86%) 48 7837702 4375711 0 0 37404471 50 Tidewater Liberty Down (59.36%) 60 4645099 7832642 0 0 37492580 51 J's Notes Down (73.47%) 49 5759270 6903079 0 0 37554116 52 The Contemporary Conservative Down (84.95%) 34 9600644 5338147 0 0 38312930 53 Rappahannock Republic Down (83.76%) 36 8689509 6527098 0 0 38405535 54 Off K Street Down (80.46%) 45 10781661 6874220 0 0 39218627 55 Roanoke Valley Republicans Down (71.28%) 52 12695262 9690504 0 0 40795255 56 Right Side Va Down (79.53%) 47 17455471 7507518 0 0 41654329 57 The Bulletproof Monk Down (43.10%) 67 10201643 15446362 0 0 41882668 58 Roanoke Slant Down (69.42%) 58 19498138 10754648 0 0 43417595 59 The Farm Team Down (63.99%) 62 21300293 12086053 0 0 44462115 60 The Recovering Politico Down (46.50%) 70 19449247 15488394 0 0 44979213 61 SW Va Law Blog Down (55.97%) 64 21233696 14109340 0 0 45114345 62 Tertium Quids Down (71.78%) 57 28901659 10627281 0 0 46509646 63 Strictly Va Down (49.93%) 69 28655487 15488384 0 0 48047957 64 Va 5th District Upwards 39.73% 71 14700830 0 0 0 71566943
Left Leaning Blogs:
Rank BlogName Weekly Trend Last Week WebTrends Alexa Technorati Compete Average 1 Vivian Page Upwards 49.30% 1 222049 223920 1782 1068973 149250 2 Not Larry Sabato Upwards 45.70% 3 418906 395352 387 0 271548 3 Barticles Down (16.90%) 2 652996 353983 0 258627 421868 4 Blue Virginia Upwards 19.47% 4 455009 490719 0 330824 425517 5 Waldo Jaquith Upwards 152.86% 8 2509857 2582956 730 1349376 1286654 6 VB Dems Upwards 24.04% 7 1028000 1990553 0 1682408 1566987 7 The Green Miles Upwards 62.74% 11 4047062 4650031 4604 0 2900565 8 Moon Howlings Upwards 6.19% 9 6385864 3928391 0 423571 3579275 9 The Richmonder Upwards 30.63% 12 2720532 4884205 0 3386241 3663659 10 I'm Surrounded by Idiots Upwards 24.72% 14 8020276 6273912 0 2273313 5522500 11 Virginia Dem Upwards 235.93% 20 5131419 15281685 2516 0 6805206 12 What IS Right for Virginia Upwards 24.75% 18 24991632 9388597 4096 0 11461441 13 Shad Plank Down (98.20%) 5 586249 602222 0 0 33729490 14 Armchair Generalist Down (95.55%) 6 1105906 1524954 0 0 34210286 15 Mosquito Blog Down (88.16%) 10 3912901 3696046 0 0 35869649 16 ProgressiveDem Down (82.16%) 13 3499553 5018702 0 0 36172751 17 X Curmudgeon Down (75.86%) 16 7837702 4375711 0 0 37404471 18 Off K Street Down (80.46%) 15 10781661 6874220 0 0 39218627 19 The Farm Team Down (63.99%) 19 21300293 12086053 0 0 44462115
Right Leaning Blogs:
Rank BlogName Weekly Trend Last Week WebTrends Alexa Technorati Compete Average 1 Bearing Drift Upwards 70.64% 1 241562 246763 204 146984 129583 2 Virginia Right! Upwards 42.89% 2 263547 209174 98 739022 157606 3 NoVa Town Hall Upwards 47.34% 3 660733 562729 1202 539318 367749 4 Snapped Shot Upwards 103.53% 5 1445595 1090762 2429 691828 595006 5 On The Right in Va Upwards 169.38% 8 21761177 1855916 5828 239145 700296 6 Too Conservative Upwards 92.37% 6 1358525 1732227 2516 1424510 928517 7 Black Velvet Bruce Li Upwards 171.26% 12 2369076 2550886 3893 626096 999688 8 Va Virtucon Upwards 60.67% 7 1604684 1734519 652 -1 1113285 9 Citizen Tom Upwards 245.83% 17 2730804 4113928 1707 1048116 1260209 10 Nova Common Sense Upwards 30.71% 11 2213584 2826048 -1 582203 1873945 11 Fishersville Mike Upwards 55.32% 14 2942079 2726291 3331 -1 1890567 12 Bacon's Rebellion Down (0.66%) 9 4047701 2013303 1963 -1 2020989 13 SWAC Girl Upwards 118.94% 18 1686556 4560301 337 -1 2082398 14 Cat House Chat Upwards 56.98% 15 2485894 3898855 -1 1031786 2472178 15 Project Virginia Down (14.55%) 10 2337938 2478073 -1 3130286 2648765 16 Crystal Clear Conservative Upwards 177.52% 30 4805126 6829433 685 3416761 2740857 17 Shaun Kenney Upwards 52.77% 21 2117441 5282442 -1 2138516 3179466 18 Schilling Show Blog Upwards 179.02% 35 1791065 10229872 -1 149106 4056681 19 Red NoVa Upwards 30.27% 23 6264401 5600957 -1 2238274 4701210 20 From On High Upwards 57.81% 31 8213437 7470166 527 -1 5228043 21 United Conservatives Upwards 37.58% 29 9789649 5953638 3653 -1 5248980 22 Scott's Morning Brew Down (21.99%) 16 10344932 3706848 -1 1961636 5337805 23 The American Civil War Upwards 25.59% 26 8696475 6741749 -1 582497 5340240 24 Deo Vindice Upwards 89.17% 34 5996010 10170147 2801 -1 5389652 25 The Right Wing Liberal Upwards 128.63% 43 8620486 12119829 606 -1 6913640 26 Skeptical Observer Upwards 19.59% 38 21773325 10444770 4314 -1 10740803 27 Disrupt the Narrative Down (96.69%) 4 2097559 1131215 -1 -1 34409591 28 Virginia Conservative Down (86.98%) 19 2261920 4366507 -1 -1 35542809 29 Yankee Phil Down (80.35%) 28 1809502 5043368 -1 -1 35617623 30 Mason Conservative Down (91.98%) 13 4322768 2614280 -1 -1 35645682 31 Va Social Conservative Down (80.92%) 27 1537619 6238699 -1 -1 35925439 32 Rick Sincere Thoughts Down (86.99%) 20 3706338 4281410 -1 -1 35995916 33 Tidewater Liberty Down (59.36%) 42 4645099 7832642 -1 -1 37492580 34 J's Notes Down (73.47%) 33 5759270 6903079 -1 -1 37554116 35 The Contemporary Conservative Down (84.95%) 22 9600644 5338147 -1 -1 38312930 36 Rappahannock Republic Down (83.76%) 24 8689509 6527098 -1 -1 38405535 37 Roanoke Valley Republicans Down (71.28%) 36 12695262 9690504 -1 -1 40795255 38 Right Side Va Down (79.53%) 32 17455471 7507518 -1 -1 41654329 39 The Bulletproof Monk Down (43.10%) 47 10201643 15446362 -1 -1 41882668 40 Roanoke Slant Down (69.42%) 41 19498138 10754648 -1 -1 43417595 41 The Recovering Politico Down (46.50%) 50 19449247 15488394 -1 -1 44979213 42 SW Va Law Blog Down (55.97%) 45 21233696 14109340 -1 -1 45114345 43 Tertium Quids Down (71.78%) 40 28901659 10627281 -1 -1 46509646 44 Strictly Va Down (49.93%) 49 28655487 15488384 -1 -1 48047957 45 Va 5th District Upwards 39.73% 51 14700830 -1 -1 -1 71566943
About Tom White
Tom is a US Navy Veteran, owns an Insurance Agency and is currently an IT Manager for a Virginia Distributor. He has been published in American Thinker, currently writes for the Richmond Examiner as well as Virginia Right! Blog.Tom lives in Hanover County, Va and is involved in politics at every level and is a Recovering Republican who has finally had enough of the War on Conservatives in progress with the Leadership of the GOP on a National Level.
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