Questioning Authority - Shaun Groves

Technorati has changed the way it ranks blogs, or at least the wording. Instead of telling bloggers how many other blogs link to them, Technorati now tells bloggers what their “authority” is. Mine is 270, for instance.

I know there are some real blogging geniuses who read SHLOG.COM – humbling – and I’m wondering if any of you can explain to me how “authority” is arrived at? Where’s that number come from exactly? Is it links to my blog times the authority of those blogs? Or is one link equal to one point of authority? ‘Splain it to me.

And for all the bloggers out there, do “rank” and “authority” and “incoming links” really matter to you? Why?

11 comments on “Questioning Authority”

RevJeff says:

First they count the number of teeth you still have. Then they multiply the number of fillings x Pi and divide by any crowns or bridge work…

Fay says:

“Authority” is the number of blogs that have linked to your site in the past months. The higher the number, the more authority your site has. I was wondering the same thing when I logged into Technorati a few days ago and looked it up. The blog with the most authority’s number is coming it at a whopping 28,065. I’m at 30 and I relish in my low-ranking number.

It’s basically a popularity contest and to me, it’s doesn’t really matter. If people read the blog, they read it. If not, well, at least I can say I got some writing done.

RevJeff says:

My authority is “2” – up just a tad from “there is nothing in the known universe about…”

Fay says:

Oops. I meant “past six months.”

Paul J. says:

I only consider Technorati to be TRULY authoritative in the original Greek and Hebrew.

Fay says:

I lied. My authority is at 11.

Why, God, why?!?!?! All is lost.

FancyPants says:

OK, I’ll be honest.

I’ve only been blogging for a couple of months, after a long period of just commenting on other people’s blogs. So I haven’t looked at that thing you’re talking about, and before I began a blog of my own I made a deal with myself that I wouldn’t.

The reason I won’t is because of course I care about how many people link to my blog and read my blog and comment on my blog. If I just wanted to write, I’d do it in a journal or on my laptop, or sell a book, but online means it’s immediately there for other people to read it. That’s the great thing about blogging, you can incorporate others and interchange ideas and discuss topics, or just share part of your life. It’s fun because there’s community involved. And so I think we all want other people to read it, and that’s OK.

Alot of artists use it for marketing and promotion purposes, and that’s cool, too. So I think alot of this depends on the purpose of the blog.

But the reason I don’t want to look at those statistics is because I don’t want my confidence and approval to be found in a stat counter. Avoiding comparison is hard enough….

jason77 says:

its not even that accurate really because it counts also the tims you link to something within your own blog

Drew Lucas says:

How does their authority hold up when their site is down for 5 hours today???? What a waste.

Click here for the full story.

Brant says:

What if I use someone else’s blog to link to myself?

Sincerely,

Brant Hansen (.typepad.com)

Ryan G says:

LOL @ Brant

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11 comments on “Questioning Authority”

RevJeff says:

Fay says:

RevJeff says:

Fay says:

Paul J. says:

Fay says:

FancyPants says:

jason77 says:

Drew Lucas says:

Brant says:

Ryan G says:

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