Scamming Technorati Authority?
I just ran across a blog that is less than a month old, having first started publishing in May 2007. And then I noted that this blog already has a Technorati Authority score of 109.
If you’re at all familiar with Technorati, you know that “Technorati Authority is [based on] the number of blogs linking to a website in the last six months. The higher the number, the more Technorati Authority the blog has.”
So what’s the big deal? The big deal is that I’m only aware of 2, or at most 3, North American bird blogs (of the more than 200 that I’m familiar with) that have Technorati Authorities that exceed 100. So how is it that a “new kid on the block” can have a valid Technorati Authority of 109?
I have nothing personal against this particular blog or the blogger, it just seems that it is being operated within a system designed to scam Technorati. The blog of which I speak is hosted by a company called 451 Press (for more information about how this company functions click About and Write for Us at this link).
If you’re at all familiar with Technorati, you know that “Technorati Authority is [based on] the number of blogs linking to a website in the last six months. The higher the number, the more Technorati Authority the blog has.”
So what’s the big deal? The big deal is that I’m only aware of 2, or at most 3, North American bird blogs (of the more than 200 that I’m familiar with) that have Technorati Authorities that exceed 100. So how is it that a “new kid on the block” can have a valid Technorati Authority of 109?
I have nothing personal against this particular blog or the blogger, it just seems that it is being operated within a system designed to scam Technorati. The blog of which I speak is hosted by a company called 451 Press (for more information about how this company functions click About and Write for Us at this link).
posted by John L. Trapp at
5/27/2007 10:56:00 AM
4 Comments:
I don't think the system is designed to scam technorati, but it is perhaps an effect of the way the blogging network is set up. As soon as you are set up, you are automatically linked by other blogs by similar topics and it has more to do with trying to promote blogs within a community rather than directly attempting to mess with technorati.
Go through TTLB, in particular, and you may notice how many of the highly ranked blogs do not have the traffic to match. They got there by joining every blogroll under the sun. I see those more as a direct attempt to "scam" because they seem to be doing it simply for the ranking.
I think 451Press is just trying to promote its blogs within its system.
Technorati may need to adjust its authority algorithm to deal with stuff like this. Maybe assign all the blogs in the system to the same score, or not count links from blogs in the same system. Of course that would need to take into account hosting systems, like blogspot and wordpress, where the hosting is common but the blogs are actually independently produced.
The name of that company is more than a little disturbing. Book burning means more than just technological change.
Thanks, Dana, I appreciate your viewpoint on this. But if this is not an outright attempt to scam Technorati, then I think there is something seriously wrong with the way Technorati's Authority rankings are computed. Just my opinion.
Thanks for your comments, John. It is the blatant for-profit nature of the company that concerns me. They are recruiting so-called "free-lance writers" with the promise of making money from the advertising revenue generated by the company. I like to think that making money is not all that blogging should be about.
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