Technorati Authority Is Manipulated Too Easily
Technorati is the bloggers choice for ranking blogs, allocating bloggers a ranking anywhere between 1 and a few million. The number of blogs are always changing. Most bloggers seem to get a kick out of seeing this authority ranking improve and spend a lot of time concentrating on improving it. But today I was just thinking to myself just how inaccurate the Technorati authority ranking system, and all other ranking systems, such as Alexa, are on a whole. Their algorithms have so many flaws and ways to manipulate the system that it seems like it isn’t always the good blogs with the best authority ranks, but instead the blogs with the most manipulative minds behind them (no offense too anyone, just making a generalisation).
Although their list of the top 100 blogs can hardly be manipulated, I have seen manipulated authority rankings ranging anywhere from the top 2k to the top 150k. It appears that in this range of blogs, few rankings are determined by how much free stuff they give away or how much paid promotion they have done, rather than natural, in content links.
Ways In Which Bloggers Manipulate Technorati Authority Rank
- Purchasing bulk blog posts on hundreds of blogs over different C-Class IP’s – Head over to the link sales section of DP and you will see what I am talking about. For around $100 you can make your ranking go from 1,500,000 to 40,000 very easily.
- Commenting on hundreds of blogs of which you get in the top commentators widget – This method is free. I have found that most bloggers don’t even realize when commenting that there is a good chance of them getting one Technorati authority point because they are in the top commentators widget. I feel that including the links in this widget is inaccurate as the linking is not controlled by the owner of the blog, but by the commentator.
- Distributing free items – By distributing free items such as WordPress themes and widgets that include a link back to your blog bloggers can gain thousands of links counted by the Technorati authority system, effectively placing some blogs into the top 2k list even though they may have very minimal presence or traffic.
It’s not just Technorati authority that I feel can be easily manipulated. Alexa is probably even worse.
Variable 1. A blank domain name with no site and no traffic, it is simply visited by me once a day to check my stats of this blog on. Alexa Rank = 700,000
Variable 2. A functional soccer website averaging about 20 visitors a day since I have neglected it and never visited by me. Alexa Rank = 5,800,000
Can you see how dodgy it is… Whatever rank you want can be controlled by you.
Link Bait 101: What, Why, How?
Link bait is rapidly becoming an extremely effective and powerful way of bringing in visitors from other blogs, and although it is very common, many bloggers are unsure how to write good link bait but mainly how to get it noticed.
This will be a 2 part series on Link Baiting.
What?
Link baiting is the term given to articles, contests, events, or any other material that easily catches the eye of other bloggers and makes them want to also blog about what you have written. This generally will include a link back to your original bait… hence, we have the term link bait. Link baiting is done for 3 main reasons:
1. Links (kind of obvious isn’t it)
2. Traffic
3. Exposure
When building up a blog, it is important for it to gain exposure among the higher ranks of bloggers, as if you also have good content, you will gain more loyal readers.
Why?
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, link baiting is done for three main reasons: traffic, links and exposure. The importance of these in the success of a site is huge, so don’t shy away from producing some good link bait, thinking it won’t harm your blog.
Throughout the day today a singe thought/quote had been popping into my head. Now, I don’t know if this is a famous quote or something I came up with, but I will give it to you:
“To be a big gun, you have to mix with the big guns” 
Now, all day I have been thinking about how relevant this is to all aspects of everyday life. Guess what?…. this includes blogging. It means, to have your blog known and successful you have to make it known to the rest of the world that it exists and that it is good. This includes the big guys in your industry. If they like it, they will be the ones to get you seen and noticed.
How?
This is where most people struggle. How do I create link bait? Well, there are a couple of ways in which link bait can be created. Some examples are:
- Hold a contest – this will get you a large amount of traffic, and if held correctly, can result in many new suscribers and links to your page. For example, holding a contest that requires entrants to suscribe to RSS or for them to blog about it.
- Make a top 10 list – these lists are enjoyed by people and do extremely well in getting to the front page of social bookmarking sites, such as Digg and Propeller.
- Write a post disagreeing with another bloggers views – this will create a bit of controversy and get people talking about your site
- Give something away – this can be something as small as an ebook or a link on your site. It will attract readers.
Check back soon for Part 2 in this series, ‘How To Get Your Link Bait Noticed‘.
Oh, and I want to hear your success stories writing link bait. Please do share