Search Engine Land's Secrets : Mining SearchCap

I really like SearchCap - it's the daily summary of events at Search Engine Land and it includes interesting link finds from around the web.

I've been analysing those link finds. I've looked at three whole months of data! That's a lot. That's 2963 links, excluding links to press release wires and sphinn, and a date range from 1st August to the 31st of October.

In this time Search Engine Land has cited 467 sources! Wow. That's a figure you should use when someone tries to claim that bloggers single source or simple repost news from their RSS reader of a dozen sites.

The most influential site is Search Engine Roundtable (182 posts) which easily beats SearchEngineWatch (105 posts). The top ten sites account for 801 posts and that's nearly 30% of the total. Not bad. I actually have a graph of the longtail (though Microsoft's Excel doesn't name every node on the x-axis). This is a very long graph and you need to click and horizontally scroll to cope with it.


To get these figures I've done my best to aggregate names and sources. For example, Barry Schwartz is sometimes cited as Cartoon Barry, Wolf Howl could be Graywolf or Micheal Gray, etc.
I'm uploading a bunch of visualisations for this research as they're the best way to get to grips with the data. However, Excel can only map about half of the sources that Search Engine Land actually uses and so graphs like the radar to the left of this have been limited to the top 50 or the top 20.

There are some interesting bits of advice if you're interested in getting into Search Engine Land's SearchCap. Looking at the figures you can see that there are days when the editor (Danny Sullivan, Barry or, I suspect, Tamar giving Barry a helping hand) has made the effort to look around the net for a bunch of new sites or the established information feeders are having a slow day (SMX is on and they're all presenting or live blogging). Looking at this 3 month time period there are days when up to 8 sites make their premier appearance in the list of citations. The good news is that once you have the editors eye you're equally likely to get 2 post mentions as you are to get 1. Furthermore, once you break into the roundup you're likely to get mentioned sometime later that week too.

I'm going to do something crazy and post the whole top 467 list! Are you on it? Here goes!

  • 1st - Search Engine Roundtable - 182 posts

  • 2nd - Search Engine Watch - 105 posts

  • 3rd - Search Engine Journal - 84 posts

  • 4th - TechCrunch - 83 posts

  • 5th - SEOMoz - 70 posts

  • 6th - Search Engine Guide - 62 posts

  • 7th - News.com - 57 posts

  • 8th - SEO Book - 54 posts

  • 9th - ResourceShelf - 53 posts

  • 10th - Google Blogoscope - 51 posts

  • 11th - SEO by the Sea - 42 posts

  • 12th - New York Times - 40 posts

  • 13th - Google Operating System - 38 posts

  • 14th - Read/Write Web - 37 posts

  • 15th - Reuters - 35 posts

  • 16th - Online Marketing Blog - 32 posts

  • 17th - Bruce Clay - 30 posts

  • 18th - Googlified - 30 posts

  • 19th - adCenter Blog - 27 posts

  • 20th - Inside AdWords - 26 posts

  • 21st - MediaPost - 26 posts

  • 22nd - Marketing Pilgrim - 25 posts

  • 23rd - Forbes - 24 posts

  • 24th - Google LatLong - 24 posts

  • 25th - Official Google Blog - 24 posts

  • 26th - Search Engine Watch Blog - 24 posts

  • 27th - ClickZ - 23 posts

  • 28th - Digital Inspiration - 23 posts

  • 29th - PPC Hero - 22 posts

  • 30th - Google Earth Blog - 21 posts

  • 31st - InformationWeek - 19 posts

  • 32nd - Daily SearchCast - 17 posts

  • 33rd - Valleywag - 17 posts

  • 34th - Wall Street Journal - 17 posts

  • 35th - CNN Money - 15 posts

  • 36th - Joost de Valk - 15 posts

  • 37th - ViperChill - 15 posts

  • 38th - ProBlogger - 14 posts

  • 39th - ShoeMoney - 14 posts

  • 40th - SEOish - 13 posts

  • 41st - SEOptimise - 13 posts

  • 42nd - Stone Temple - 13 posts

  • 43rd - Inside AdSense - 12 posts

  • 44th - Pandia - 12 posts

  • 45th - Wired - 12 posts

  • 46th - www.10e20.com - 12 posts

  • 47th - AdWords API Blog - 11 posts

  • 48th - Bob Massa - 11 posts

  • 49th - BusinessWeek - 11 posts

  • 50th - Googling Google - 11 posts

  • 51st - The SEO Scoop - 11 posts

  • 52nd - Traffick - 11 posts

  • 53rd - Vanessa Fox - 11 posts

  • 54th - Ask.com Blog - 10 posts

  • 55th - Bill Hartzer - 10 posts

  • 56th - BlogStorm - 10 posts

  • 57th - Cre8PC - 10 posts

  • 58th - InsideGoogle - 10 posts

  • 59th - John Andrews - 10 posts

  • 60th - Pronet Advertising - 10 posts

  • 61st - Rimm Kaufman - 10 posts

  • 62nd - Yahoo Search Blog - 10 posts

  • 63rd - AIM Clear Blog - 9 posts

  • 64th - Bloomberg - 9 posts

  • 65th - E-Consultancy - 9 posts

  • 66th - Hakia Blog - 9 posts

  • 67th - Matt Cutts - 9 posts

  • 68th - Search Marketing Standard - 9 posts

  • 69th - Cartoon Barry - 8 posts

  • 70th - Fantomaster - 8 posts

  • 71st - GigaOM - 8 posts

  • 72nd - Google Maps API Blog - 8 posts

  • 73rd - Greg Boser - 8 posts

  • 74th - LinkJuicy - 8 posts

  • 75th - Official Google Webmaster Central Blog - 8 posts

  • 76th - PC World - 8 posts

  • 77th - Silicon Alley Insider - 8 posts

  • 78th - Times Online - 8 posts

  • 79th - Wolf Howl - 8 posts

  • 80th - Ad Age - 7 posts

  • 81st - Askville Blog - 7 posts

  • 82nd - ComparisonEngines.com - 7 posts

  • 83rd - David Dalka - 7 posts

  • 84th - Eric Goldman - 7 posts

  • 85th - John Mu - 7 posts

  • 86th - Jonathan Mendez's Blog - 7 posts

  • 87th - Official Gmail Blog - 7 posts

  • 88th - Reviewlicious - 7 posts

  • 89th - SEO Speedwagon - 7 posts

  • 90th - Site Visibility - 7 posts

  • 91st - Techipedia - 7 posts

  • 92nd - The Guardian - 7 posts

  • 93rd - The Register - 7 posts

  • 94th - WebProNews - 7 posts

  • 95th - Yahoo Publisher Network - 7 posts

  • 96th - Inside Google Book Search - 6 posts

  • 97th - Lifehacker - 6 posts

  • 98th - LiveSide - 6 posts

  • 99th - mashable.com - 6 posts

  • 100th - orkut Blog - 6 posts

  • 101st - Performancing.com - 6 posts

  • 102nd - SEO Fast Start - 6 posts

  • 103rd - Shimon Sandler - 6 posts

  • 104th - Small Business SEM - 6 posts

  • 105th - venturebeat.com - 6 posts

  • 106th - Yodel Anecdotal - 6 posts

  • 107th - eKstreme.com - 5 posts

  • 108th - Financial Times - 5 posts

  • 109th - Google - 5 posts

  • 110th - InfoWorld - 5 posts

  • 111th - Jim Boykin - 5 posts

  • 112th - John Battelle's Searchblog - 5 posts

  • 113th - Karl Ribas - 5 posts

  • 114th - Los Angeles Times - 5 posts

  • 115th - Mercury News - 5 posts

  • 116th - San Francisco Chronicle - 5 posts

  • 117th - Search Marketing Expo Blog - 5 posts

  • 118th - SiteMost - 5 posts

  • 119th - SmartMoney.com - 5 posts

  • 120th - Webware - 5 posts

  • 121st - Wired Blogs - 5 posts

  • 122nd - ZDNet - 5 posts

  • 123rd - AdWeek - 4 posts

  • 124th - Andrew Girdwood - 4 posts

  • 125th - DMOZ Blog - 4 posts

  • 126th - Google Analytics Blog - 4 posts

  • 127th - Google Code - Updates - 4 posts

  • 128th - Google Public Policy Blog - 4 posts

  • 129th - Hitwise - 4 posts

  • 130th - Jennifer Slegg - 4 posts

  • 131st - Live Search Blog - 4 posts

  • 132nd - Locally Type - 4 posts

  • 133rd - McAnerin Muse - 4 posts

  • 134th - Pacific Epoch - 4 posts

  • 135th - Paid Content - 4 posts

  • 136th - PPC Discussions - 4 posts

  • 137th - Red Herring - 4 posts

  • 138th - SeattleTimes - 4 posts

  • 139th - SEO Beginning Podcast - 4 posts

  • 140th - The Link Spiel - 4 posts

  • 141st - YouTube Blog - 4 posts

  • 142nd - AllThingsD - 3 posts

  • 143rd - AP - 3 posts

  • 144th - Chicago Tribune - 3 posts

  • 145th - Compete Blog - 3 posts

  • 146th - eWeek - 3 posts

  • 147th - Google Gears API Blog - 3 posts

  • 148th - Google Mashup Editor Blog - 3 posts

  • 149th - Google News Blog - 3 posts

  • 150th - Inside Facebook - 3 posts

  • 151st - Micro Persuasion - 3 posts

  • 152nd - National Post - 3 posts

  • 153rd - Oilman - 3 posts

  • 154th - Paul Kedrosky - 3 posts

  • 155th - Robert Scoble - 3 posts

  • 156th - San Jose Mercury News - 3 posts

  • 157th - Search Engine College - 3 posts

  • 158th - Search Engine Strategies - 3 posts

  • 159th - Techdirt - 3 posts

  • 160th - Telegraph - 3 posts

  • 161st - Threadwatcher - 3 posts

  • 162nd - Twitter Blog - 3 posts

  • 163rd - Vnunet.com - 3 posts

  • 164th - Washington Post - 3 posts

  • 165th - Web Analytics World - 3 posts

  • 166th - 97th Floor - 2 posts

  • 167th - ABC News - 2 posts

  • 168th - Ars Technica - 2 posts

  • 169th - Ask Kalena - 2 posts

  • 170th - Between the Lines - 2 posts

  • 171st - bigmouthmedia - 2 posts

  • 172nd - Bill Tancer - 2 posts

  • 173rd - Blogger Buzz - 2 posts

  • 174th - Bloglines Blog - 2 posts

  • 175th - BtoB Magazine - 2 posts

  • 176th - Carnage4Life - 2 posts

  • 177th - Channel Register - 2 posts

  • 178th - Chris Pirillo - 2 posts

  • 179th - Closed Loop Marketing - 2 posts

  • 180th - ComputerWorld - 2 posts

  • 181st - comScore - 2 posts

  • 182nd - Copyblogger - 2 posts

  • 183rd - David Naylor - 2 posts

  • 184th - Digg the Blog - 2 posts

  • 185th - DM News - 2 posts

  • 186th - Docuticker - 2 posts

  • 187th - Download Squad - 2 posts

  • 188th - Economist.com - 2 posts

  • 189th - Engadget - 2 posts

  • 190th - Evil Green Monkey - 2 posts

  • 191st - Facebook Developers News - 2 posts

  • 192nd - Fast Company - 2 posts

  • 193rd - Google AJAX Search API Blog - 2 posts

  • 194th - Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog - 2 posts

  • 195th - Google Health Ads Blog - 2 posts

  • 196th - Google Photos Blog - 2 posts

  • 197th - HighRankings - 2 posts

  • 198th - JenSense - 2 posts

  • 199th - Jeremy Zawodny - 2 posts

  • 200th - Joseph Morin - 2 posts

  • 201st - juberjabber - 2 posts

  • 202nd - Jupiter Research - 2 posts

  • 203rd - Justin Davy - 2 posts

  • 204th - MacWorld - 2 posts

  • 205th - MarketingVOX - 2 posts

  • 206th - marketmou.com - 2 posts

  • 207th - MarketWatch - 2 posts

  • 208th - Mike Blumenthal - 2 posts

  • 209th - Muhammad Saleem - 2 posts

  • 210th - news.com.com - 2 posts

  • 211th - Official Google Checkout Blog - 2 posts

  • 212th - Official Google Mac Blog - 2 posts

  • 213th - Opera Developer Community - 2 posts

  • 214th - PC Magazine - 2 posts

  • 215th - Portland SEM Professionals Blog - 2 posts

  • 216th - Radar Online - 2 posts

  • 217th - Reflections of a Newsosaur - 2 posts

  • 218th - Rev2.org - 2 posts

  • 219th - Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog - 2 posts

  • 220th - Search Engine War - 2 posts

  • 221st - Search Marketing Gurus - 2 posts

  • 222nd - Search Pulse - 2 posts

  • 223rd - Searchnewz - 2 posts

  • 224th - SEC - 2 posts

  • 225th - SEM Geek - 2 posts

  • 226th - SEM Portland - 2 posts

  • 227th - SEO Home - 2 posts

  • 228th - SEO Montreal - 2 posts

  • 229th - SiteProNews Blog - 2 posts

  • 230th - Skrentablog - 2 posts

  • 231st - Squareoak - 2 posts

  • 232nd - Stuntdubl - 2 posts

  • 233rd - Tamar Search Blog - 2 posts

  • 234th - TorrentFreak - 2 posts

  • 235th - Tropical SEO - 2 posts

  • 236th - Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search - 2 posts

  • 237th - USA Today - 2 posts

  • 238th - Yahoo Local Blog - 2 posts

  • 239th - 24/7 Wall St. - 1 post

  • 240th - AccuraCast - 1 post

  • 241st - Adotas - 1 post

  • 242nd - AFX - 1 post

  • 243rd - AIMS - 1 post

  • 244th - All About Microsoft - 1 post

  • 245th - Alt Search Engines - 1 post

  • 246th - Altogether Digital - 1 post

  • 247th - Andy Beard - 1 post

  • 248th - Assetbar - 1 post

  • 249th - Australian IT - 1 post

  • 250th - billing.tmcnet.com - 1 post

  • 251st - blog.flickr.com - 1 post

  • 252nd - Blogger Blog - 1 post

  • 253rd - BloggingStocks - 1 post

  • 254th - Bloglines News - 1 post

  • 255th - blognation UK - 1 post

  • 256th - blogs.cnet.com - 1 post

  • 257th - blogs.msdn.com - 1 post

  • 258th - Blue Hat SEO - 1 post

  • 259th - boston.bizjournals.com - 1 post

  • 260th - Brad Geddes - 1 post

  • 261st - Brisbane SEO Blog - 1 post

  • 262nd - Business Standard - 1 post

  • 263rd - Campus Technology - 1 post

  • 264th - Catherine "Cat" Seda - 1 post

  • 265th - CBC - 1 post

  • 266th - CenterNetworks - 1 post

  • 267th - Charlene Li - 1 post

  • 268th - Chilling Effects Clearinghouse - 1 post

  • 269th - Chris Boggs - 1 post

  • 270th - Chronicle.com - 1 post

  • 271st - CNBC.com - 1 post

  • 272nd - Coding Horror - 1 post

  • 273rd - Cre8asite Blog - 1 post

  • 274th - Cre8tive Flow - 1 post

  • 275th - CRN - 1 post

  • 276th - Cshel - 1 post

  • 277th - Daggle - 1 post

  • 278th - Dairies Around The World - 1 post

  • 279th - DamnDomainer - 1 post

  • 280th - Dan Skeen - 1 post

  • 281st - David Airey - 1 post

  • 282nd - David Weiss - 1 post

  • 283rd - Deutsche Welle - 1 post

  • 284th - Dexterity Media - 1 post

  • 285th - Digg - 1 post

  • 286th - Distilled - 1 post

  • 287th - DomainTools - 1 post

  • 288th - DoshDosh - 1 post

  • 289th - Editor & Publisher - 1 post

  • 290th - Ego Food - 1 post

  • 291st - E-Marketing Performanc - 1 post

  • 292nd - Engine Ready - 1 post

  • 293rd - Eric Enge - 1 post

  • 294th - eWhisper.net - 1 post

  • 295th - Fathom SEO - 1 post

  • 296th - F'dGoogle - 1 post

  • 297th - FierceIPTV - 1 post

  • 298th - FirstMonday - 1 post

  • 299th - FTC - 1 post

  • 300th - Gadood - 1 post

  • 301st - Geeking with Greg - 1 post

  • 302nd - Gnucitizen - 1 post

  • 303rd - Google Custom Search - 1 post

  • 304th - Google Desktop APIs - 1 post

  • 305th - Google Reader Blog - 1 post

  • 306th - Google SketchUp Blog - 1 post

  • 307th - Google Web Toolkit Blog - 1 post

  • 308th - googlewatch.eweek.com - 1 post

  • 309th - Graphing Social - 1 post

  • 310th - Green Marketing Blog - 1 post

  • 311th - Groklaw - 1 post

  • 312th - Groundswell - 1 post

  • 313th - Gspy - 1 post

  • 314th - Guardian Unlimited - 1 post

  • 315th - ha.ckers.org - 1 post

  • 316th - Half's SEO Notebook - 1 post

  • 317th - Hamlet Batista - 1 post

  • 318th - Hindustan Times - 1 post

  • 319th - Hotmail Blog - 1 post

  • 320th - HTML Goodies - 1 post

  • 321st - IEEE Spectrum - 1 post

  • 322nd - I'm Not A Doctor - 1 post

  • 323rd - InfoToday - 1 post

  • 324th - INQUIRER.net - 1 post

  • 325th - Inside Google Desktop - 1 post

  • 326th - Intrapromote - 1 post

  • 327th - Jabz - 1 post

  • 328th - Jack Humphrey - 1 post

  • 329th - Jason Bartholme - 1 post

  • 330th - Jewess - 1 post

  • 331st - Jill Whalen - 1 post

  • 332nd - JLH Design - 1 post

  • 333rd - John Honeck - 1 post

  • 334th - Joost - 1 post

  • 335th - Kevin Lee - 1 post

  • 336th - Lee McCoy - 1 post

  • 337th - LinkedIn Blog - 1 post

  • 338th - Linux Insider - 1 post

  • 339th - Live Maps Blog - 1 post

  • 340th - Lost Art Of Blogging - 1 post

  • 341st - Mad - 1 post

  • 342nd - Marketing Piranha - 1 post

  • 343rd - Marketing Week - 1 post

  • 344th - MarketingSherpa - 1 post

  • 345th - MarketingShift - 1 post

  • 346th - Media Info Center - 1 post

  • 347th - MediaWeek - 1 post

  • 348th - Mercury News - 1 post

  • 349th - Metaversed - 1 post

  • 350th - Middle East Times - 1 post

  • 351st - Mike Grehan - 1 post

  • 352nd - Mike Nott - 1 post

  • 353rd - Mike The Internet Guy - 1 post

  • 354th - Mitt Romney - 1 post

  • 355th - MSNBC.com - 1 post

  • 356th - Multilingual Search - 1 post

  • 357th - Natural Search Blog - 1 post

  • 358th - Netcraft - 1 post

  • 359th - News & Observer - 1 post

  • 360th - news.zdnet.com - 1 post

  • 361st - Newsknife - 1 post

  • 362nd - NewTeeVee - 1 post

  • 363rd - NMA - 1 post

  • 364th - nvestor's Business Daily - 1 post

  • 365th - Official Google CPG Blog - 1 post

  • 366th - Official Google Enterprise Blog - 1 post

  • 367th - Ogle Earth - 1 post

  • 368th - Ogletree - 1 post

  • 369th - Omniture - 1 post

  • 370th - One Man's Blog - 1 post

  • 371st - ONLamp.com - 1 post

  • 372nd - OUT-LAW.COM - 1 post

  • 373rd - Page Zero Media - 1 post

  • 374th - PC Advisor - 1 post

  • 375th - Pennsylvania State University - 1 post

  • 376th - Pipes Blog - 1 post

  • 377th - Pocket SEO - 1 post

  • 378th - PPC Lab - 1 post

  • 379th - Practical Ecommerce - 1 post

  • 380th - Pubcon Blog - 1 post

  • 381st - Quick Sprout - 1 post

  • 382nd - radar.oreilly.com - 1 post

  • 383rd - RB Digital Rodeo - 1 post

  • 384th - Reality SEO - 1 post

  • 385th - RentVine.com - 1 post

  • 386th - reportonbusiness.com - 1 post

  • 387th - ResearchBuzz - 1 post

  • 388th - Rhea Drysdale - 1 post

  • 389th - rizzn.com v11.1 - 1 post

  • 390th - Royal Pingdom - 1 post

  • 391st - roySchneider.com - 1 post

  • 392nd - Salon - 1 post

  • 393rd - San Jose Business Journal - 1 post

  • 394th - Scott Hendison - 1 post

  • 395th - Screenwerk - 1 post

  • 396th - ScrippsNews - 1 post

  • 397th - Scripting News - 1 post

  • 398th - Search Engine Blog - 1 post

  • 399th - Search Engine People - 1 post

  • 400th - Search Tools - 1 post

  • 401st - SearchRank - 1 post

  • 402nd - Seattle 24x7 - 1 post

  • 403rd - Seeking Alpha - 1 post

  • 404th - SEM Scholar - 1 post

  • 405th - SEM Spot - 1 post

  • 406th - SEO 2.0 - 1 post

  • 407th - SEO Brien - 1 post

  • 408th - SEO Consultants - 1 post

  • 409th - SEO Egghead - 1 post

  • 410th - SEO Refugee - 1 post

  • 411th - SEO Trends - 1 post

  • 412th - SEO Wife - 1 post

  • 413th - SEOCO Blog - 1 post

  • 414th - SEOdisco - 1 post

  • 415th - ShadyKing - 1 post

  • 416th - shanghaiist.com - 1 post

  • 417th - Shylock Blogging - 1 post

  • 418th - SiteLogic - 1 post

  • 419th - slashdot.org - 1 post

  • 420th - smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com - 1 post

  • 421st - Small Business Hub - 1 post

  • 422nd - Snowboard John - 1 post

  • 423rd - Social Media Explorer - 1 post

  • 424th - Sugarrae - 1 post

  • 425th - Sydney Morning Herald - 1 post

  • 426th - Technology Evangelist - 1 post

  • 427th - Technology Review - 1 post

  • 428th - Technovelgy - 1 post

  • 429th - Text Link Center - 1 post

  • 430th - The Agency Blog - 1 post

  • 431st - The Canadian Press - 1 post

  • 432nd - The Dalles Chronicle - 1 post

  • 433rd - The DigitalGrit Blog - 1 post

  • 434th - The Korea Times - 1 post

  • 435th - The Mobile Gadgeteer - 1 post

  • 436th - The New York Observer - 1 post

  • 437th - The Onion - 1 post

  • 438th - The Organic SEO - 1 post

  • 439th - The Pownce Blog - 1 post

  • 440th - The Red Tape Chronicles - 1 post

  • 441st - The Sun Chronicle Online - 1 post

  • 442nd - The Unofficial Facebook Blog - 1 post

  • 443rd - TUAW - 1 post

  • 444th - Twist Image - 1 post

  • 445th - US News - 1 post

  • 446th - Utah Search Engine Optimization - 1 post

  • 447th - V7N Blog - 1 post

  • 448th - Virtual Hosting Blog - 1 post

  • 449th - Wiep.net - 1 post

  • 450th - Windows Live Blog - 1 post

  • 451st - Wireless Business - 1 post

  • 452nd - www.btobonline.com - 1 post

  • 453rd - www.fathomseo.com - 1 post

  • 454th - www.internetnews.com - 1 post

  • 455th - www.kxan.com - 1 post

  • 456th - www.labnol.org - 1 post

  • 457th - www.localseoguide.com - 1 post

  • 458th - www.pubcon.com - 1 post

  • 459th - www.ranksmart.com - 1 post

  • 460th - www.sagoodnews.co.za - 1 post

  • 461st - www.webbedmarketing.com - 1 post

  • 462nd - www.webwereld.nl - 1 post

  • 463rd - Yahoo Research - 1 post

  • 464th - Yahoo Widgets Blog - 1 post

  • 465th - Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog - 1 post

  • 466th - Yahoo! Video - 1 post

  • 467th - The Venture Skills Blog - 1 post


The graph above shows the inclusion rates of the top 20 contributors. As you can see; it's fairly spiky. Simply put on some days SearchCap includes more citations than on other days. There are days when the top feeders dominate the SearchCap and provide, between them, nearly 90% of the links.

I thought it might be interesting to look at SEOmoz and see how their inclusion has been over the last three months. Does it fluctuate? Yes, it does, but no more than any other site.


Gosh. There are some caveats here. There is an acceptable degree of error here. If this was a work project one of our Search Analysts would have done this, this would have been checked by another before being given to whoever requested the research in the first place (and may be checked again by their line manager). None of that happened here (no work resources was wasted on this project! :) ) so I've bound to have put a tally wrong here or there - but, as a whole, this is accurate enough research.

Update Barry suggested it would be nice to see what the average citations per day was - the answer is 40.8. It's rare to find a site get more than 5 citations. Search Engine Roundtable tends to pick up about 4% which is about 10%.

Comments

Unknown said…
Wow, wow, wow.
jquipp said…
Great work Andrew. Its very interesting.
Anonymous said…
Awesome analysis!
103rd ain't so bad;-)
Unknown said…
It would also be interested in seeing of those sites, which site gets cited more often outside the cap and in real SEL stories...

Also, looking at the number of posts per day (on average) from the sites that are included in the cap, would be interested.

I.e. SER posts on average over ten stories a day, compared with SEOmoz which posts maybe one or two. So being cited more often is cool, but of the number of posts, which site is more likely to get cited... See?
Andrew Girdwood said…
I didn't look at the SEL stories (oh! so much data!) but I can tell you that the average citations per day is 40.8.

Search Engine Roundtable is rare in that it sometimes gets more than 4 citations.
Unknown said…
Is it something you can do in the future? If not, I understand... a ton of work... Just so curious, on a % of posts per blog, as a ratio of the citations at SEL's cap.

Of course, I am biased.
Andrew Girdwood said…
If I could think of a business case for a really deep study - sure, easy. I'll get some minds on to it.

I doubt that such a level could be done, though.

However, in the future I think I could look at a month (rather than three) and include all SEL stories. I'd be able to compare that month to one of the three I've logged here.

Nothing's impossible but I just have to bare in mind that this blog is a favourite hobby not something that pages the wages.

Based on the trends I have in my spreadsheets I would predict that SER punches high in every weight you care to measure!

It would certainly be interesting to see what percentage of citations blogs managed to have. SER would get between 2% and 10% per day which would compare to SEW's 0.5% and 7%, for example (made up figures, not checked!). I suppose that's a good way to measure the influence/impact of individual blogs!
Patrick Altoft said…
You really should link to all the blogs so people can see your post on their reputation monitors.

Good list.
Anonymous said…
Holy cow, what an amazing amount of research - charts and all! Fascinating, Andrew. My compliments...

If you're looking for interesting information, you might break down the references by author. I believe Danny and Barry write very different SearchCaps in terms of how many links they include, what sites they reference, etc.
Tadeusz said…
Great! My SEO 2.0 blog is as important as MSNBC.com! ;-)
Unknown said…
Matt, not really.

Typically, Danny and I both work on the sources including in the cap.

I suspect if Danny goes solo, or if I go solo, there will be less sources cited in the cap --- simply because there is just one person looking.
Anonymous said…
I like that..

Cool idea..

Checked some of figures and mine was a bit off lol..

Could write a scraper for this hmmmm...

Nice work..
Andrew Girdwood said…
There are certainly a few bumps. I think Muhammad Saleem is due an extra post too. However, this was all done by hand and checked one (by the same person) so although I can say I didn't scrape Search Engine Land I think I have to admit a few errors are likely!
Unknown said…
Not sure if you got my previous comment...

Any chance you can email me the excel doc with the data?
Andrew Girdwood said…
Yup. Will send the excel file over in just a few ticks (it's on my laptop).

Didn't publish your previous comment as I was trying to protect your email address from Barry fans :)
Unknown said…
appreciated!
Anonymous said…
Really interesting stats there Andrew, especially if it was done by hand.

I did some similar by research for our presentation at SMX London of sphinn and it was really intensive, so fair play for putting in the leg-work and providing the analysis.

My uber stats geek side would love to see what catergories each story was in as well!
Anonymous said…
I would like to see the data from all time. I know I have been mentioned more than once. I was just more active before the dates on this.
Anonymous said…
I don't think I posted to SEL, but Danny did pick up one of my posts about Google Analytics - v. interesting analysis though Andrew!

Lee McCoy
Keep up the awesome work!

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