After much procrastination - I’ve finished the November listings for Canada’s Top 25 Political Blogs.
Here’s the methodology:
A common measure of a blog’s ranking is the The Truth Laid Bear ecosystem (TTLB). This measure combines a blog’s inbound links and page visits per day. Page visits are calculated by sitemeter.
It’s a good measure but you have to actively go out and list your blog there - which a lot of people don’t do. So, while it’s good, it’s incomplete.
There is a work around for this - you can use Alexa data instead of Sitemeter, and as for the TTLB links measure, you can calculate the same from a simple Google Links search (i.e. ‘links:URI’), but I prefer to use Google Page Rank for this.
Here is how page rank works:
PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important”.
In other words, some blogs may have a lot of links, but many of those links could be from sites read by 10 people a week. Google discounts the value of those links and inflates the value of links from, say MacLean’s or Reuters, or HotAir or what have you. So Google Page Rank provides us with a qualitative measure of a blog’s influence and Alexa tells us it’s overall traffic .
There is one thing you will notice in the listings and that is the notable absence of Paul Wells, MegaPundit Kady O’Malley. Their numbers are indistinguishable from MacLeans Magazine, so I can’t get data for them. I’ll email them and just ask them what their numbers are and if I get a shout back I’ll put them back in the rankings.
Current Rank Site Google Page Rank Alexa Traffic Rank October Rank
- Matthew Good | Google PR6 | Alexa 196029 | OR3 |
- Small Dead Animals | Google PR5 | Alexa 188317 | OR2 |
- Le Blogue du Quebec | Google PR5 | Alexa: 268827 | OR8 |
- Abandoned Stuff | Google PR5 | Alexa: 351934 | OR12 |
- Vive le Canada | Google PR5 | Alexa: 425441 | OR10 |
- Angry in the Great White North | Google PR5 | Alexa: 465761 | OR11 |
- Canadian Cynic | Google PR5 | Alexa: 558037 | OR4 |
- Daimnation | Google PR5 | Alexa: 628926 | OR5 |
- Democratic Space | Google PR5 | Alexa: 645231 | OR20|
- Le Revue Gauche | Google PR5 | Alexa 665168 | OR25 |
- Gen X at 40 | Google PR5 | Alexa: 672463 | OR15 |
- Calgary Grit | Google PR5 | Alexa: 717108 | OR14 |
- Warren Kinsella Musings | Google PR5 | Alexa: 735587 | OR16 |
- Red Tory | Google PR5 | Alexa: 797590 | OR17 |
- Stephen Taylor | Google PR5 | Alexa: 859208 | OR22 |
- Andrew Coyne | Google PR5 | Alexa: 871597 | OR23 |
- Galloping Beaver | Google PR5 | Alexa: 916961 | OR7 |
- Colby Cosh | Google PR5 | Alexa: 1226777 | OR6 |
- Let Freedom Reign | Google PR5 | Alexa: 1693810 | OR– |
- Five Feet of Fury | Google PR4 | Alexa: 232694 | OR18 |
- Garth Turner Unedited | Google PR4 | Alexa: 473502 | OR– |
- Proud to be Canadian | Google PR4 | Alexa: 545647 | OR13 |
- Paulitics | Google PR4 | Alexa: 696134 | OR– |
- Dust My Broom | Google PR4 | Alexa: 709.827 | OR19 |
- Werner Patels - The Spade | Google PR4 | Alexa: 744980 | OR– |
If you know of any Canadian political blogs that you think should be in the Top 25, please let me know in the comments section.
Thanks for once again compiling this list.
Is the graphic(s) you use free for others to use as a link to your list? If so, do we save them to our own image host first?
Hey Saskboy - feel free to use the graphic. It’s hosted on wordpress so please feel free to just nick the link.
Thanks for the link by the way.
I wouldn’t call it quite a political blog, but a blog that a lot of political people should read is http://www.michaelgeist.ca - alexa rank of 204,661, pagerank of 6
Thx Aaron, I’ll go through it soon and may add it for next month
I’d vote to include Geist. I refer to him often on copyright issues.
I’m with others here — scratch Matthew Good — he’s a rock star! — and you gotta have Geist.
And don’t worry about poor old Paul W. — he’s in Europe now, dontcha know? — and it’s up to poor old Kady to keep up the traffic for those interested in what’s goin’ down in Bytown …. :)
On Dr. Geist,
He most certainly is now a political player given his excellent help in organizing a large group of people to show up at Jim Prentice’s open house. This is an interesting site that I was glad to stumble upon.
Jake