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Top 50 law blogs by common metrics

top 50 blogsDo you know how well one law blog compares to other blogs? Having a tough time looking for top blogs on a certain topic?
BlogRank collects data on thousands of blogs, evaluates them against common metrics and then ranks them. BlogRank has come out with dynamic rankings of blogs in about 50 areas, including the law, for which it provides a running top 50 law blog list.

Though what blog is best is always subject, based on your interests and who are looking to engage, BlogRank does their best to apply an objective analysis by looking at the following criteria.

  • Feedburner RSS subscribers
  • Unique monthly visitors
  • Yahoo indexed pages
  • Google indexed pages
  • By number of incoming links
  • Ratio of incoming links to numbers of pages
  • Google PageRank
  • Alexa rank (traffic analysis)
  • Compete rank (traffic analysis)

Seattle based, Avvo, which helps people make better decisions when hiring a lawyer, has run its list of top legal blogs, based on Alexa rankings alone, for sometime.

We around LexBlog like the BlogRank top 50 better than Avvo’s. My ‘Real Lawyers Have Blogs’ comes in at number 7 on BlogRank’s list and is no where to be seen in the top 481 on the Avvo list. In fairness to Avvo, they’re using only Alexa and my blog traffic, running on a subdomain of LexBlog.com, is not segregated from traffic to our corporate website.

Rankings are fun to look at, but don’t get too crazy over them. You ought to be following those blogs you find interesting, that add value to your life, and in which you engage the authors.

For those bloggers looking to build relationships and enhance their reputations to develop new business, niche blogs covering your area of the law, the industry you serve, and your locale, can be much more worthwhile to follow, engage, and build relationships with. Those blogs are the influencers of your clients and prospective clients and the amplifiers of your blog to your target audience.

In addition, those niche blogs off the ‘A list’ that are up written by up and coming bloggers are more likely to engage you. They have more time.

  • http://www.oklahomalawyer.com Clayton

    Do you know how Justia’s rankings (http://blawgsearch.justia.com/) compare?

  • http://www.lawsitesblog.com Bob Ambrogi

    This seems to be under-inclusive. My blog doesn’t show up at all. Based on my Compete and Alexa rankings, I should show up at least on those BlogRank sub-lists. By hunting around, I was able to find my blog listed on the site, but with the wrong URL — one that points to a completely different (and defunct) blog. I used the “add your blog” form, only to receive a message saying that it can take up to eight months for new listings to appear.
    Also, this list ranks RSS using only FeedBurner. That creates a bias against those of us who don’t use FeedBurner.
    All of which supports your point, that all of these ranking sites have their own inaccuracies and biases. They’re interesting, but not precise.

  • http://www.theiowaedict.com Steve Lombardi

    The rankings don’t seem legitimate. I have two blogs and one of them beats many of the ranked blogs on certain metrics yet neither of the blogs I write show up in any rankings. Put that aside and it appears to me most of these blogs have little to do with new client generation, which to me is the most important metric of them all. Yet no where in the rankings is this metric mentioned or measured. Frankly I could care less whether someone thinks my blog deserves to be “ranked” according to some arbitrary measure. My only measure is whether or not I’m generating leads for new clients. I have a ‘relationship’ with my wife, friends and family. To my clients I’m a lawyer, their lawyer; the one that cares if there is food on the table to feed their kids. If you ask them at supper time how I rank, I’m going to guess it’s pretty high. In the end I’m left with the notion that this is a political ranking having little to do with the reality of practicing lawyers.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin

    Agree across the board Steve. LexBlog Network members are not concerned about a popularity contest. They are concerned if thorough blogging they are growing their network, building relationships, establishing themselves a subject matter expert, and getting not just clients, but high quality clients. None of these are measured in a ranking like this.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin

    No question this list is not complete Bob, I probably should have said I was putting it up tongue in cheek. I am not a fan of top blog lists. That’s especially true when the list is put out by someone with knowledge of the industry.
    As consolation, I’ll make you my #1 favorite law blog author of January. ;)

  • http://blog.simplejustice.us shg

    I feel very badly for Bob, so I’m giving him my place on the list. And Althouse’s too. Of course, he may have to change his politics, but it’s a small price to pay.