Thank you for making this explicit, Stu. I've been wondering why I had a higher number than, say, Garden Rant. The only thing I could think of was that 10-day average thing. Also, I know I added that code long before Garden Rant did, and they've been steadily going up, and I've been steadily going down . . . sigh. At one point I think I was number 8. Those were the days.

1250? I'm jealous. But then, you work a lot harder at it than I do.

I've been wondering for a while now how some of those top 10 sites got there, and how, for example, Rex's Seedco stays at #1, no matter what.

At the same time, I've been wondering why I have the silly thing on my blog at all, and now that you've exposed some of the shadiness involved with the Top 100, I may finally take it off altogether. Even if the problems with it are fixed, it's really nothing more than the blog equivalent of a vanity license plate.

I think I just talked myself into removing it...

You know, I've been wondering what in the world their algorithm must be. I don't particularly trust them, but am not quite ready to remove the banner from my site. It does bring a little bit of traffic to have me on that list. But I've never looked at it as any kind of definitive ranking...that's for sure...

It took me two readings to even figure out what you guys were talking about. I'd never noticed that banner before, nor did I know about this subtle (or not so subtle) competition going on out there in garden-blog land. Ignorance was bliss!

Interesting comments ladies. I know Kathy and Colleen have been watching this closely and most of the blogs that I add to my blog directory already have the banner firmly imbedded. So, where have you been Pam? - lol.

Colleen is exactly right - this is nothing but unabashed vanity and they should be getting it right, dammit! How are we supposed to crow about our position if nobody's playing by the rules.

I'm saying all this with tongue in cheek, of course, but I seriously think this is a beneficial site and could be improved heaps - hence the post.

The comment about Rex Seed Co. is even more interesting as Compete.com ranks their visitors at almost 10% of this blog and a staggering 1.5% of Yardiac's monthly visitors.

The thlot plickens...

I just looked at my stats to see how much traffic Top100 brought me in July. It was 14 visitors. Definitely not a huge source of traffic for me.

Regarding my "vanity plate" comment...I hope that didn't offend anyone. But that "Top 100" doesn't really mean anything because it's not accurate. Sites like Dave's Garden, Soul of the Garden, organicgardening.com and the like haven't bothered to register, and all of them would be well ahead of most of us. So, we're not the "Top 100 Gardening Sites." We're the "Top 100 people who bothered to register for this service, add code to our sites, and give free advertising and traffic to Top 100." I'm definitely taking it off.

Wow Colleen. I don't think I've ever seen you so passionate.

I guess it would be a bit hypocritical of me if mine didn't come of as well.

In the morning....

LOL Well, your post just kind of made me realize that, more than anything, we've been being used. I HATE that.

I'm really glad you looked into all of this. Remember a while back when I emailed you, joking about how I was ahead of you in the Top 100? This whole thing started to seem fishy to me back then, because I KNOW for a fact that you get about ten times the daily traffic that I do.

I won't think less of you if you keep it on. I just tend to hold a grudge about things like being used/duped by someone, so it's already gone from my blog. Maybe it's the Irish in me? ;-)

I tend to agree - and this is why...

We had the top 100 gardening sites banner posted at the bottom of every Yardiac.com page and quickly rose to the #1 spot.

About three weeks ago we noticed their Top 100 Database was constantly serving up errors and our ranking went to #2. A quick check at Alexa.com showed that our traffic levels were superior that the NEW #1 site. At that point we tried to contact the site administrators and received no response.

This lead to the eventual removal of the HTML banner from the Yardiac.com site. How we still are achieving the # 4 ranking is extremely curious to me?

Colleen - it's going as soon as I've finished this comment. The research, and anecdotal evidence from others, confirms that this is not a site I want to support either - no matter how much it strokes my ego when it lifts my ranking.

Paul - cheers for entering the discussion and I'm glad you shared what you have. Understanding now where you guys are coming from has removed a 'bad taste from my mouth' and I totally appreciate what you've done.

I could never understand why your Compete.com (a much more trustworthy site) showed your traffic as so high yet the Top 100 current #1 was significantly below every one and trumping all of us.

Gone. All gone....

Unlike Pam/Digging, I noticed the banner a long time ago and checked it out... not in a scientific way- just scrolled through, seeing a few blogs that I enjoyed, a lot that seemed to be strictly commercial and some that I knew seldom posted anything new or worth looking at.

I never believed the banner to have any validity, and I did think you were displaying vanity plates!

But of course, I liked y'all anyway ;-]

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

I'm all for vanity plates - isn't that what a blog is anyway?

In fact, now I have this free space at the top of my blog with nothing in it - any ideas on what to fill it with?

I'm with Pam/Digging--I never even noticed there was such a thing until I read Kathy Purdy's post linking back to this one. I don't pay much attention to banners and ads and meters--anything that clutters the page. I stopped reading some blogs which seem to be more ads than content for the same reason I don't subscribe to a newspaper anymore.

Interesting point MSS. I find that what's in a persons sidebar is as revelatory as perusing their bookshelves. Why? Because it gives you a glimpse into what makes them tick as their sidebars usually gives a glimpse of their personality moreso than actually reading their content.

I once had the same view as you have but can now freely move amongst most blogs and enjoy different people for who they are warts (banners) and all. However, I still struggle with those ADHD bloggers who MUST HAVE flashing banners and adverts. They are truly disturbed individuals.

you can add me to the list of people who had never even noticed or heard of this 'service."

Wow. I'm convinced. It's going as soon as I leave here. I feel a bit silly that I hadn't gotten this before. I mean, I removed other stuff that I didn't like and felt wasn't me (very perceptive, Stuart, sidebars are revealing!) and seemed to just benefit another.

Sigh. I guess it did feed a vanity I wasn't willing to admit I had. Although, it couldn't be too much of one (laughing) because I was never up that high in the rankings!

Okay, off to remove...

LOL,

I had that up a long time ago and then took it down shortly after it went up. I'm still getting a couple of referrals from them.

Mr Brown Thumb - since I took mine down late last week I'm still sitting in the same position. So I decided to alter my details and point back at Top100GardeningSites. It won't do anything, of course, but at least it won't tar my blog.

Gotta Garden - it's actually okay to keep up with the numbers. Most bloggers do it because it shows us whether we're moving ahead or not. It all depends on what your measurement of success is. As some have said at Kathy's blog, they view comments as their test of success while others chase the numbers.

Personally I like both, plus; links back to my site, reviews of GTNI, awards etc. Basically anything that continues to lift the presence of my blog and the gardening blogosphere in general.

Thanks for this post... I'm off to remove it from our site right now! Think their site is down anyway :-D

thanks al ot

very good

thanks