The most linked UK weblogs, May 2005.

In May 2004, I compiled a Top 50 chart of the most linked UK weblogs, using data culled from Technorati. A year later, I’ve decided to do the same thing again, with the list expanded to a Top 60.

As you’ll see, there has been a lot of movement, with 19 new entries in the Top 50 and some significant climbers. Inevitably, the bar for inclusion has also been raised. A year ago, the #50 blog only needed 114 links to qualify; this year, it needs 218. As a result, all of the blogs which have dropped down the chart have actually gained significant numbers of new links.

The usual caveats apply. Links are only counted if they come from other weblogs, so there is little indication of popularity in the outside world. A high number of links does not necessarily mean a high amount of traffic, and vice versa. As “political” weblogs tend to have much longer blogrolls than other weblogs, the chart is therefore weighted in their favour to a certain degree. Blogs which have changed their URLs in the last year lose all their old links, and have to start again from zero. (Like this one, in fact.) Blogs with two completely different URLs suffer, as I can only include one of them. (If I added the two figures together, then there would be too many duplicates.) And – most importantly of all – there is not necessarily any meaningful correlation between popularity and quality. So no tears before bedtime, OK?

My definition of a “UK weblog” – which might well differ from yours – is that its author should be currently resident in the UK. If it’s a group weblog, then the majority of its authors should be living in the UK. Actual British citizenship doesn’t come into it; residency is all that’s required. This also means that I’ve excluded weblogs written by ex-pat Brits who are living abroad.

As always, there are bound to be some omissions. If you know of a blog which should be included, then please let me know.

(This was partially inspired by a new site called Blogebrity, which has attempted to codify the whole A-list / B-list / C-list thing for real, but which – so far as I can detect – has only included two UK weblogs on its lists. Apparently, there’s also a glossy “blog celebrity” magazine in the pipeline. Yes, that’s what I thought.)