---
title: "How Blogs Dominate Google — One Highly-Linked-To Blog Can Rule the World"
date: 2007-04-28
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $("
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/04/28/how-blogs-dominate-google-one-highly-linked-to-blog-can-rule-the-world/
---
# How Blogs Dominate Google — One Highly-Linked-To Blog Can Rule the World
"[The See-Through CEO](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_ceo.html)," an article by Clive Thompson in the March issue of [Wired](http://www.wired.com/), provides one of the most compelling arguments for companies to start blogging that I think can be made: Google search rankings. Because Google's search results algorithm is heavily based on links (the more people who link to you, the higher you rise in the search results), getting hip-deep in the blogosphere can make you rise to the first page of Google.

I'm a case in point. [Google "Tom Johnson"](https://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q=tom+johnson&btnG=Google+Search) and you'll see that I'm number eight on the first page of Google's search results. Considering how common my name is, that's pretty remarkable. I'm #8 because 182 blogs are linking to my site (see the Technorati report below):

[![Technorati](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/technorati1.gif)](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/2007/04/technorati.gif)

Now imagine if I had a product that I was actually selling. You can spend thousands of dollars in search engine optimization and Google ads just to get to the first page of Google. Blogging has fortunately provided a much easier (and less costly) way of doing that. Clive Thompson explains:

> Think about how Google works. When you type in a term, the search engine puts the site with the most links pointing toward it at the top of the list. That means bloggers and discussion boards are extremely powerful in influencing Google's search results, because bloggers and discussion-board posters are promiscuous linkers, constantly pointing to things they love or hate. Google hoovers up those links and makes recommendations based on them. ... Companies have watched their biggest screwups quickly migrate to the top of a Google search. **When Shel Israel and blogger Jeff Jarvis wrote about wretched treatment by Dell's customer service, their posts were so gleefully linked to that for a while they appeared as the number one and two search results for "Dell."[6](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_ceo.html#six)**

The last part about Israel and Jarvis posting negatively on Dell and then rising above Dell's own home page link in Google is particularly painful for companies because it means *if you don't participate* in the blogosphere, Google may penalize you. For example, suppose a reader wants to research RoboHelp 6, deciding whether or not to upgrade. So they [google RoboHelp 6](https://www.google.com/search?q=robohelp+6&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a). Result 7 on the first page is my post on [10 Reasons Not to Upgrade to RoboHelp 6.](https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/02/07/10-reasons-not-to-upgrade-to-robohelp-6/) Result 8 on the first page is my [Tech Writer Voices podcast on RoboHelp](https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/02/03/discussion-about-robohelp-6--interview-with-rick-stone/). And result 9 on the first page is the infamous and highly influential [post on Monkey PI about RoboHelp 6](http://monkeypi.net/?p=133) being "craptastic."

[![RoboHelp 6 Google search results](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/robohelpingoogle1.gif)](https://www.google.com/search?q=robohelp+6&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a)