A blogroll is a list of links to other blogs you read and like. Many blogs have them, and they’re one of those “bloggy” things that make blogs what they are.
Many bloggers create them without much thought going into who’s on it or how the blogroll serves the readers of the blog. Some blogrolls are so long and have so many links it’s hard to believe the blogs listed are truly valuable to the blogger. Other bloggers don’t have a blogroll at all.
Are there any advantages to having a blogroll? Is there any reason why you should not have a blogroll?
Yes, and yes!
Now that we’ve cleared that up… 
It’s not up to me to just tell you what to do, but I can talk intelligently about the pros and cons of blogrolls.
Blogrolls: The Good
Allow you and your blog pack to promote and send blog traffic to each other
When you form a deliberate cross-promotion and link-building alliance with other bloggers so that you all help each other out, I call that a blog pack. Having links to your pack mates in your blogroll is just one of the things you can all to do help promote each other and send each other traffic.
Give your readers more of what they’re interested in: good blogs on a topic they care about
The original reason to have a blogroll is to have a “roll” of links to other blogs you like, and which your readers might like, too. Since your readers like your blog, chances are good they’d like other blogs about the same topic. Having a blogroll is another way to provide value to your readers, turning your blog into a relationship hub of activity around its topic.
Linking to other bloggers lets them know you exist
Linking to other bloggers is an unobtrusive way for them to learn you exist (blog software tells you when others link to you). Once other bloggers knows you’re out there, there is a reasonable chance they’ll visit your blog. Once that happens, several benefits could be yours:
- The other bloggers subscribe to your blog, which leads to increased likelihood of links and other opportunities down the road.
- The other bloggers add you to their blogroll and send you some of their traffic, which may subscribe to your blog.
- The other bloggers find something great in your blog to link to immediately.
Even if the other bloggers just make a mental note about you, you are now on their radar. Future links and contact will have a context–you won’t be coming from out of nowhere.
Blogrolls: The Bad
Problematic SEO benefits
While blogrolls can be good for traffic, I think they’re problematic when it comes to SEO benefits. Why? Because you may be passing authority to other blogs who may not be returning the favor (subscribers to the WordPress SEO Secrets newsletter will get an in-depth article about this when the newsletter goes out in the next couple days).
Who makes the cut?
With blogrolls, you have the problem of deciding who to add and who to deny. If your blogroll is huge, your readers and those you link to will perceive your blogroll links as having little value, because it seems you’ll add anybody.
On the other hand, a small blogroll means some people won’t make the cut. If another blogger adds you to their blogroll, but you didn’t add them to yours, they may feel a bit put out. Reciprocity is a powerful psychological force in human relationships. If other bloggers add you to their blogrolls, they feel like you owe them the same as a return favor.
Having a blogroll means you have to deny link requests and people will want to know why. “Because your blog sucks” is probably not what you want to tell them. Far easier to simply not have a blogroll at all, because then you just say “I don’t have a blogroll,” and that’s that.
Blogrolls are work
You have to maintain a blogroll. Dead links in a blogroll aren’t cool. If you have a blogroll and you get any kind of traffic, people will check out the links. If they find blogs which haven’t updated for a over a month, that’s going to reflect poorly on you, because you’re tending your blogroll. You have to weed your blogroll like a garden at least once a month.
What’s Your Take on Blogrolls?
Do you have a blogroll? How many links are on it? How do you decide who should be on it? Tell us in the comments!
Michael,
We at Lawyerist.com don’t have a blogroll for most of the reasons you mention — it doesn’t really seem to have much benefit, it’s potentially harmful, it’s a burden, and it clogs the layout of your site.
I have a small blogroll, but I don’t call it a blogroll. Since I’ve got a real estate site, my audience are home buyers/sellers and people interested in St. Louis. As such, I only put links in my sidebar to blogs that talk about St. Louis.
I started it with just a few blogs, and one of these days I need to add some more. There’s always something to do when you write a blog!
I don’t have a blogroll yet, and been wondering if I should. It is true that some people have so many that I don’t even pay attention to them. I’d rather see a few as I believe they’ll be good content (as when I see a large list, I don’t think the blogger put that much thought into them).
But I do think I will start one eventually. I’m looking around to find the best blogs that I think can help my readers. I don’t want to be picky about it, but at the same time I want to be sure to give my readers the best/most helpful.
What a helpful post! Been wondering about this issue. How to vet the list stumps me. Thinking about setting up guidelines, and then posting a blogroll, and use said guidelines as reason to reject any unwanted offers.
I’ve never had a blogroll on any of my sites. At first this was just because my site felt too personal. I didn’t have any ads and I felt as though the members of the community were well represented by having top commenter links in the sidebar. Then when I branched out onto other sites I felt like they were too political. You can’t include everyone and hurt feelings last a long time, so um, yeah. No blogroll for me.
A blogroll is something I’ve long avoided mainly for the reasons you stated. But I must admit, I wasn’t really thinking of the tribal aspects of it which is silly given how engaged I claim to be in social media
Hmmm … if I were to do a blogroll I’d not have a tough time deciding whom to link to however. Because I already visit the same blogs again and again. Perhaps that is the key to a lower maintenance blogroll: build your online community (blogs you like to visit) first and then select your top 5 or 10 when you begin a blogroll.
Cheers
Honestly, I use the blogroll only for people / websites / blogs that I read, like or own…
Plus, for me testing some anchor text in there is nice.
Before I moved over to WP, I had one on blogger. As a new blogger 2 years ago I thought it was necessary to have one. I find having guest posts, tweeting about great blogs, etc more beneficial. I’m not sure if I’m going to add one…I’ll have to read the comments to see what the vote is.
Some interesting perspectives here. I can see how a real estate blog needs to be hub-like with tons of outgoing links, but for many of you blogrolls look like a no-go. Of course, you’ll notice I don’t have one, either.
A blogroll is kind of a catch 22. If you don’t have one, its harder to get cross traffic. If you do have one, you run the risk of offending someone if you don’t link them after they’ve linked you, or something like that.
It becomes increasingly more difficult to deal with when you’re just starting out…you want to have a few high profile links, in hopes that some traffic may make its way to your site. But being new, you either don’t have the contacts, or don’t have the swing to grab a spot on a blogroll, unless you reference a post and maybe get a trackback link or similar.
On my blog, I have a list of where you can find my other projects, and a list of a few people I find to be helpful to me, link reciprocated or not. Would I add someone to that list if they asked me to? Not if it was just for an exchange and I didn’t know them. If I did know them, I’d probably do it no strings attached, even though I’m new, I’m trying not to whore myself out to get readers…I feel that they will come when I am ready to have them.
I completely agree that blogrolls can be both good and bad, like most anything else, with marked advantages and disadvantages.
That said, I have a handful of my favorite blogs listed on my home page in a traditional “blogroll” format. In addition to that, I have “My Favorite Blogs” page – http://www.seoaly.com/favorite-blogs/ – that features a number of my go-to blogs, along with links to their 5 most recent posts.
blogroll is nice but it doesn’t suit all blogs , in my opinion it’s better used in personal blogs/journals ..
Great meaty post, Michael. Useful and generous as always.
I have a new blog, designed to support and inspire three groups of people, so the blogroll will eventually provide a variety of useful, cross pollenating resources for anyone who visits. I’m hoping to build a community that feels like a safe wee bistro where folk can drop in and see what’s on offer, chat in the comments or have a quick browse and leave. For example, I’m not a web designer, pro-blogging or marketing expert, but I have a few good ones in my blogroll and comments boxes that I’m happy to recommend. However, I am a coach and writer, with excellent coaching and ghostwriting colleagues, so I can recommend them to any pro-bloggers who visit. When the blog roll becomes unwieldy, I’m planning on turning it into a resources page. I’m not in it for reciprocity. I agree with you that hurt feelings lie that way.
@Janice – Sounds like you got your game all figured out! Rock out, girl.
[...] Martine has been publishing some deep, meaty posts. This week’s on whether blogs should have a blogroll was a total [...]
I was thinking about the blogroll issue just last week, by coincidence! While I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of lists that necessarily favour a few at the cost of excluding the many, I’d say there is a good argument to be made (in some cases) for a blogroll as part of your blog’s service to readers, helping them to find other great resources – much as the out-going links in a blog post are (often) there for the readers’ benefit, one way or another.
I have a blogroll on my blogs. I don’t really care if they linkback to my blog. I just want to offer my readers (not many) more great stuff to read. (some of my readers thanked me for the sites in my blog roll)
Yep, I really think everybody should have a blog roll
As my blog is relative new (I have it since the end of January) I only have one fellow blogger on my blogroll. But, as you suggested in the post, I want to expand it with links to related blogs. I can see the benefits as people do click on that link.
I have blogroll right now and many friends listed there. But unfortunately, lots of them have different content to mine. But the advantage is many people come to my blogs.
[...] Blog-blogger relation- In the blogging world, it’s often seen that a blogroll paves way to the genesis of a mutually beneficial relationship especially for business bloggers! [...]
Hi,
What would you say are the differences to having a Blogroll on most or all pages of a blog compared to having one page of links, a resource page, if you will?
Good discussion!
Alan
Alan, one thing that has changed since I originally posted this is that Google is rumored to be devaluing navigational and sidebar link lists. If that’s true, then a dedicated resources page will pass stronger PageRank to the links listed in it. That’s not necessarily good for you unless those links (some of them, at least) go to your own online properties. Having fewer links on your blog pages by moving them to a resources page may also create a stronger flow of PageRank to the links which are there. That’s valuable if those links point to other posts and such on your own blog.
I agree Michael.
However I maintain a BlogRoll mostly if it is being reciprocated, and also to extend authority to some other sites.
I have a new blog and these are just the kind of issues I’ve been wondering about recently. Thanks for reassuring me that there’s no secret general consensus!
Lately I have been thinking of removing my blogroll. My bounce rate isn’t exactly where I want it. Is my blogroll making people half read my content, and leave for another blog when they see something interesting in my blogroll? That is the question that has been burning inside me lately.
I also read that blogroll links don’t help with SEO any longer so why would I want people to leave my blog for another blog? My whole goal is to try to get people to stay on my blog, and read multiple articles instead of just the one they initially came to read.
Eyeball, the very purpose of a blogroll is to provide interesting links to other similar blogs. No matter where you have a link, a link is always an invitation to go elsewhere. But if you don’t have any links at all, you’re not much of a resource, so it’s a balancing act. Chances are you don’t need to get rid of your blogroll so much as improve your writing and create content that is too compelling to allow the reader to get bored and easily distracted.
Linking to other posts within your posts and having a list of related posts at the end of a post are great ways to encourage deeper clicking and engagement. Not having full posts on the home page also encourages deeper clicks, since people will have to click to get past the material above the “more” link.
Thanks Michael,
Very helpful information. I am going to add a what I am reading resource page with blogs and books. Seems like that is the most useful from an SEO and value to my readers perspective.
Great post on the subject.
I found this site by doing a specific search about adding a blogger and having a blogger add you to a blogroll. I currently do not have one on my blog and am trying to figure out whether or not to do it. The cross traffic is a for sure benefit, but for me, I think the downside of having to deny someone outweighs the benefit of increased traffic.
I am very protective of my blog and have no ads on it whatsoever. My blog is a way for me to relay information about my industry and my services. So I do not need a way to monetize the blog. After reading this, I am thinking that the cons probably do outweigh the benefits for me. Thanks so much for the detailed post.
Now I can forget about the blogroll and focus on getting my next article done by tonight.
Damon, glad this helped you make up your mind. Happy writing!
When I first started out, a lot of the bigger sites snubbed me and didn’t give me any link love. So now I’ve stuck to just displaying sites which also link to me. But I’m open, so if anyone new wants to link share, I’m always game (so long as the site content is relevant).
[...] 4. Blogroll: A list of sites displayed in the sidebar of blog, showing who the blogger reads regularly. Click here to learn more. [...]
Thank you for the article.
Thank you for the article.
It's really helpful for me.