Why do I care if Google likes my blog?
Have you ever opened Google.com and entered site:your-domain-name to see if any of your blog posts have been indexed? Or do you look at your analytics and get a twinge of excitement when you see Google referring traffic to your blog? I'm guilty on both counts.
I like the idea of the "small web" but this need to be loved by Google is probably antithetical to what the small web movement is about. Yet as a former digital analytics analyst in a past life, I have a hard time not craving organic search engine traffic. Call it a moral failing or an addiction or both.
I know what I should really value more is another blogger linking to me. That kind of referral traffic means someone read something I wrote and it resonated with them. So much so that they were willing to give me a little piece of their digital real estate in the form of a link.
I think those referring links from other blogs should mean more to me than any page indexed by Google. And I need to make more attempts to return the favor in my blog posts as well. In other words, try and bubble up good writing to the internet's surface through the simple hyperlink.
Until next time... take care.