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Technorati, in its simplest Wikipedia definition, is a search engine for blogs. In other words, while Google is still crucial to bloggers, bloggers can understandably be more concerned about Technorati.

Google cares a lot about Technorati as well, as the site comes with a Google PR of 8. Given that the highest PR is 10, and Facebook is a 10, you can understand how popular and important Technorati is.

Technorati monitors millions of blogs, and measures their authority, according to how many people are talking about these blogs and linking to them. As you might have already heard, not all links are the same. If a blog with a PR  5is linking to you, it counts more than a blog that is ranked 1 on Google’s Page Rank scale. You can simply think about it this way: If you are a relatively unknown writer and so is your friend, it will help both of you to talk about each other. However if John Grisham mentions your name, it is going to bring a lot more attention. So the more popular and authoritative these blogs are, the higher your authority will be.

It is not just about Google Page Rank of course. As I said, it is about who is talking to you on the web and how popular these people are. Popularity and authority can also mean search engine rankings, Page Rank, alexa ranking, daily traffic, number of RSS readers, number of Twitter followers, press coverage and so forth. For instance, my blog is a multi-topic site, with the emphasis on movie reviews. And while my site’s general Technorati authority is 124, as of today my film authority is 174. And my blog is listed in the top 100 Film Blogs on Technorati. The rankings and authority can change, for better or worse, daily. But you do want your Technorati ranking as high as possible and you want to be in the 100 list related to your category.

There are many ways to increase your Technorati rankings. My favorite one is to claim your blog on Technorati. After you claim your blog, it also helps to place a Favorite This Blog on Technorati button on your blog. People can vote your blog up and this also affects increases your ranking.

Other suggested methods for increasing your rank are guest-posting on important blogs, getting other bloggers to talk and write about you (some consciously produce controversial posts to manage this), commenting on other blogs and exchanging links with relevant blogs. If you are running multiple blogs, link all of them to each other. Of course don’t forget that great use of SEO and compelling content always help.