Have you ever wondered about blog linking etiquette?
How does a blog qualify to be in your blogroll?
Do you put links of sites you frequent, blogs of friends and family?
Or do you put links of blogs who link back to yours?
What if someone totally unknown links to you?
Do you return the favour?
But what’s the point, really?
It’s like having a relative you don’t ever speak to in family gatherings, isn’t it?
How and when do you update your blogroll?
Do you still maintain a link to a blog if the blogger has removed yours from their blogroll?
Do you still maintain a link to a blog you no longer enjoy reading because they have yours in their blogroll?
Would you stop linking to a blog because it doesn’t bring any hits for your blog?
Would you keep on linking to a blog even though you don’t like reading it yourself but because it brings a lot of hits for your beloved blog?
You are thinking this blogger has way too much time, aren’t you?
Well, personally I add blogs relevant to the subject of my blog that I myself enjoy to read. I don’t necessarily but add some one to my blogroll because they add me. I want my readers to be linked to quality blogs. But that’s me. I’ve never been de-blogrolled so I don’t know what to do when you link to someone who stops linking to your site. But as I’ve stated before, I’m new to blogging, and have “much to learn” as yoda would put it.
sulz: that’s a pretty fair approach to blog linking.
My blogroll is my recommendation to others based on what I enjoy reading.
I don’t accept link exchanges. That would be dishonest. It is not a recommendation as much as it is a bribe. Likewise, I don’t expect quid pro quo.
I have linked to several blogs that I don’t expect will ever link to me; their subject matter may be very specific, and my site doesn’t fit the niche. Many sites have a specific subject matter, and mine does not.
As I discover new sites, such as bloggerdygook, I subscribe to the site feed for a while before ultimately adding the site to my blogroll.
A blogroll should be maintained. My old site is still on some blogrolls around the net, even though that site no longer exists. I laugh.
sulz: well, you could see that way about link exchanges, but for self it’s more like returning the favour and building a friendship via blogging. for instance, if am linking to a blog who doesn’t link back, will take it that they don’t care for the link, and am that sort of person who wants to have some sort of relationship with people self link to and people who link this blog. they would still have self as a reader of their blog, and if they have something so good, then shall recommend to friends via email.
yes, nothing is more annoying than clicking on an expired link.
hoping to see bloggerdygook in the links of gecko rock!
@sulz:: well I try to be fair. I wouldn’t want someone blog linking me unfairly, would you?
sulz: well, guess it boils down to what does one consider unfair blog linking. some might say self’s way of linking (see reply to gecko rock) is not the way to do it, others might not see it that way. each to his own, of course.
Hmm… I’m really bad at maintaining my blogroll on my personal blog. I think that blogrolling should be done if a blog will be good or interesting for the readers. I have noticed that my game blog is starting to pop up in blogrolls of people I don’t know, and I did start to wonder whether or not I should do anything about that.
sulz: well, blog linking is entirely to your preferred method. you could do it self’s way or jannette’s way or gecko rock’s way (see previous comments). but this post is also about discussing different approaches to blog linking and establishing any particular etiquette to it, so you might want to come back later and see how the discussion unfolds.
my (archGFX) blogroll is reserved for
* real life friends
* regular commenters.
when people link to me as an example of something, it annoys me, and i’ll go to great lengths to make myself un-link-worthy. otherwise, any links are good links.
on wp.com, i link to anyone i get on with in the forums, or who’s related to my post topics.
sulz: that’s strange! what’s wrong with linking you as an example? so do you tell the author to unlink you when that happens?
Me… jsut about anything goes really. I link to blogs that I find interesting as well as to sites that I always frequent the most. I don’t always comment on a lot of blogs and I don’t always have people link to me, so I generally ain’t fussy or picky about who I put on my blogroll.
sulz: ah, the simplest method, though it can clutter your blogroll.
actually your approach has brought self to interesting blogs, and since self don’t subscribe to their feeds, every so often would click on these blogs through your blogroll to check up the latest.
i had somebody linking to an article long after it was no longer relavent. it was a particularly fiesty article, and regardless of how bad the original theme viewer was, it wasn’t worth continuing to mudsling at the guy who used to run it.
the other example is a guy who linked to ‘all the people he’d helped’. which included a post of mine where he’d left a comment that basically repeated the last paragraph of my post. (i deleted his comment, and modified my guidelines).
sulz: ah, now see your reasoning. so should self not link to your blog when you have a good post would like to highlight?
will take self’s chances when the time comes, and will not be offended if you would prefer to not have yourself linked.
yes…. we must respect other bloggers’ linking method. Your’s is a fair way as well.
I am fairly new to blogging so I am just really learning what’s “good” about linking to other blogs, and what’s “bad”.
So far it seems partly building a network of bloggers, “Many blogheads is better than one bloghead.”
And it seems partly related to building a network of interests, or a common theme. After all, I am not too crazy about linking with bloggers who talks about nothing but robots or Mac computers, but I am interested in bloggers who are passionate about their issues.
sulz: there’s nothing good or bad as such, just different approaches adopted by different bloggers depending on how they see fit.
hmm, what makes you think bloggers who talk nothing but robots or mac computers aren’t passionate?
ah yes, networking. otherwise known as friendship! though as a superficial level.
don’t worry about it. these were peope i didn’t know. i did contact them first, and ask them to remove the link. i try to be decent.
I link blogs that I find interesting. As a person gets more hits and comes up in the search engines more often, you end up with people linking to you that you don’t know. For example… a link on my blogroll is to a site with over 500 people linking to her. She doesn’t link to me but I like her site so still blogroll it. I don’t expect her to link all 500 of those people.
With mine, if I enjoy a site I’ll add it and keep it there for a while. If I notice that I’m visiting it a lot, it stays. If I realize I hardly ever spend time there, it eventually gets taken off.
I’ve also added someone because they’ve asked me but with a bit of a disclaimer. If I went there and their site was offensive or just not remotely something I’d read, then I won’t just give a link because it was asked. People want to know that what’s on your blogroll somehow is an extension of your type of humour or personality because if they like you, then they know they’ll probably like your lnks.
That said, I enjoy so many different types of people, my blogroll does have a great variety.
I hope that people who link me are doing it because they find my blog entertaining or helpful to them in some way, or that I have a regular feature (like The Monday Melee) they take part in.
sulz: wow, can’t imagine having 500 links! 0_o yes, people generally blogroll the way you do.
there was once asked a blog to link to self’s other blog, but she wouldn’t and didn’t even reply self’s e-mail. was pretty irked by it because she actually stated in her blog saying that to e-mail her if people want to exchange links.
Well, I just link to be nice and plus there’s relevance to consider.
sulz: that’s what am doing, besides returning the favour. but what do you mean by ‘relevance to consider’?
I don’t really know the original purpose and intent of blogrolls, but it doesn’t much worry me, either. I link to those who interest me and who I want to read again and again and again….. It is a moveable feast – and I guess I could use Bookmarks in my browser or RSS instead.
Interestingly, looking at other people’s blogroll content often gives further insight into the nature of the blogger him/herself. I think. *scratces head* But then again, I guess it depends on why people link in the first place…
sulz: see, you’ve brought up a point. if you can bookmark sites you visit regularly, why put it in the blogroll instead? and for that matter, rss feeds would be more convenient to catch up on the latest instead of clicking to visit a blog from your blogroll.
then again, self do that too. lol!
…and I wish I could edit that comment, ’cause I’m anal about my speeling…
sulz:
don’t sweat it. it happens all the time to everybody.
Congrats, I came to this page straight out of Google by search “blog linking etiquette.”
I’m just getting started and comments here are helping me get going. 
sulz: um, thanks. hope it helped you getting started in blogging.