Comments on: The Case Against Blog Archives

By: Enackbaicky

Enackbaicky — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:44:02 +0000

Good text., guy

By: Toblerone @ Simple Mom

Toblerone @ Simple Mom — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:15:37 +0000

I have a separate page for my archives, and I use a WordPress plugin called “Clean Archives Reloaded,” and it lists posts by date, but with the title and number of comments. It snaps up, so it’s nice and neat. I personally use my own archives all the time!

Here’s what I’m referring to: http://simplemom.net/archives/

By: Maggie

Maggie — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:18:40 +0000

I use my own to track from one year to the next, at times, or to read last year’s thought on the birthday party for a child.

I also use them when I find a topic from a blogger that interests me and involves a time-line, like dealing with or recovery from a surgery or situation.

It also gives me a quick indication of how frequently a blogger I’m checking out posts.

The thing I DON’T like about tagging is that I tend to write about life AND topics…for someone to go to a post just for the tag when it’s filled with “old life stuff” sort of wierds me out for some reason. It shouldn’t, but it does!

By: Shannon

Shannon — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:50:45 +0000

I wonder if some people have misunderstood my meaning. I'm not suggesting to remove your archived POSTS. Yes, people often get to your blog through older posts that they find through search engines. But deleting the "date-based" archives as a taxonomy still allows your readers to find your older posts through categories and tags, while maximizing your SEO. Here's a good article to read: http://www.netconcepts.com/twelve-seo-mistakes-most-bloggers-make/

By: threeundertwo

threeundertwo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:42:40 +0000

I do see that people click on the current or most recent month on my archives so I’d be hesitant to discard them entirely.

I do click on archives sometimes to get more of a feel for new blogs I find.

By: Journeyer

Journeyer — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:26:09 +0000

I’m toying with getting rid of the archives widget off my blog. The only time I look at archives on other blogs is to see how long they’ve been around. Reading the other comments though, it seems like there are a lot of people that find archives useful. I like the idea of moving them further down the page. More research needed I think.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:49:24 +0000

I honestly don’t think that I could do away with the archives. I am also an archive reader and maybe that is why I couldn’t do it. I find it interesting to see through our stats page where people come to and many times it is through our older posts. Highlighting old posts for readers who don’t read archives would be a great way to reintroduce old content too. I used to do this often and now I have gotten a little lazy with it

By: Muffy

Muffy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:08:39 +0000

I always read archives, just follow along backwards. There are some folks who remove their archives and as soon as that happens, they have lost me for a reader.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:42:34 +0000

I might consider deleting my archives at some point, they definitely don’t get a lot of attention. Most shuffling on my blog is done through tags. I just keep the archives at the bottom of the page just in case.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:35:11 +0000

Interesting plugin, I’ll have to look into it. I don’t think that solves the duplicate content issue, though, does it? I’ll have to see what they do to make it “search-engine friendly.”

By: (CVH) Mom@AuPairMom.com

(CVH) Mom@AuPairMom.com — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:58:41 +0000

Like Deb,
I often enjoy reading blog archives– but the drag about them is that they are organized by date. And, even though you technically can find older posts by clicking on a category, that doesn’t help you ‘discover’ what the blogger is all about… And, even though ‘best of’ posts are just that, sometimes I’m most intrigued by the more obscure, less popular posts…

I want archives that show me post titles, as well as categories, and maybe dates. So I’m in the process of installing a plugin called Clean Archives. http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/projects/
clean-archives/

CleanArchives (and I quote from its page)
“is designed to display your archive listings in a clean and uniform fashion that’s Search Engine friendly on a dedicated page or in your sidebar.”

It lists the Month / Year, shows total post count for the month (enabled by default), the day of the month the article was published, the title of the article (permalink to article) and the number of comments (enabled by default) that have been made on each article.”

Nobody has to read archives, and on many blogs using the sidebar for a list of months is truly a waste of space… so maybe a page of clean archives is another way to go.

By: Beckie

Beckie — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:58:13 +0000

My archive are driving me CRAZY! They take up too much room on the side, and I can’t figure out how to make them smaller. Maybe I will get rid of them… hmmmmmm

By: Manic Mom

Manic Mom — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:09:10 +0000

I’m new to Blogging, but I’m building up my little corner of the blogosphere one post at a time. I have never read through someone else’s archives, but I just might start now!!!!

By: Deb (Missives From Suburbia)

Deb (Missives From Suburbia) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:56:57 +0000

I’ve considered doing away with my archives, but when I track my stats, I realize that they’re drawing readers from organic searches on Google and Yahoo. Those readers then go on to read other posts.

I also find it fun to read through someone else’s archives when I find a blogger who is particularly funny or smart.