The Archives page is pretty much an institution in the world of blogging. But have we ever taken a moment to think about why?
Blogging platforms offer you the option to provide links to your posts via categories, tags, and date-based archives. In many cases, your blogging software (Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, etc.) is duplicating your content to provide links in these various ways. This could potentially hurt you when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and page rank.
Let's also consider if people actually use the archives on your site. When you are looking for something on a blog, how often do you click on the archive links? My answer is never. I use the search most often, then tags and, less often, categories.
I also find the term "archives" to be stuffy and boring. It brings to mind an old pile of musty books in the basement of a library. Isn't it much more exciting to highlight your tag cloud? Or better yet, list your blog's most popular posts with a nifty plugin like Popularity Contest (for Wordpress).
With all the widgets and other fun stuff we can add to our sidebars, why fill it up with useless links to your monthly archives? Save space and reduce links to duplicate content by deleting your archives function. That's right, just get rid of it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the value of date-based archives. Do you click on archives when you read blogs? If you track your stats, are people using the archives on your site?
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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.
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!!!!
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
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.
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."
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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/
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!
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/
Good text., guy