A little over 12 months ago, Tony Blews created the wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site (UKWRS) and it’s Tony’s hard work that has created the source data for this blog. Tony has kindly granted me permission to use the data. Thank you.
Any web site related to UK waterways can sign up and the visits to the web site are counted and the scores can be seen on the UKWRS site and the ranking displayed in a logo on the individual site. |  |
You can see our own logo and ranking below the main menu on the left (above the comments).
I started logging the scores each day when I thought I might have a problem with my own web site towards the end of last year.
My own web stats were falling day after day and I couldn’t tell if I had a problem with my website and, perhaps, my ISP or if that was the normal seasonal fall towards the end of the year when there are less visitors. |  |
Logging the scores from other websites soon put my mind at ease when I realised that my fall in scores was no different to all the other great sites which were falling in a similar way.
Graph 1 shows the top 15 sites and their scores on the UKWRS site for the last four months. I’ve split these into groups of five to make them easier to see in the next three graphs.
Graph 2 shows the top 5 sites where their movements can be seen a little easier. |  |
Jim Shead and Pennine Waterways (the blue and green lines) have a very similar shape, falling to a minimum around Christmas. The Just Canals Forum had a great peak during the snow in January – perhaps a lot of people were "working at home" during the snow.
Graph 3 shows the sites ranked 6-10 and shows the time when Sue on No Problem seems to have had difficulties with changing web addresses (and I think there’s another change to come yet). |  |
Graph 4 includes our own Waterway Routes score, which seems to go up and down more than some others. I think this is because our visitors often browse a lot of pages and a few extra (or a few less) visitors can make a big difference to the score.
Look at Alacrity’s score shooting up. I wonder what caused that and if it can be sustained.
Graph 5 shows UKWRS own scores. It may not be the highest scoring but it’s one of my favourites. It’s great for a little friendly rivalry. I hope nobody is taking this too seriously.
My records cover all sites on the UKWRS site since 8 November 2009 and I plan to keep recording them. There’s lots of different ways to present the statistics and I hope to produce occasional blogs like this to show the information. If you have any ideas, or requests so see your own statistics then please leave me a comment. |  |
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I’ve never graphed Debdale’s hits, but I do know that they fall like a stone when I go for a month without posting anything (down to a ranking in the 30s or 40s). On the other hand, when we’re on board and posting every day, the hits go through the roof, sometimes taking me into the teens in the rankings. It’s also interesting to see the effect when another blog gives a mention or a link.
Comment by Adam — On 24-03-10 at 07:04
Adam: Thanks for the comment, I’ll see if I can show Debdale’s statistics next time I produce on of these occassional articles.
Comment by Paul — On 27-03-10 at 22:05
Hi Paul,
Your doing a nice job of rounding us all up & keeping us organised lol. Boaty bloggers united :-)
H
Comment by Heth — On 31-08-10 at 15:15
Heth: Thanks for your comment – It got you a mention on this month’s scores blog at http://waterwayroutes.co.uk/blog/2010/09/uk-waterways-ranking-site-scores-september-2010/
I think breaking a rib is a pretty desperate way to boost your ranking ! What comes next ?
Get well soon.
Comment by Paul — On 03-09-10 at 21:24