A Trip to Ego-Land

ProfessorRoush would like to apologize, in advance, for this brief detour into a landscape populated only by ego and self-indulgence.  Normally immune to the frequent and seemingly random solicitations from internet phishers, I was nonetheless unable to resist further exploring the email below, if only to find out exactly where and why Garden Musings placed in the "Top 15 Kansas Gardening Blogs".   I was hooked, caught and reeled in, and further enticed to actually post the "badge" at the right, simply when I saw that I was 2nd (!) on a list headed by the Dyck Arboretum Blog (Dyck is a 13 acre arboretum in Hesston, Kansas).  I view the latter as prestigious company to my measly efforts!  You can view the list yourself, here.

The email:

The "panelist" referenced here is undoubtedly a computer search engine devoid of any aesthetic senses and, okay, yes, it's an obvious ploy to get me to subscribe to this feed engine and to advertise on it, all, of course, for a minimal monthly fee.  Well, flattered as I am, there is little chance of that, but I was quite happy to see that there was, in fact, some sort of system present for the selection.   For some, like the Dyck Arboretum Blog, it seemed to be due to its social media following on Facebook and Instagram, but also because of something called "domain authority."  A simple search revealed that "Domain Authority (DA) is a score, ranging from 1 to 100, developed by Moz (a popular SEO tool and company) that predicts how likely a website is to rank on search engine result pages (SERPs)." A higher DA score indicates a greater potential for a website to rank higher in search results. It's essentially a measure of the website's overall authority and credibility in its specific industry or niche.  For reference, Dyck's domain authority is 38, Garden Musings is 27.  

I was also pleased to find my reader and fellow blogger Brother Placidus, at The Cloister Garden, was also on the Top 15 list. FeedSpot is obviously a discerning business with excellent literary tastes!  Unfortunately for them, their effective appeal to my vanity did not change my motivation or plans for this blog.  It was never intended to make me rich or popular or famous, but is simply an exercise in mental health maintenance by someone who sees writing as an outlet.  The unexpected recognition, however, still lifted my spirits, so this blog entry is credit for their efforts!         

This weekend, I promise I'll set vanity aside again and try to meet your expectations for a short foray into a subject that is actually, you know, garden-related.