Everything you wanted to know about finding the top travel blogs
Finding the Best Travel Blogs
I’m off travelling next week, so today I was rummaging about inside my blog performing a little blog maintenance. Updating this, backing up that. It’s the blog equivalent of cancelling the milkman and handing your neighbour a spare key before you leave.
A post-it note reminded me that I’d promised to say a few words about how to find the best travel blogs, so here you go. If you’re not interested in any other travel blogs because you’re already head over heels in love with mine (smooch!) then forget about this and try Time Travel: The Transcantabrico Train instead. Or Can You Score A Country on Ethics? Or browse your way around the Adventure section and enjoy!
Otherwise, read on.
Finding the Top Travel Blogs – Why is it so difficult?
On the surface, finding great travel blogs to read should be easy. With the help of the mighty Google, not to mention the new, fandangled twitter thing, tracking down a great travel blog should only take a few seconds.
Alas, not so.
A quick google (yes, it’s become a verb) on “the best travel blogs” reveals the following top three results:
1) An article written in 2005
2) An article from 2008 that doesn’t seem to know what a travel blog is and includes the review site TripAdvisor
3) An article written in 2003 proclaiming that most travel blogs run out of material within about a year
An even quicker twitter search throws up lots of tweets from people asking others to vote for them in a “best travel blog” contest. Searches for “good travel writing,” “top travel blogs” and “recommended travel blogs” reveal the same kind of thing.
Finding the Best Travel Blogs To Read for Inspiration & Entertainment
If you’re looking for a great travel blog to read (rather than trying to find a travel blogger to work with) then here’s how to do it.
1) Think about the kind of travel blog you want to read (eg luxury, backpacker, family based or photography led.)
2) Head over to the resource section on this site and look for the category that best suits your tastes.
3) Check out the travel blogs listed for your category.
4) Repeat the procedure on their blogs (almost all travel blogs have a blogroll or “links” section. Just like when it comes to making friends, the chances are that if you enjoy one blog, you’ll enjoy the sites that blog recommends.)
5) Read and enjoy!
Finding the Best Travel Blogs – To Work With
In a sense, the procedure is pretty much the same. I’ve seen far too many companies get over-excited at lists and statistics to the point where they are desperate to work with bloggers on projects that have nothing to do with the kind of thing the blogger writes about. Backpackers in Michelin restaurants, independent travellers on rigidly fixed tours.
That said, if money’s involved, then you do need to look at the numbers.
Finding the Best Travel Blogs by Numbers
These days you’ll find several different scoring systems, each with their benefits and each with their flaws. Don’t get too despondent, though. These indicators still give you far more information than the old “column inches” approach.
Website Traffic
Google Analytics is generally regarded as the industry standard, although many other metrics are used. Google Analytics statistics are private, however, a special secret between the almighty G and the humble travel blogger. Alexa and Compete provide the next best public measure of website traffic.
Loyal Audiences
The number of email, RSS and Facebook subscribers reflect to some extent the loyalty of readers.
Social Media Measures
Klout and Peer Index measure a blogger’s “influence” in social media (principally on Twitter and Facebook.)
Yet, it’s time consuming to go through each of those metrics yourself. Which brings me on to the next method…
Lists of the Best Travel Blogs
There are probably as many, if not more, lists ranking travel blogs than there are travel blogs themselves. Each with their own generous helping of “magic dust,” otherwise known as “I like them, so you should too (see above method.)”
While not perfect, lists based on statistics do give you a clearer idea of where a travel blog stands in relation to its peers. Here are the most respected statistic-based lists:
Top Travel Blog Lists Based on Statistics
Finding the Best Travel Blogs by Numbers
The Top 150 General Travel Blogs – Compete, Alexa, RSS Subscribers, Google PageRank, Yahoo & Google Indexed Pages
The 100 Most Influential Travel Bloggers - Klout, Compete & Alexa
The Travel Industry on Peer Index – Peer Index
100 Top Travel Blogs by Traffic – Compete & Google Ad Planner
That’s it! I’d be happy to add any others to the list as long as they’re based on objective metrics. Thanks for stopping by – and happy reading!
How to Find the Best Travel Blogs: A Summary
1) Forget searching on Google and Twitter
2) Follow personal recommendations from travel bloggers you respect
3) Use statistic-based lists
Number Photo Credit: Irargerich
Find more resources here: the best blog tips
That’s quite a comprehensive post on finding good travel blogs! I spend a lot of time reading travel blogs and I have to say that I find new interesting ones every day. And if I have to be completely honest, sometimes I trust bloggers more than corporate travel media industry…
And I could have written much more on the subject! I agree – there are so many interesting travel blogs out there but I remember that when I started I didn’t know where to look to find them. Happy travels!
Since the whole genre is a rather competitive ad market, about the only way to find genuine content is to know that the author has actually been there. Pictures and image search can do a lot for you if you can tell a tourist photo from a stock photo.
Please do me a favor and take a look at my blog, Off the Beaten Path. I think you will find it interesting. Thanks
Stan Diamond
Hi all,
Great idea putting this list together. OE Travel Blogs offers unbiased travel reviews and advice from like minded travellers that have been there and done that! First hand reviews and advice from passionate travellers sharing their experiences and recommendations. OE stands for Overseas Experience. Visit us and see what we’re talking about.
Cheers
Nick
Thanks for the post I am just getting my head around Alexa at the moment so hopefully my rank will improve :)
Don’t get too hung up on the numbers – as long as the trend is going the way you want! Good luck.
Great advice here, thanks. Will be going through the above resources now; I have also had the same problems with information overload, especially for more ‘niche’ travel blogs. Personally if I never see another website filled with self-congratulatory trip reports by Australian couples ‘doing Europe’ I won’t lose any sleep…finding sites for grown-ups who are done with the whole budget/backpacking/bumming around thing is more of a struggle, hence the one I started. It’s early days yet but the response has been positive; will be searching your site for more info now :-)
Ah, well the great thing about the web is that there’s room for everyone! I know quite a few blogs who have moved beyond/never covered backpacking…Velvet Escape springs to mind, also 501 Places, Isabelle’s Travel, Aviators and a Camera, Solo Traveler, Almost Fearless, Quirky Traveller, My Itchy Travel Feet…And, of course, Inside the Travel Lab! ;) Good luck with your project- let us know how you get on!
I found your article very helpful. As a web based directory for bed and breakfasts
I must keep up with the best blogs, and create our own blogs so that travelers know about us. In today’s world numbers are so important. Keep up the good work!
Glad you found it useful. Cheers.
Hi Abi, I am involved in a project to research for influential travel bloggers (I believe we approached you as well ;) – and I only found out about this article as I google on things! Very comprehensive list, and thank you so much for sharing this. I am definitely bookmarking this.
Safe travels!
You’re welcome – and thanks for thinking of me!
Hi Abi. Great post. I have just started blogging seriously and I discover fantastic blogs and travel websites every day, which are my inspiration and motivation to carry on blogging and sharing my travel experience and adventures. Looks like most of the bloggers quit them jobs for travels or swapped their career for being on the road. We are so different, but at the same time we have so much in common. Thanks for sharing and wish you happy and safe travels every day :-)
Yes, we are a mixed bunch. Good luck with your work and safe travels to you too.
Agness, I’m relatively new to blogging too and you really do realise how difficult it is to find some of these great blogs. There are lots that I read, but barely a day goes by when I don’t discover some new one that has been running for years that I was completely unaware of!