Many have not heard of a Tumblelog while others can’t get enough of them. The hybrid microblog/social media sharing site is gaining popularity fast. Currently, it’s growth and userbase is about what Twitter’s was two years ago.
Tumblr’s biggest stumblr block (couldn’t help myself) is Google. The search giant doesn’t seem to think that Tumblelogs, which have everything most SEO experts say Google wants in a blog, are worth ranking well.
Tumblelogs are usually small posts with a lot of backlinks and content pulled from others Tumblr and regular blog RSS entries combined with commentary and notes by the Tumblelog owner doing the posting. Normally, it’s the kind of content (backlinks and new content) that Google loves to bolster.
Not so with Tumblr, it seems.
The simplicity that’s created huge popularity with Tumblr users is exactly what Google and other search engines, apparently, don’t like about it. It’s “too easy” it appears.
So Tumblelogs tend to rank low in Google results and some are crying foul, saying that it’s not based on Google’s algorithm but purely on domain name bashing. You see, all Tumbelogs are hosted on Tumblr itself, whether they are privately owned URLs or subdomains of Tumblr. This is similar to the way Google’s own Blogger works.
Yet with Tumblr, it doesn’t appear these subdomains are being given credit for being their own site – as Google is believed to do with other sites, including its own Blogger.
This and other apparent discrimination has Tumblr fans up in arms. As Soshable’s JD Rucker points out, though, it’s all about how you plan to use the site. If you use it purely as an SEO platform, there are better choices out there that aren’t on Google’s radar.
Tumblr is, ultimately, a social networking site focused on sharing content (either directly or by posting links). For that, it’s near-perfect.
