siteneighbors FAQ


Frequently Asked Questions about siteneighbors
  1. How does siteneighbors work?
  2. What makes siteneighbors different?
  3. Who are my neighbors?
  4. Why do my neighbors keep changing?
  5. Can I remove a neighbor from my map?
  6. Why am I not in my neighbor's neighborhood map?
  7. Will others be able to see information about my blog traffic?
  8. Can non-blogs use siteneighbors?
  9. How similar are the neighbors in a neighborhood?
  10. Do I have to register to use siteneighbors?
  11. How do I keep adult sites out of my neighborhood?

1.
How does siteneighbors work?top
We collect selected referrer information from visitors to your site. We primarily focus on the search terms and domains that drove people to your website. We do not keep any personally identifiable information from your visitors.

This visitor information is then compared to visitor information from other websites using a proprietary algorithm developed specifically for this purpose. The algorithm examines overlap and linguistic similarity (ie: money is similar to finance but not to bug). Each site pair in our database is given a similarity score. The websites with the highest similarity scores become that site's neighbors.

Because visitation patterns are constantly changing, neighborhoods have a certain level of continuous change. Thus, the siteneighbors analysis is much more fluid and current than a website comparison methodology based on accumulated links or content.


2.
What makes siteneighbors different?top

We created siteneighbors as a non-hierarchical alternative for finding interesting websites. By non-hierarchical we mean that websites are not ranked according to such things as number of links, traffic, or influence of the sites linking to them. Instead, we match sites based on similarity of the sites' visitors.

A key distinction of our approach is that every website has a neighborhood and no neighborhood is better than any other neighborhood. This enables visitors to the neighborhoods to find other similar websites that they might enjoy, even if those sites are not very popular (based on link counting).

Our hope is that siteneighbors can become a valuable, and fun, resource for big and small websites/blogs. Well established bloggers can use it to discover new websites with similar content. New bloggers can use it to begin to build their audience.


3.
Who are my neighbors?top

Visitors use the same roads to get to your neighbors' websites as they do to get to your site. Neighbor sites are identified by using a specially designed algorithm comparing the 'roads' your visitors used to get to your website. Roads include such things as links from other sites and search terms. Your neighbors' sites share potential audience with yours.


4.
Why do my neighbors keep changing?top

Site audience is more fluid than other website comparison techniques such as link comparisons. Today's vistors to your website may be following different roads to your site than yesterday's visitors. There are several reasons why your neighborhood may be experiencing high turnover:

1. New neighbors are moving in. As siteneighbors grows, you should expect frequent neighborhood additions. Siteneighbors is a boomtown right now.

2. Your site content is changing. As the content on your site evolves, you will keep moving from neighborhood to neighorhood. Over time, the roads to your site become more established and you will likely find less turnover among your neighbors.

3. Your neighbors' site content changed.

4. You've been temporarily relocated. Because siteneighbors uses the most recent visitor data to create your neighborhood map, occasionally your site will relocate without warning to a new neighborhood. This will happen if a new audience suddenly finds your site. Perhaps it was mentioned by an influential website or something you wrote about last month suddenly becomes a popular online search item. If this happens, enjoy the move, say hi to your new neighbors, and don't forget to send holiday greetings to your old neighbors.


5.
Can I remove a neighbor from my map?top

No. You may hate your neighbor but they still are your neighbor. You don't have to invite them to your cookouts but you can't kick them out of their house. One of the advantages of the siteneighbors comparison tool is it helps you identify sites that your visitors are likely to find. Even if you dislike what a neighbor is saying, it is useful to know that your visitors may be reading your neighbor's blog.


6.
Why am I not in my neighbor's neighborhood map?top

Each neighborhood is created by working out from the focal blog. Neighbor Bob's blog may be the closest neighbor for your website but that does not mean your website is the closest neighbor to Neighbor Bob's blog.

7.
Will others be able to see information about my blog traffic?top

No. We've designed siteneighbors with website privacy in mind. We do not reveal any information about your site's search terms, traffic levels, or referrals. Your neighborhood map shows which other sites have similar traffic but does not reveal specifics about why those sites are similar. if you are interested in learning why another site is a neighbor, we encourage you to visit the site and introduce yourself to the site owner.


8.
Can non-blogs use siteneighbors?top

Yes. Each neighborhood map will have an option to show all neighbors or just blog neighbors. Currently the default neighborhood map shows all neighbors.


9.
How similar are the neighbors in a neighborhood?top

If you look at the neighborhood maps on siteneighbors.com you will find a little tag next to the neighbor number. These tags tell us just how neighborly the neighbors are.

Neighbors are placed in one of six categories based on how close of a neighbor they are to the focal website.

Here are the categories listed from close to distant neighbors:

The Green Neighbors

  • In Your Backyard: These neighbors are practically family. They share many interests and likely share friends. Not all websites are likely to ever have many neighbors in this category. Afterall, the backyard is a little to close for comfort for most.

 

  • Your Nextdoor Neighbor: This neighbor shares many interests and shares a similar audience with the focal website. You may already know your nextdoor neighbor, but if you don’t, you probably should.

The Blue Neighbors

  • On Your Block: In a well represented siteneighbors neighborhood, a majority of the neighbors should fall into this category. These neighbors share many interests but also have a number of divergent interests. This probably describes most blogs on a given blog’s blogroll.

 

  • Next Block Over: Something about these neighbors is causing similar visitors to visit their site as are visiting the focal website. However, for the most part, these neighbors may not have much in common with the focal website. These are the neighbors you meet on the street or at the occasional neighbor’s cookout. They seem like nice people but for some reason or another you never get around to inviting them over for dinner.

The Red Neighbors

  • In Your Town : These neighbors can hardly be called neighbors. You may run into them while traveling and have a short conversation once you realize you are both from the same town. However, more often than not the relationship ends there since your connection is tenuous.

 

  • On the Same Planet: Well…you are both breathing, from the same species, and alive at the same time. Your connection with these neighbors is not much better than the general six degrees of separation kind of connection. If the neighborhood of a site is mostly On the Same Planet neighbors, it means that site’s audience does not match up well with any other sites in the siteneighbors database. It could also mean that siteneighbors does not have enough information about that site’s audience to find close neighbors.

10.
Do I have to register to use siteneighbors?top

The neighborhood maps are open to everyone.

You need to register as a user if you want to:

  1. Add a site
  2. Keep a list of favorites

In the future we are likely to add more functionality for users but we will keep the central part of siteneighbors (the neighborhoods) open to all visitors.

This also means that website owners can feel free to link to their neighborhood maps from their sites.

11.
How do I keep adult sites out of my neighborhood?top

When you register a website, you have the option of a filtered or non-filtered neighborhood. You can change your filtering preference at anytime by logging in to your user profile and editing your website information. if you do change your preferences, you should add the updated code to your website so that the siteneighbors button links to the correct neighborhood.