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How to get Links to Appear in Google Reader

Recently a few people have been impressed by the speed I discover posts in which I am mentioned. My secret is that I have subscribed to my blog links in google reader, so the moment someone links to me it pops up as an unread message.

It is quite a simple thing to do, but it isn’t very obvious, so I thought I’d give you a step-by-step guide.

blogsearch3

  1. Go to: http://blogsearch.google.com/
  2. Add your blog address after the word link: in the ‘blog search’ box. So if I was doing it I’d put:  link:http://www.farmlanebooks.co.uk 
  3. Click ‘Search Blogs’
  4. Click on ‘RSS’ in the left hand column.
  5. Then click ‘subscribe to this feed’ then ‘subscribe’ when the pop up box appears.

Your links should now be listed as a feed in your google reader.

Now you’ll always know whenever someone is nice enough to link to you!

52 replies on “How to get Links to Appear in Google Reader”

That’s fabulous! I had tried something similar with Google Alerts before, but it wasn’t through blog search and it didn’t work as I’d hoped. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Thanks so much for sharing this handy tip! I’ve always wondered how to do this kind of search, let alone put it in a reader. Very useful. (google alerts didn’t work for me, either)

Care, I’m sorry to hear that you couldn’t get it to work – I’ve sent an email to you – hopefully I’ll be able to work out why it isn’t working for you.

This is awesome – and it found a bunch of links from this week that never showed up in my Google Alerts! Thanks for the tip. I’m sure you’ll find the link to this post in my Weekend Review round-up when it goes up tomorrow :-).

Hello Jackie
Thank you for such nice clear instructions. I often get muddled with things like this, but I was able to work it out very quickly – Unfortunately, it told me what I had already assumed: I’ve not yet managed to acquire many direct links to my own site!
I think this is partly because I get too interested in reading reviews and comments that other people make, and then clicking on their links, etc etc, that I don’t make enough direct contacts myself. My blog is about writing, rather than reviewing, so I’d probably attract more comments if I wrote reviews. Trouble is, the time factor, as usual! Roll-on retirement – can’t afford it just yet though.

And here’s a good e.g. of how I sometimes forget to follow things up: I’d meant to get back to you after a brief exchange of comments on the Booker shortlist – I’d told you I was going to print off your reviews and take them to my own book group meeting. I did this, and it led to lots of lively discussion, but as I’d thought, the others weren’t very keen on either my favourite choice (The Children’s Book) or yours (The Glass Room) We chose The Sacred Scriptures by Sebastian Barry and I’m enthralled – I’m finding the writing style so beautiful and thought-provoking that I’m putting pencil marks on almost every page – the plot is intriguing, too ! (possibly helped by the fact that I enjoy skipping between time zones, and books set in Ireland)

On a different subject, some of your readers might be interested to see two of my recent posts about the Bookcrossers and the LibraryThing – two fantastic organisations for readers (and writers too), The Amazing World of Bookcrossers, and the latest, Have You Joined the LibraryThing Yet?

Christine, I’m sorry to hear that you don’t have many direct links to your site. Have you tried connecting with other writers? Finding a group of like minded people is the secret to finding people who will enjoy your blog. I’m afraid that I’m not a big fan of poetry, so find it difficult to write anything meaningful over there.

I’m pleased that you had a good discussion at your book group. I haven’t read Secret Scripture yet, but plan to soon. I’m pleased you are enjoying it.

Thanks Jackie
I don’t want to sound too gloomy about it ! I have had some positive responses from writing blogs – especially essentialwriters.com where I was invited to give an interview about my writing.
(http://essentialwriters.com/christine-coleman-3406.htm)
I know that lots of people steer clear of poetry, so for them, Sundays might be better avoided, as that’s my Poem of the Week day.
I do think that many readers might be interested in hearing about Bookcrossers if they don’t yet know about this marvellous organisation – it’s on my site on 16th Sept.

Cool idea – I got the search to work, but I notice that I get a couple of blogs show up everyday that are not linked to me. Interestingly, they are two of the blogs I can see in your demo: kittling books, and the bumbles. Isn’t that weird? Have you noticed that some blogs show up in the feed that have not linked to you?

raidergirl3, Yes, I have noticed that. Some blogs appear whenever you leave a comment on a post, or if you are in their blogroll then they pop up everytime they write a new post. It is all down to the way they are set up – I’m afraid there is nothing you can do about that.

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