I recently discovered a feature of Google that allows the user to filter searches by "reading level." Apparently this feature has been around for years, but I hadn't seen it before. Invariably whenever I see something like this, my first thought is: how can I use this feature to rank something? And as a blogger, I immediately thought of ranking law professor blogs. So, drawing on the websites listed in Paul Caron's blog traffic rankings on TaxProf Blog, plus a few choices of my own, I produced the following ranking.
So how do the blog traffic rankings stack up against reading level?
The Legal History Blog, last on the Caron ranking according to pageviews, comes out first in the reading level ranking! And the number one blog in Paul Caron's ranking InstaPundit, comes in almost dead last in the reading level ranking! To be fair, InstaPundit does distinguish itself by beating out Barney, Dora the Explorer, and Keeping up with the Kardashians, but it gets schooled by the pedantic reading level of the Jerry Springer Show website as well as that of Above the Law, the legal equivalent of same.
The full table is below with blogs ranked from most advanced to most basic reading level (according to Google). Enjoy!
|
Reading Level Rank |
Caron Rank |
Blog or Website Name |
Basic Reading Level |
Advanced Reading Level |
Advanced/ Basic Difference |
|
1 |
50 |
Legal History Blog |
2 |
51 |
49 |
|
2 |
24 |
Antitrust & Comp. Policy Blog |
1 |
44 |
43 |
|
3 |
8 |
Patently-O |
4 |
32 |
28 |
|
4 |
18 |
Harvard Law Corp Gov |
1 |
25 |
24 |
|
5 |
19 |
Opinio Juris |
1 |
16 |
15 |
|
6 |
45 |
Civil Procedure Prof Blog |
0 |
14 |
14 |
|
7 |
10 |
The Incidental Economist |
10 |
23 |
13 |
|
8 |
31 |
EvidenceProf Blog |
1 |
12 |
11 |
|
9 |
30 |
Legal Whiteboard |
0 |
10 |
10 |
|
10 |
48 |
Dorf on Law |
1 |
10 |
9 |
|
11 |
29 |
Workplace Prof Blog |
2 |
11 |
9 |
|
12 |
20 |
Concurring Opinions |
3 |
12 |
9 |
|
13 |
6 |
Leiter Reports: Philosophy |
11 |
20 |
9 |
|
14 |
NA |
Witnesseth |
1 |
9 |
8 |
|
15 |
47 |
Legal Ethics Forum |
3 |
10 |
7 |
|
16 |
22 |
Constitutional Law Prof |
1 |
7 |
6 |
|
17 |
11 |
Lawfare |
1 |
6 |
5 |
|
18 |
15 |
Sentencing Law & Policy |
1 |
6 |
5 |
|
19 |
38 |
CrimProf Blog |
1 |
6 |
5 |
|
20 |
28 |
Balkinization |
3 |
8 |
5 |
|
21 |
41 |
Nonprofit Law Prof Blog |
0 |
4 |
4 |
|
22 |
4 |
TaxProf Blog |
1 |
5 |
4 |
|
23 |
2 |
Volokh Conspiracy |
2 |
6 |
4 |
|
24 |
49 |
Adjunct Law Prof Blog |
1 |
4 |
3 |
|
25 |
13 |
Leiter's Law School Reports |
7 |
10 |
3 |
|
26 |
25 |
ImmigrationProf Blog |
2 |
4 |
2 |
|
27 |
32 |
ContractsProf Blog |
3 |
5 |
2 |
|
28 |
33 |
Legal Profession Blog |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
29 |
42 |
Religion Clause |
2 |
3 |
1 |
|
30 |
17 |
Liberty Law Blog |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
31 |
39 |
Mirror of Justice |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
32 |
36 |
White Collar Crime Prof |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
33 |
40 |
M&A Prof Blog |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
34 |
44 |
Legal Writing Prof Blog |
2 |
1 |
-1 |
|
35 |
14 |
Wills, Tr. & Est. Prof Blog |
5 |
3 |
-2 |
|
36 |
34 |
Turtle Talk |
6 |
4 |
-2 |
|
37 |
43 |
PropertyProf Blog |
9 |
6 |
-3 |
|
38 |
12 |
Faculty Lounge |
11 |
8 |
-3 |
|
39 |
NA |
WSJ |
5 |
2 |
-3 |
|
40 |
16 |
Gregory S. McNeal |
6 |
2 |
-4 |
|
41 |
27 |
Legal Skills |
11 |
7 |
-4 |
|
42 |
35 |
Josh Blackman Blog |
14 |
7 |
-7 |
|
43 |
46 |
Law School Academic Support |
11 |
3 |
-8 |
|
44 |
26 |
Election Law Blog |
12 |
4 |
-8 |
|
45 |
NA |
Abovethelaw |
10 |
1 |
-9 |
|
46 |
23 |
Conglomerate |
14 |
3 |
-11 |
|
47 |
9 |
PrawfsBlawg |
15 |
3 |
-12 |
|
48 |
21 |
College Insurrection |
15 |
1 |
-14 |
|
49 |
NA |
Foxnews |
15 |
1 |
-14 |
|
50 |
NA |
CNN |
17 |
1 |
-16 |
|
51 |
NA |
Jerry Springer Show |
23 |
0 |
-23 |
|
52 |
3 |
Legal Insurrection |
36 |
1 |
-35 |
|
53 |
1 |
InstaPundit |
41 |
2 |
-39 |
|
54 |
7 |
Hugh Hewitt |
42 |
1 |
-41 |
|
55 |
5 |
Althouse |
50 |
1 |
-49 |
|
56 |
37 |
Jack Bog's Blog |
51 |
1 |
-50 |
|
57 |
NA |
Barney |
79 |
2 |
-77 |
|
58 |
NA |
Keeping up with the Kardashians |
93 |
1 |
-92 |
|
59 |
NA |
Dora the Explorer |
98 |
0 |
-98 |
Methodology (to the extent it matters in an obviously facetious ranking like this): I took the URL from the TaxProf hyperlinks, and entered them into Google with "site:" preceding them. I then clicked "Search Tools," then "All Results," then "Reading Level" for each website. I then ranked the blogs by the difference between the Google count for "Advanced" reading level and "Basic" reading level. The "Intermediate" reading level was omitted.
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