{"id":12429,"date":"2024-01-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=12429"},"modified":"2025-06-14T13:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T17:41:12","slug":"blog-review-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/blog-review-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog Review \u2013 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this final look back at 2023, and penultimate end-of-year\/beginning-of-year post, I’m looking at my blog performance again. You almost certainly know that I love data, so this type of post is a lot of fun for me. If, like me, you enjoy data, you may want to look back at last year’s blog review post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I’m well aware that the stats I have available to me are almost certainly tainted by bots, VPNs, etc. But, they’re still fun to look through. I know<\/em> there are some other data nerds out there, so this post goes out to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All-Time Stats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’m including all blog years here for comparison; because I’m planning a change to the “Fountain Pen” post category, and have adjusted the count of fountain pen posts accordingly; and to include ink-related posts. Also, a reminder that 2017 only had half a year, as I started my blog on June 15, and originally planned it to be related to books\/reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total Views: 137,393 | Total Posts: 664 | Total Words: 376,303<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stat<\/th>2017<\/th>2018<\/th>2019<\/th>2020<\/th>2021<\/th>2022<\/th>2023<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Views<\/td>1,133<\/td>5,593<\/td>16,301<\/td>9,242<\/td>15,730<\/td>36,463<\/td>51,102<\/td><\/tr>
Avg. Views per Day<\/td>7<\/td>15<\/td>44<\/td>25<\/td>43<\/td>101<\/td>140<\/td><\/tr>
Posts<\/td>70<\/td>137<\/td>79<\/td>21<\/td>136<\/td>104<\/td>114<\/td><\/tr>
Words<\/td>46.6K<\/td>99.7K<\/td>27.4K<\/td>23.7K<\/td>88.2K<\/td>90.8K<\/td>124.5K<\/td><\/tr>
Avg. Words per Post<\/td>666<\/td>728<\/td>347<\/td>1,126<\/td>648<\/td>873<\/td>1,093<\/td><\/tr>
Book Posts<\/td>41<\/td>73<\/td>26<\/td>14<\/td>10<\/td>12<\/td>12<\/td><\/tr>
Fountain Pen Posts<\/td>1<\/td>21<\/td>38<\/td>2<\/td>47<\/td>63<\/td>51<\/td><\/tr>
Ink Posts<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>3<\/td>0<\/td>34<\/td>9<\/td>21<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2023 Stats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I ran the below metrics for all of 2023, and only<\/em> 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Countries by Views<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As I would expect, the USA still accounts for the vast majority of my total views, beating out the next highest (the UK) by nearly 32,000 views. Interestingly, my top 10 countries from 2022 are still my top 10 countries in 2023, with the only difference being that Spain and India switched ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map\"Map<\/div>
The image to the left shows views without<\/strong> the USA to better show distribution. The image to the right shows views with the USA, which blows out the rest of the countries on the map.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. United States – 34,064<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. United Kingdom – 2,886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Canada – 2,304<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Germany – 1,055<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Australia – 1,019<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. India – 751<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Spain – 705<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Netherlands – 605<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Singapore – 570<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. France – 505<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Top Referrers by Views<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    A referrer is a webpage that sends visitors to a site \u2014 in this case, mine \u2014 using a link. In other words, it’s the webpage that a person was on right before they landed on my site. I can actually do a top ten this year, since 25 referrers hit double digits last year! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Search Engines – 11,649\n