Given the discussions of the last few days, it's obvious there's little better the blogosphere likes to do than find new ways to rank one another, show charts and count links. That's why the on-again, off-again discussion of Technorati's potential demise is so odd, as if there's anyone positioned to own the stats sphere, it's them, if only they can execute and stay focused. But in a mix of feature missteps and general lack of reliability, they've lost face amid challenges from Google, TechMeme and others.
Today, they charged back in a good way with the return of keyword charts and filtering by blog "Authority" in search results.
Previously, I had wondered where the charts went, but hadn't given it too much thought. Now, like Google's Trends feature, I can see how frequently a keyword has been mentioned each day in the blogosphere over the last 30, or choose not to see results from blogs that haven't gained enough popularity yet to be deemed relevant.
While the additions were noted on Technorati's official Weblog, I was alerted via RSS from David Sifry, the company's former CEO. Additionally, it looks like he was so excited about the move, he blasted his Twitter audience as well. How did I know? Not from using Twitter, but instead, from Technorati.
You can see some quick examples of the charts provided by Technorati by way of searches for the aforementioned TechMeme, Google Reader and Technorati itself.