365 – On Recapping 2022, Part 2: Stats

How did The Monching’s Guide perform in 2022 compared to the years prior? Let’s find out.

For the last year, the blog racked up a total of 9,775 views and 4,536 visitors. This corresponds to the higher number of posts I published for 2022 – a total of 52. In essence, that would be tantamount to one post every week as a year has approximately 52 weeks. While this came short of the all-time high of 54 posts in 2015, it just goes to show that we’re getting there.

The blog’s views-per-visitor count for 2022 also saw an increase. From 1.98 in 2020 and 2.01 in 2021, this increased by 0.14 points to 2.15 for 2022. Not bad.

Given that most COVID-19 restrictions from 2020 and 2021 have already been lifted, people have been getting out of their houses more. Even I took the chance to work somewhere else, as we’re still on a remote working setup. Those trips, alongside the opportunities to check out restaurants, contributed to the higher numbers recorded in 2022.

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Now, let’s look at the visitors per country. Anglophone nations garnered several spots in the Top 10 list for the third straight year.

The Philippines ranked No. 1 on the list, followed by the United States. The United Kingdom ranked a distant third, while Malaysia followed at fourth place. Canada, Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia occupied Nos. 5 to 8 respectively.

Visits from India landed at No. 9, though these remain suspect due to majority of bloggers from this country resorting to like-spamming. I do have followers from India, but they do not engage in this practice – so the original number should be half of that.

Now, you may wonder: Do you have something against the country? No, but I’m against bad practices often observed from most bloggers there. See, a good chunk of the spam comments from India that Akismet intercepts often come from bloggers who promote their commercial sites – which honestly are a dime a dozen nowadays.

I don’t really mind if they stayed on their lane, but the fact that most comments from there have been blocked since I first began blogging in 2013 means a huge chunk of them aren’t here for a good purpose. It makes me sad that I can only count the decent blog followers from India with the fingers of one hand.

Spain landed at No. 10 as a surprise entrant. While I also have followers from Spain, they also write in English so I do understand what they post about. But the rest of views coming from that country? Heck, I don’t even write in Spanish, more so understand or speak it – so this perplexes me.

Maybe the Spanish like-spammers are also perplexed that an “indio” from the only country they colonized in Asia more than three centuries ago can write good English?

(Here’s a bit of history: While Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines in 1521, Spanish colonial rule did not start until 1565 following the expedition led by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. Spain’s hold on the islands ended in 1898 when the Treaty of Paris was signed that year – ending the Spanish-American War.)

(The Philippines proclaimed independence in 1898, but this was short-lived due to the arrival of American forces. It was only in 1902 that the insular government was formed, a successor of the Second Philippine Commission under the helm of former US President William Howard Taft. The insular government lasted until 1935 when the Philippines was being prepared for self-rule, and the Americans removed the country’s training wheels in 1946.)

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Moving on, here are the top 10 posts for the year. I excluded those published years earlier as they already have a head-start when it comes to views. Interestingly, my non-food entries gained more ground in 2022 than the ones about food.

For this year, only four food-related posts made it to the top 10 – the seventh This or That post, my review of Nanyang Asian Kopitiam, my first post about The Brewman Coffee, and my shrimp curry recipe. Three entries involving life updates and recaps made it, alongside one OOTD post, one non-food post and one product review.

The top new post for 2022 was my take on blogging issues involving bad actors on the WordPress platform. For 2023, I hope Automattic – WP’s parent company – takes the issues I brought up in that post seriously instead of turning a blind eye. But one can dream.

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And that’s it for this two-part recap of 2022.

Before I end, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the long-time followers of this blog ever since I began in 2013. I very much appreciate your support, especially during the times when I felt like stopping due to bad actors. Just as I mentioned in a comment at another blog, I look forward to meeting all of you in case you visit Manila. One round of drinks on me, if not coffee and a pastry!

Also, to the long-time spammers that have been trying to get my attention since 2013 – thank you for showing your true colors and providing me with material to report to WordPress (even though WP itself is turning a blind eye on these). I’m not going to name names or mention blogs, as I don’t want them to gain more publicity by latching on to The Monching’s Guide. Almost 10 years on and still refusing to understand “no means no”? What a pity.

With that said, wishing everyone a productive blogging year and again, thank you for supporting The Monching’s Guide!

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