The small website problem is not too different from the small social media account problem. Most people on social media get zero traction. Barely any views, likes, engagement. Almost all traffic goes to a very small group, and not just that, the big account has a snowball effect. They are ranked higher, thus seen more, thus followed more, and so on.
The algorithm is basically incorrect in that it keeps rewarding something that was already rewarded. You can't say that this channel deserved it most for the simple reason that the rest wasn't even seen at all.
In fact, even if you'd list 3 accounts below each other that we hypothetically consider to be of identical value, the one on the top will get 80% of the followers/engagement.
And that's why blogrolls and link directories also do not help.
The algorithm is basically incorrect in that it keeps rewarding something that was already rewarded. You can't say that this channel deserved it most for the simple reason that the rest wasn't even seen at all.
In fact, even if you'd list 3 accounts below each other that we hypothetically consider to be of identical value, the one on the top will get 80% of the followers/engagement.
And that's why blogrolls and link directories also do not help.