There is a lot of misinformation floating around the Internet in regards to how Alexa tracks traffic, how Alexa rankings work and how they impact your SEO rankings (or don’t). I want to add some clarity to this situation so within this upcoming thread I am going to be walking you through Alexa, how it works, and help you decide whether or not it serves any importance towards your online campaigns and success.
So if you are ready, I am going to get right into the inner workings of Alexa.
How do Alexa Rankings Work?
Alexa rankings display several metrics. These include Alexa traffic rank, Traffic Rank in US, Sites Linking in, and, within their charts, you can see the different fields that you can graph out your website history (see example chart below)
BIG QUESTION: But where does Alexa get their data from and is it reliable?
Alexa gets their rankings from the Alexa Toolbar, which people install into their browsers and it basically tracks their activity around the Internet, the websites they visit, and how often they visit.
This is where they get most of their data from, so they really do have a minute set of data to work with as only a small fraction of people actually have the Alexa toolbar installed (guestimates say around 15-20 million downloads…many of these no longer active), with a good deal of these being people that are Internet marketers who want to track their Alexa rankings.
Along with that, they claim to get data from “other” unknown sources as well (yeah…).
Another concern is the fact that the toolbar is considered to be “adware” by MacAfee while Symantec another major anti-virus program considers the toolbar “trackware” because of the nature of how it works (it tracks and stores all of your web activities). If you have it installed, you can best bet that all of your activities are being tracked and the data you are using it for really is deemed quite useless, because it is not real traffic data.
How to Increase Your Alexa Ranking?
If you wanted to”game” Alexa, it is actually quite easy (I will get to that).
But first, the most obvious way would be to get more website traffic to increase your Alexa rankings right?
Wrong. More traffic does not equate to higher traffic rankings in Alexa. In fact, in late 2012 I personally ran some tests and comparisons between two completely independent websites just for peace of mind and to validate all of my assumptions about Alexa over the years (that it was more of a gag site than anything).
In my test, Website A was getting 20,000+ unique visitors per day, and Website B was getting just over 1,000+ uniques per day. In other words Website A was getting 20 times the traffic of Website B, yet the Alexa rank had Website B getting double the traffic within their reporting!??
Completely bogus. Alexa ranking data is completely bogus. The obvious, but ineffective way to get higher Alexa rankings would be to get more traffic to your website but this is simply not the case. The correct way to get higher Alexa rankings is to get more people to visit your website that have the Alexa toolbar installed.
I am not going to go into details, but based on my first point there are very few data triggers that Alexa has to work off of that are not publicly available. They have no access to ACTUAL website data (only the owner of a website has access to actual traffic stats).
The traffic data they use is based on their toolbar, so naturally the more people that visit your site that have the toolbar installed will improve your Alexa rank (hint, hint).
How to Check Alexa Rank?
Many of you are probably wondering where to go to find out your Alexa rank. You can actually do this directly through their website, or you can install their “adware” toolbar (not recommended).
Again, take your ranking with a grain of salt. It won’t benefit you in any way knowing your Alexa, nor will it be a sound indicator of how your website ranks compared to others out there. The reason. They DO NOT have this data!
If you are interested in finding out where your website ranks in Google, an important metric when determining your SEO effectiveness there are tools that can scan Google’s search results and tell you where you are ranked (what page you are on) under specific keywords.
If you want to find out what page you are ranked on in Google, I recommend that you use Jaaxy.com for this.
Alexa Ranking Package, Is it Worth It?
On the Alexa website you will notice there are many different services they are attempting to sell you. You will see something similar to this within the Alexa sidebar when you are on their site…
I also have personally tried these services (Get Certified Metrics) for testing purposes and can honestly tell you that you are buying into an empty offer.
The “Get Certified Metrics” is a service where you have to pay to give Alexa your accurate data. Shouldn’t they be paying you for this? You will see absolutely no value from doing this and if you are even remotely interested in taking advantage of this, please do save your money.
Does Alexa Rank Have Anything to Do With SEO?
Recently it appears that many folks have been vastly misinformed as to how Alexa works and what the purpose of Alexa is. There are folks going around the Internet touting an Alexa score as some sort of indicator as to how well a website ranks in Google or how it reflects website success.
However, Alexa rank has no correlation to SEO or how well a site gets indexed. So if someone tells you that Alexa means something and tout it as a reason to join their service, you may want to head the other way.
Secondly, Alexa offers Web Analytics toolkits for $149 per month. This service is a complete redundancy if you have Google Analytics (which is free) and in fact, the Alexa Advanced Plan will offer you inferior data to that you can get with Analytics and Webmaster Tools, both free services offer by Google.
So Alexa will not efficiently or accurately track your traffic and they will not be able to serve as any sort of indicator in respect to SEO. If you want to get SEO help, the best thing you can do is to learn about it yourself and there are services out there that can help you out with this. If you want to get help with your rankings in Google, you can get up and running know with some REAL education. Get rolling here!
I hope this has added some clarity to the whole Alexasphere and if you do have anything in addition to add, any Alexa experiences or any questions about any of this content, drop me a note below and I will be more than happy to discuss.
Cheers,
Kyle
WaysToAvoidScamsOnline.com
Hello,
Thanks for this descriptive guide on Alexa ranking.
Infact I have observed that Alexa ranking can be improved when we install toolbar on our blog. Regardless unique visitors plays the most important role in increasing alexa ranking.
I found it worth sharable on my social media account.
Thanks.
I really do not believe in Alexa stats but there are many who do. From my experience, it still seems that many consider it when purchasing a product or service from a website.
I have a large amount of my visitors which use Vista and there isn’t a Alexa toolbar doesn’t support Vista. So, my Alexa stats are not accurate at all and does have an impact on directory submissions for Madmouse.
As long as people believe in the tooth fairy, people will still believe in Alexa..
Alexa is not accurate. The only way to get accurate traffic stats is to own the actual website itself. There are some people that pay for the Premium services that Alexa offers that gives them access to that specific websites traffic, but any site that doesn’t do this they don’t have a clue other than their alexa toolbar which a very small % of website owners have.
I remember back in the day being able to influence my alexa rank simply by downloading the tool bar and clicking on my website several times through the day. I am sure they have evolved since then, but if you are using Alexa for any aspect of your “research” on other companies and looking for accurate comparative data, I recommend against it.
I have never thought of Alexa in this way. Actually, it’s not so popular in Serbia yet.
When I saw it for the first time at my friend’s in the States, I was amazed by everything Alexa does (except not really understanding me and my accent lol ) but I didn’t know that they have this ranking “program”.
However, I have just visited their website. They have 7 days trial but in order to get it, you have to add your credit card. That’s just the point when I make a big smile and say no. It’s been like that since I have joined the Wealthy Affiliate for free without a credit card needed for the starter membership.
I simply learned that the best programs you can get for free and see for yourself that they are good enough to pay for them later!
This has nothing with Alexa now but Jaaxy is a better option for us since it has this free starter membership too!
There is no need to pay for Alexa. They do have some services that they are building out and they are getting better, but you need to plug your website into their service for them to start capturing data and analytics about your site.
As an overall metric, Alexa at best offers an “estimate” of your rankings and often times this isn’t even close to be accurate. Too many people and even some “guru” marketers try to level success based on Alexa numbers whereas they are not the slightest bit relevant.
You are talking about Amazon Alexa, the digital assistant.
This article is about alexa.com, which is not related in any way to Amazon.
My website is almost 2 years old but it is still not coming up in search engines for the url keyword. My site name is plan-trip.com and I am searching for the keyword (plan trip) but my website is not coming in any page… not even at last page.
I have checked following:
1. 800+ pages are indexed in google
2. No manual spam action has taken by Google
3. Today I have removed some bad backlinks
Site is optimised using paid software and it is 75% seo friendly with the keyword. Any advice will be highly appreciated.
I wouldn’t worry too much about your main keyword you are targeting to be honest. It is very broad and just because you own the domain name (the lesser version, plantrip.com would have more algorithmic value in Google), doesn’t guarantee you a ranking.
When you choose a domain name, your goal should not be to simply rank under that domain nor should you think it is automatic. Rather with each page/post you build out, this is a brand new keyword and ranking opportunity. You should be taking advantage of this and if you have created 800+ posts on your site (and they are of quality) I can only imagine that you have an abundance of traffic coming to your site.
Two years ago we have an alexa ranking of 70K. This year, with ten times the traffic, we have a ranking of over 1 million. We use Quantcast now, since at least they are free and actually track our traffic.
Exactly my point there is no way for Alexa to accurate track your traffic without you handing over rights to your Google Analytics account (which they are charging folks for). They of course do their best with what data they have, but I have never understood why people have held it to the gold standard when trying to determine how much one of their competitors websites or where they “stand” in the scheme of things.
Based on my personal experience , alexa ranking is completely bogus, unreliable, inaccurate…I stopped watching this crap… especially if your website uses ajax and similar technologies…STAY AWAY FROM ALEXA
The reason they are not reliable in terms of their overall rankings is because they don’t have access to actual traffic data from websites (other ones that offer it up). They do have a good amount of user data and they definitely have a good grasp of technology as they are owned by Amazon, but basing any importance on Alexa ranking in terms of your business is not a good idea.
In the late 90’s until about 2006 when Google Analytics began capturing the market, Alexa was the mainstream go-to place for comparison analytics. That’s how its following and status were built, over the first decade of ecommerce. I remember getting their toolbar during that period and thinking geesh, “how does this benefit me?”, before discarding it soon after.
I’m surprised that people still think so much of it; since old toolbar technology—due to the adware/spyware/trackware baggage associated with it—has all but been reduced to ashes.
Your article dispels the myths about Alexa once and for all, is an eye-opener on the commercially available tools, and also hints at how some are gaming Alexa stats.
Yeah, Alexa was the place to go to check your stats and for many folks, still is. The thing is they DO NOT have your traffic data, so it is speculation at best based on the data they do capture through things like the toolbar (albeit in ashes now) or their paid memberships where companies actually hand over their traffic data to Alexa.
It is still very easy to game the stats and they are highly inaccurate based on the my website portfolio. Not even close.
Good for a very rough traffic comparison, sure. For something that you can actually derive useful analysis from, no.
This is absolutely correct. Alexa is an absurd waste of time. Anyone who understands how they collect their “data” knows this. It’s not a tool a professional worth their salt would consider using.
It definitely is and it is crazy that companies are pushing the idea of Alexa being some sort of “factual” source of traffic data. Sure, it can be used to give you a rough estimate but that is about the extent of it.
This is the biggest BS I have read in ages. What is the point of this? Alexa ranking may not be totally accurate but it is the closest to accurate tool available.
Accurate? How so?
Alexa has no REAL traffic data from websites other than the ones that PAY them to offer up their traffic information. I can tell you that with 13 years I have been online I have seen many business grow rapidly in terms of traffic, yet the Alexa ranking go down. I have also seen others post jobs to “game” Alexa charts through Fiverr and other outsourced gigs. It can be easily done.
To say that Alexa is an accurate metric has no basis. They have no REAL data and they are basing their charts on ‘made up data’.
Can you state some vital examples to prove that alexa’s rating are inaccurate?
I covered this within the article, but Alexa has no access to traffic data. The only person that has the ability to capture traffic data for ANY website is the owner of that given website and this is done by installing Google Analytics (or another analytics platform). They base their traffic data and rankings based on people that have (a) install the toolbar (b) that are paying for their premium services which basically grants them access to your private website data.
To “Smith” – Sorry but you’re wrong. Alexa is pretty much worthless and only a tool nOObs latch onto. There are professional competitive intelligence tools like Hitwise, Compete, Comscore, Nielsen, Kampyle, etc. However, even these tools do not match your own analytics via Google Analytics. They each measure different things in very different ways.
More importantly, you must have very high traffic levels (say 250k – 500k unique users per month) to hope get any worthwhile relative data from these professional tools.
If you mention “Alexa” to any data analytics professional they will laugh. Sorry, but Kyle is helping you out here.
Great article Kyle,
I never really paid much attention to Alexa rankings but lately I have been. I have a few websites that I have been remodeling and was asked by a potential advertiser for a couple of my sites.
In doing some research I have noticed a drastic difference in what Alexa statistics are for my sites and those that I am seeing in Google Analytics.
These drastic differences have lead me to wonder about Alexa’s accuracy in general.
I didn’t think there would be such a huge difference.
Anyway, great article and read. Thanks!
Exactly, Alexa has very little correlation between a websites real traffic and their suspected traffic. The reason, they have no access to ANY traffic data other than those people that pay for their service and are willing to give up this data (which is a ridiculous concept). It can still be used as somewhat of a relative gauge, but I wouldn’t ever stress out about poor Alexa results or use it as a conclusive guide as to how you compare to other websites in the same industry.
Unfortunately a lot of advertisers or company nowadays still use Alexa to gauge site performance. Little that they know Alexa isn’t actually accurate. I haven’t registered any of my site with Alexa since I am still skeptical about it. But there are lots of companies who unfortunately checks my sites in alexa. And when they see the result they see a very low traffic or unpopular site. Which is sometimes not really true. 🙁
Yeah, it is a broad estimate on the best of days. People put too much trust into Alexa and although it can be somewhat insightful when trying to get a gauge in terms of comparing one site to the next, it is completely unreliable as they don’t have any true data as to how much traffic a site really gets.
One thing you are missing in this article is advertisers look at alexa rating to determine if a website is a good fit.
This is true in many cases Rachel. Too many “uninformed” people use Alexa for many reasons, some to gauge their competition others to see if an affiliate is a good match for their affiliate program. At the end of the day though, Alexa traffic data is in no way accurate and at best should be used as a very rough estimate.
I feel like a complete idiot. I actually thought Google took your Alexa ranking into consideration when ranking your website in search engines. This will save me a lot of work.
Thank you for the easy to understand explanation!
No, they have absolutely no connection. Alexa is actually owned by Amazon and has no real “data” in respect to websites other than that which people donate to them through their paid Premium service (which seems ridiculous to pay to give them data). Alexa rankings has no bearing on your actual website rankings in Google or other search engines nor is it all that accurate at determining your comparative website rank or traffic.
For over a year I’ve been using the Alexa rank of websites as an estimate of how much traffic they get. What a shame it’s a load of crap!
Do you know of any websites similar to Alexa which are genuine?
Also, do you know of any websites which show how much clicks websites get for keywords? Alexa used to let you search for keywords and then told you how the clicks are shared throughout the listings. (example: typing in “google” might’ve shown this: 1. google.com (64%) 2. google.co.uk (25%) etc)
No website other than Google knows how much traffic a given website gets (assuming that people have Google Analytics installed). The rest of the sites out there like Compete, Moz and Alexa are just estimates and in many cases GUESSES because they don’t have access to anyones website data.
Because of this, you shouldn’t be using this as the metric to determine how well your website is doing. Use your actual website traffic and revenue you are earning. Those are the only things that matter and you can get a Google Analytics account for free and this is by far the best analytics tool on the market.
Hello Kyle,
Thanks for posting. Alexa allows you to add a “Certify Code” to the head section of the HTML on each page and gives a website a certified status. It is my understanding this will present more precise visitors to your website similar to google analytics. What are you thought on this approach and have you tried it?
Certified for what? Not sure why anyone would ever want to give their “data” to Alexa to use at their own disposal. Very few companies do this which means that Alexa has very little actual website/traffic data. If someone wants accurate traffic data they will use Google Analytics on their website and this is the most precise and insightful data you can have.
I think it would be quite foolish to hand over your website data to Alexa and serves ZERO value to you.
Alexa is an Amazon company …
Certainly, they use the data collected by their EC2 Cloud Servers …
Absolutely untrue. They would have to install analytics software on every server that people were purchasing from them, Alexa does not get any data from the Amazon platform. This would represent a myriad of legal issues.
The only data that Alexa has is from (a) people that pay to put their analytics software on their site (b) people that have the Alexa toolbar plugin installed. Some data is better than none, but Alexa at most should be used as a guesstimate.
Hi kyle,
It is a fantastic review that open my eyes. I completetly misunderstood that the number appear in Alexa is accurate. I was wrong and i think so many folks out there have the same thinking. Leading information could lead to vast waste of time and money. I could not find anywhere else except here in WA. The clearly guidances and information are value to be known.
Thank you kyle,
Regards,
Vo
Don’t worry, most people invest too much thought into their “Alexa’ rank, when it really has no tangible value outside of just a “guess” as to where you rank compared to other websites.
Like most people who do not know the performance of the Alexa, I have been stuck in your circle of influence to try to get alexa ranking there. I think this is a very useful thing for a website. Now …. not anymore. I have the Alexa toolbar remove from chrome that I use. Thank you kyle, you give a good understanding of alexa.
Yeah, it is an estimate at best. It has no impact on your actual rankings in search engines and unfortunately some folks are getting ripped off by buying into their paid services.
Wow. Thanks for this article Kyle. I never knew about this. My alexa ranking is 905,000 But I don’t have a lot of traffic at all.
Cheers.
Very nice article. I agree that alexa ranking is biased and doesn’t give accurate traffic figures but it does collect figures from those who have the toolbar installed. Can it be assumed safely that the figures provided by Alexa are less than actual amount and that the site is question is atleast doing that many pageviews. I mean if its more than what alexa is reporting then good for the website but knowing at least number of pagviews does seem helpful to me. Now comparing it with other websites does make the picture messy.
It really depends, there is no consistency as your rankings are not based on traffic, they are based on what pages people are visiting that have the Alexa toolbar installed. This leads to a vast amount of inaccuracy so sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to the actual rankings.
Yes, I agree with you, Alexa does’t do anything about SEO, we can have all data regarding our blog from Google Analytics
Hi Kyle
You certainly enlighten me, for months I’ve been using Alexa as my guiding tool.
Best thing I have ever done is join WA. There is nothing like it out there.
Thanks a million
That is the problem Mike, most people give Alexa far more credit for their analytical data than they are worth. They truly have no idea and they based their limited subset of data on their Firefox and Chrome plug-ins, which are only used by internet marketers. This skews the data and again, they have no access to the real website data so they are working on some strange premise that they do have an understanding when they don’t.
And Alexa ranking has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with rankings in Google. This is something some folks are also confused by. It will have no impact whatsoever on your rankings in search engines.
good article, but i think alexa only works good to websites that have got ranking of few thousands. anyways, your guidance may help newbies like me, thank you man
Alexa only has a very “vague” idea on traffic numbers based on people that have their toolbar installed. There are ways you can easily manipulate your Alexa ranking (although I won’t divulge here), but in respect to the importance of Alexa…it is truly meaningless to your business. You are concerned about YOUR data and metrics, which you will be getting through a tool like Google Analytics (which is free).
I am so glad that I ran across your great and informative article !
For a long time I was trying like crazy to push my Alexa rank down and was succeeding by the millions.
Then, out of the blue, for no apparent reason, I lost 1.5 million, then another 2 million. My rank was turning backwards ! YET … I am always on page 1 with Google !
I can certainly see why now why I should NOT worry about Alexa – especially in view of the fact that they sell you software costing $149 per month that you can obtain free from Google !
What a rip-off company – how can they attain such phony status anyway ?
They have no way to capture your data unless you pay them (at which time you give them access to your data). So basically you have to pay them to spy on your data, makes ZERO sense right?
Use Google Analytics to determine what your traffic is and avoid using Alexa as any metric for your website performance. You want to focus on real data like traffic, time on page and your SEO rankings. These are metrics that will allow you to create MORE business.
Hi Kyle,
Kudos to your article and your honest and researched based observation. I was so pissed because of this Alexa which seems to dip no matter how much traffic I get, but from last few weeks I am examining myself that Alexa is nothing but a sham, false, facade and bogus as you said. All my stats generators Google Analytics and JetPack indicates high traffic but Mr. Alexa seems do dislike it. But who cares, I don’t know not now at least…thanks!!!
The thing is, Alexa has NO IDEA how much traffic you get….their data is essentially made up and is based on a handful of people’s search activities (that are foolish enough to download their spyware toolbar). Don’t worry about Alexa, focus on your Google Analytics. REAL keyword and traffic data is all that matters.
Kyle this article was was fantastic in how informative it was .I heard someone say that before about Alexa. Many people go to school,like myself and feel who the heck wants to be wasting time on unproductive services.So Yeah…I’ll be sure to Facebook this to help spread the word 😉
Yeah, when running a business you need to be careful as to what you allot your time to and focusing or worry about Alexa rank is definitely not one of them.
I have never given much thought into AR. I had heard of them before this, but never looked into it. It is good to read about them. One less thing to waste my time on. Thanks for the post.
Exactly, focus on the data that really matters and Alexa is not one of these metrics. Google Analytics will tell you everything you need to know about your own traffic, Google Webmaster tools for your website/keyword/seo performance, and use tools like Jaaxy if you want to see where you are really ranked in Google (or where your competition is ranked).
Very Informative article as always Kyle. Back in May of 2012 when I first started my website I almost bought one of those Alexa packages because I thought it would help my site rank better.
Luckily I had a discussion with a WA member about this first and they told me about the same thing that you just did. This article has helped me understand a lot more about how Alexa works and I am not worried about my rank with them like I used to be.If I need to know my rank I can just use the site rank feature in Jaaxy it is more accurate than Alexa will ever be.
Thanks for providing us with these awesome informative articles Kyle. I always enjoy coming to your site.Scott
Thankfully you didn’t invest into this package Scott. Like many, you were misinformed at some point along the way into thinking that Alexa rankings had some value in respect to rankings in search engines…when in actuality the two are totally unrelated. That is why I always find it funny when people brag about their Alexa ranking like it is a determining factor of their websites success.
The one way to determine how well your site ranks in Google is to see if your site is ranking in Google! Thanks for your insights and your Alexa “story” Scott.
I always like your posts and reference them when building my own content. I think you look out for the Internet newbies.i only fell for one scam before I found WA and super excited every time new content comes available to learn. Keep up the good work in shutting down these scams. Loyal reader
Thanks Ryan, I am really glad you enjoy my articles. I write based on experience and with the purpose of helping folks out. That is why I thought it was necessary to bring some light to how Alexa works as there are so many people that brag about success based on Alexa or that are selling things like websites/products/businesses based on alexa rankings. That isn’t right and I thought I would bring some attention to it.
I have never put much stock in Alexa. I guess it is because I never knew how to get ranked with it. I guess my intuition was good with this product.
I have used and continue to use Jaaxy. It is great for figuring out how well something is doing for a particular keyword. It even shares the keywords that it thinks a particular page is using to rank.
Overall, this is a superior keyword tool with uses way beyond the typical keyword search tool.
Thanks Craig, they do serve different purposes but if people are looking for meaningful data in respect to research, then Jaaxy is the way to go. If they are looking for website stats (their own), Google Analtyics is the way to go. If you are looking to spy on your competition or to see how “well” a website is doing, then Alexa is going to be a waste of your time.
Nicely done on the mention about Jaxxy I liked that, and because of your comment I will get reinstated with Jaxxy. Sometimes folks just have to be reminded of what they are missing.
Yeah, Jaaxy is my bread and butter for research. You can’t go wrong by having this research platform on your side, you really do realize how many low competition keywords there are still out there (millions).
I’m a big fan of the Jaaxy ranking too. Rank isn’t everything, but it’s nice to be able to check your progress over time.
Yeah, it does help to know where you are ranked in Google because then you can gauge the success of your activities.
Quick question…The line after the subtitles …|I looked for it in the page source selection and don’t see it. How did you do that…
Thanks RonnyG
It is called a horizontal rule and you can add one using the
tag within the Text editor inside of WordPress. Hope this helps you out Ronny.
Thanks for the information. I wasn’t familiar with this software or the pros and cons of it. It is nice to know I can get accurate information from someone I can trust. Thanks, Kyle.
No problem. As you move forward you are likely going to come across people talking about Alexa at some point. Now you know what it is, how it works, and really how useless it is in respect to anything relating to your online campaigns and the success thereof.
Alexa is truly valueless. I once bought a WSO whose author claimed that better Alexa rankings lead to higher Google rankings. I subsequently decided to purchase a gig to boost my Alexa ranking and I was able to get it from 5+ million to 900,000+. In the end, it was a futile attempt, because my Google rankings remained unchanged.
That site was devalued by Google during the last Penguin update and is currenntly getting less than 10 visitors per day, yet my Alexa ranking has stayed consistent. This means that they probably don’t update their rankings.
It disappoints me to hear that people are selling scams like this. Over the years I have seen so many people “jaded” by a WSO that they have purchased, unfortunately there is no quality control over there and wannabe marketers are pumping out useless junk (that in many cases is a bold face lie).
Alexa has absolutely no bearing on SEO in ANY search engine. No search engine in their right mind would use the fake Alexa data when they have access to the real thing through their own data. As you have realized, the ranking score does not fluctuate based on website traffic validating to you what I have known for years, Alexa has no idea what sort of traffic any given website is getting.
Wow. I never really paid any attention to Alexa rankings, mostly because I always had terrible rankings, but it never knew that their site really has nothing important to say at all.
So why is it that so many people pay attention to it? I mean, where did all this hype come from?
The reason is that people are so worried about what their competition is doing and love the idea of being able to “spy” on them through Alexa. There are few mediums that really provide any data like this, so something is better than nothing I suppose (even though it truly is quite meaningless in respect to your success). Coke naturally wants to know what Pepsi is doing right?
The hype has evolved over the years and so has the Alexa service. There are other companies like Compete.com that try to make sense of the data that is available to them, but unfortunately one piece of data they will never be able to get at is traffic data.
Haha. Well, I guess this stomps on Empower Network’s whole “we have good Alexa Ranking” thing. Also, this will be an awesome post to share with anyone trying to sell a site on Flippa for a premium because it has good AR.
Yeah, that is definitely one of the places that people tend to push the idea of Alexa being the metric of success, but they are not the only one. There are many folks out there that base their success on Alexa rank and it has become quite accepted to do this. I am not sure why someone selling their site would tout an Alexa rank other than the fact that they may not be getting as much traffic as they would like people to think, so instead they use Alexa which as we know has no idea about this. A facade.
I wish flippa would remove the AR section from its “due dilgence” drop down. As if due diligence really means checking alexa rank!
No doubt Dom. If Alexa is their method of doing due diligence, then the customers of website are really losing out on an effective due diligence process because Alexa has no bearing what so ever on website success, rank, or actual traffic.