Alexa traffic rankings really are a joke

[justinmjs]

Another nod for Google Analytics.

[Vern]

Hey Tyler, thanks for the tip! Silly me I didn't install the code on my website yet. So, it's pretty much in the startup phase.

Some good news thought and you guys are the BEST! ...

I just checked alexa recently and got my ranking displayed - like finally! I know I know, it's not accurate but that means that there's nothing wrong with my website or blog for that matter and I'm looking forward to carrying on this discussion soon enough.

SEO rocks, my friends!

PS : Did anyone go out and get the stompernet package for white had SEO at $800/month ?

[Tyler Banfield]

Alexa : Worthless & Easy to Manipulate?

[vangogh]

Vern there's not really one measurement to determine the value of a website if you're thinking of something along the lines of an Alexa ranking.

I'd agree that getting a web statistics package would be best. Google Analytics is free though there are some who would suggest letting Google see all that data isn't the best idea. There are other stats packages out there you can get as well.

if you want to know where your pages rank for certain queries you can use a tool like the Search Engine Positioning Tool from Digital Point. There are other tools that will check where your pages rank as well.

Ranking doesn't equal success though.

I think your friends are using Alexa just because they don't realize what it's really measuring. There are still lots of people who think Alexa rank means something. It doesn't mean anything, but people still think it does.

[webzenstar]

I hope nobody builds their web sites for the sole purpose of ranking higher in Alexa, that would be a monumental waste of energy, in most cases (if not all)!

Nevertheless, I find Alexa is a fine place to find lots of information about "who links back at your web site" (you'll eventually have those) and also for the possibility for people to (eventually, also) leave feedback (hopefully positive) about their experience with your web site.

There's also a screenshot of your homepage and (usually) lots of "related links" which are more or less acurate (or relevant).

For me, it's entertainment, not serious "business analytics".

[Matt R.]

Alexa has its uses like stated above, and can be benefical in the way of increasing your page rank. Alexa should not be used for your actual traffic, especially if your not in the top 100,000. Because Alexa shows other sites that are similar to yours in ranking order, Even though no one goes to Alexa' s site, the search engines still crawl it. The higher your page rank, the more people that visit your site, will in turn up your Alexa Rank and Google page rank. All these things work together to give you the upper hand, click the link below for more details on how you can make this benefit your site.

http://www.everythingkitchens.com/in..._rankings.html

[Sadu]

IIRC there was a survey of a number of big SEO related blogs a while back - Matt Cutts, SEO Book, Jim Boykin etc. The data showed Alexa to be about 60% accurate at predicting which sites were busier than others.

PageRank was about 20%, and Technorati was around 75%.

All things considered, 60% is not a bad job by Alexa, given their small sample size etc.

In my own experience, on SEO / Web related sites the Alexa graph roughly resembles the actual visitor graph, so I don't think it's too bad - assuming of course the webmaster isn't fudging their ranking. For other sites - hotels, schools, photography etc, Alexa bears no relation to actual traffic.

But then even Alexa themselves admit that the data is all but useless for sites over 100k.
If you compare Alexa rank on any 2 sites that aren't closely related to each other, you are asking for trouble.

[Janna122003]

Why would you bother yourself on alexa ranking if your site get high traffic? Just continue what your doing and be happy that your site continue to increase traffic.

[sbyholm]

Alexa is usefull for one thing: It tells you what sites are popular among alexa toolbar users. If the Alexa toolbar users are a part of your target audience it's usefull.

If You have a really bad Alexa ranking >1,000,000 and want it up for some reason, just install the Alexa toolbar yourself. I did it and my stats jumped up like crazy, 600,000 or somthing , then I figured it wasn't worth having the useless toolbar cluttering my screen, I uninstalled it, and the score went back down.

If someone with a large user base (like v7n) could convince their users to install the Alexa toolbar just for a couple of days and surf around a bit on the site the score would probably jump through the roof That is if those users don't normally have it installed.

Simon

[Sadu]

Originally Posted by sbyholm

If You have a really bad Alexa ranking >1,000,000 and want it up for some reason, just install the Alexa toolbar yourself. I did it and my stats jumped up like crazy, 600,000 or somthing , then I figured it wasn't worth having the useless toolbar cluttering my screen, I uninstalled it, and the score went back down.

Instead of installing a useless toolbar, you can install the awesome Searchstatus Firefox extension instead. This contributes to the Alexa rank, and is a must have SEO extension anyway. I'm pretty sure this is the reason SEO / webmaster sites rank so well in Alexa stats, because I don't know anyone who actually uses the Alexa toolbar.

[alpalino]

You can easily manupulate Alexa rankings with Auto traffic sites. Also I heard that by installing the Alexa toolbar, it effects your rankings as well. But i don't know if that is true or not.