The Alexa Toolbar - Just FYI ... Rankings For Some Members' Sites

[Sharon & Roy]

We thought some of you might like to know about the Alexa Toolbar to help with your Link Building strategies.

You see, the Alexa Toolbar (http://download.alexa.com/) has many features that make it quite handy and for those of you who enjoy working with statistics, it is easy to compare various sites with each other in the way of visitors, via their Alexa Web Ranking, and to quickly find related sites as well.

Instantly know how well other sites compare with yours when it comes to the amount of traffic they receive.

They also have a search feature that provides you with a small screenshot of the top three sites' Home Pages.

Of course these Search Results are Powered by Google ...

Click Here (http://info.alexa.com/search?q=search+engine+optimization) to see results for ... search engine optimization


Here is what Alexa says about its Toolbar ...

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With Alexa at your side you'll:

Surf more efficiently
- With Related Links you'll have instant access to similar sites.

Have "insider information"
- Get vital web site information including traffic rankings, contact information and site statistics & ratings.

Search smarter
- Conduct all of your searches from one simple interface.
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The way Alexa ranks Web sites is not via the "actual" number of visitors it really gets, but more along the way that the Nielsen Ratings rank TV Shows and the Arbitron Ratings rank Radio Stations.

Here is what Alexa says ...


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About the Alexa Traffic Rankings

Alexa computes traffic rankings by analyzing the web usage of millions of Alexa Toolbar users. The information is sorted, sifted, anonymized, counted, and computed, until, finally, we get the traffic rankings shown in the Alexa service. The process is relatively complex, but if you have a need to know, please read on.

How is traffic rank calculated?

The overall rank is based on three months of historical traffic data and is a combined measure of "reach" and "pageviews." Reach is determined by counting the number of Alexa Toolbar users who visit a site on any given day. Pageviews is the total number of URL requests for a site by Alexa users. However, multiple requests on the same day by the same user for the same URL are counted as a single pageview.
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We have monitored, Doug's and Jill's stats for the last 6 months and thought to publish them here, just for your information.

As you can see, both are doing VERY well in the Alexa Web Rankings and have been moving up steadily.


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http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/
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06/17/02
Average traffic ranking: 9,683
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04/11/02
Average traffic ranking: 22,024
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03/06/02
Average traffic ranking: 29,096
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11/28/01
Average traffic ranking: 71,428
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http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.rankwrite.com/
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06/17/02
Average traffic ranking: 48,193
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04/11/02
Average traffic ranking: 69,687
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03/06/02
Average traffic ranking: 71,343
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11/28/01
Average traffic ranking: 96,698
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Just FYI ... Here are some other members' sites stats.


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http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/) - 9,683

http://www.freemoneyservices.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.freemoneyservices.com/) - 126,456

http://www.seoconsultants.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.seoconsultants.com/) - 83,508

http://announce.esubmit-it.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://announce.esubmit-it.com/) - 597,778

http://www.high-search-engine-ranking.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.high-search-engine-ranking.com/) - 169,326

http://www.makemetop.co.uk/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.makemetop.co.uk/) - 143,295

http://www.kneelsit.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.kneelsit.com/) - 770,720

http://www.seoanalysis.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.seoanalysis.com/) - 1,992,492

http://www.thekarchergroup.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.thekarchergroup.com/) - 252,056

http://www.highrankings.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.highrankings.com/) - 35,718

http://www.mordesigns.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.mordesigns.com/) - 2,904,925

http://www.search-engine-optimization.ecommercehosts.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.search-engine-optimization.ecommercehosts.com/) - 454,842

http://www.ebrandmanagement.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.ebrandmanagement.com/) - 785,299

http://www.1design4life.co.uk/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.1design4life.co.uk/) - 543,871

http://www.softdesigns.net/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.softdesigns.net/) - 1,949,634

http://www.starlightastrology.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.starlightastrology.com/) - 56,415

http://www.nitrogen.net.au/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.nitrogen.net.au/) - No Data

http://www.disabilityinsuranceforums.com/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.disabilityinsuranceforums.com/) - 2,603,794

http://www.iwon.net/ (http://info.alexa.com/data/details?&url=http://www.iwon.net/) - 94,918
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[ihelpyou]

9600? hmm. Moving up there! :)

[Blue]

Thanks S & R! :cheers: :hi:

[Advisor]

I think it's important to note that if you install the Alexa Toolbar there are certain "spyware" aspects to it (as that's part of its nature) to see where you're surfing. If you don't like the idea of being "followed" where ever you go, you may not want to install it. Or at least turn it off at times.

Jill

[blackboxgroup]

Without trying to put a downer on those apparent rankings, the word "skewed" should also be kept in mind. Who's most likely to use the alexa toolbar? Who's most likely to visit sources of website information? In these circumstances the true test is by comparison, so you might compare here with searchengineforums or webmasterworld. And you might compare highrankings with makemetop or probably more fairly bruceclay.

I'm a strong believer that all the data in the world does not tell you about link building strategies unless you actually know what you're looking at. i.e. The alexa toolbar will be used by a certain type of person who is more likely to look at a certain type of site. It also doesn't count unique users. i.e. in my mind the data is fun but useless.

[Advisor]

Very good points, BB! However, I wouldn't quite say it's useless, as it does give a fair indication of the popularity of sites among Alexa users, whatever their demographics may be. I wonder if Alexa has any demographic info. I'm sure it is mostly Webmasters.

Jill

[ihelpyou]

Yes, you should definitely compare like sites with it as that just makes sense. You also should note how long each site has been online as that makes a huge difference when comparing like sites. The longer online, the more traffic the site should be getting because it should have had much more time to develop links out there so other Alexa users can find the site easier. Longetivity is a big thing.

For instance:

ihelpyou forums = 1 year
webmaster world = 4 years
search engine forums = 7 years

The last two are approximates and gathered from what the forums say in postings. Granted, the longer online, the less increase in traffic a site will have, especially with forums.

I do agree that this only measures traffic of Alexa users. Certainly not any indication of 'real life' traffic logs for any particular site, and certainly does not indicate 'unique' users to a site in any way, shape, or form.

[Big Guerrilla]

I'd view those ratings with a grain of salt. I know people whose sites are doing 100,000 unique visitors a month, have been around for years, yet aren't even in the top 100,000 as far as Alexa is concerned. Seems strange to me.