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Another Reason Why Alexa Rankings Are Crap

by Stanley Tang
16 replies
Sometimes it just makes me wonder how much traffic I need to generate in order to break into the top 10,000 on Alexa.

I've recently had a site featured on tons of offline media, generated close to 15,000 unique visitors in 24 hours... yet Alexa shows a ranking of 73,000.

While just a couple of weeks ago I had one of my niche sites soared into around 20,000 with only 1700 visits on that day.

And another site which generated around 500 unique visitors on that particular day hitting around 60,000.

Strange huh? Next time you check those Alexa ranks, think again.
#alexa #alexa rankings #compete #crap #rankings #reason
  • Profile picture of the author Dan Grossman
    You get anomolies when you do sampling-based statistics. Alexa has to extrapolate from a couple hundred thousand toolbar users, at most, what the entire internet-using population is looking at. But over time, on average, it's not that inaccurate. Day to day it can swing when more or less toolbar users hit your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Alexa stats have never been correct and never will be no matter how much they upgrade.. Personally I do not waste my time checking my stats with them. All that matters is my AWSTATS and SALES.

    I actually blocked Alexa from one of my websites because I got tired of their incorrect stats. Once I blocked them, last time I checked they have that site listed at like 18,000,000 something..lol Now like I said I do not even waste my time withthem at all..

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Grossman
      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      Alexa stats have never been correct and never will be no matter how much they upgrade.. Personally I do not waste my time checking my stats with them. All that matters is my AWSTATS and SALES.
      It's potential advertisers, partners, and in some cases customers that look at Alexa who give those numbers importance. They're not for you, the website owner, since you already know how many visitors you get. But someone on the outside can't see your servers' log-based stats.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
        Originally Posted by Dan Grossman View Post

        It's potential advertisers, partners, and in some cases customers that look at Alexa who give those numbers importance. They're not for you, the website owner, since you already know how many visitors you get. But someone on the outside can't see your servers' log-based stats.
        The reason why I have them blocked from one website ( I own over 30), I have no need for those stats to be posted.. I know why they exist but to me and many others including some customers they are useless.

        James
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      • Profile picture of the author Stanley Tang
        Originally Posted by Dan Grossman View Post

        It's potential advertisers, partners, and in some cases customers that look at Alexa who give those numbers importance. They're not for you, the website owner, since you already know how many visitors you get. But someone on the outside can't see your servers' log-based stats.
        But you do know that Alexa ranks can be easily manipulated with "bots"...
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        • Profile picture of the author Dan Grossman
          Originally Posted by Stanley Tang View Post

          But you do know that Alexa ranks can be easily manipulated with "bots"...
          I started getting calls from venture capital firms when I broke the top 20,000 list at Alexa. And advertisers surely check alexa ranks against any stats you give them in many cases.

          My opinion of the ranks doesn't change that, so it doesn't matter that they can be gamed.
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        • Profile picture of the author bbrian017
          another good reason why Alexa is a little off!

          Alexa compares your stats to the stats of all websites and from that prepares a mathematical number for you portrayed into a ranking.

          The thing is you can have the best day your site ever seen and still drop in Alexa rankings if other sites your compared with had higher traffic days!

          overall I still like Alexa but I use it over a large period of time and that's where the benefit is! You can also monitor your competition traffic and see where there getting visits from and start marketing in those area's!
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          • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
            Originally Posted by bbrian017 View Post

            You can also monitor your competition traffic and see where there getting visits from and start marketing in those area's!
            Another reason to block them ..

            James
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  • Profile picture of the author mysteryleaves
    the problem is their is no other company but them so it gives a indecation of traffic
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Grossman
      Originally Posted by mysteryleaves View Post

      the problem is their is no other company but them
      Compete
      Quantcast
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  • Profile picture of the author primuskannan
    Compete is quite good and their people count stats are fairly accurate.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Not one service can anyone say is accurate because you have no idea what type of security ison someone elses site. For example I do have sites that have 50+ countries blocked from even accessing them. With that said they do still access the site but they get a page with nothing on it other than some text stating they are blocked.

    There are many other reasons why not one site can say someone elses stats are correct..

    James
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  • Profile picture of the author Graham Maddison
    I use statcounter (free version) to keep track of my stats. from what I can make out, they seem pretty acurate, but you do need to paste some code into every page you need monitoring. The beauty is you can get stats on page visits exit links etc plus the obvious visitor numbers.

    Graham
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    • Profile picture of the author Stanley Tang
      Originally Posted by bbrian017 View Post

      another good reason why Alexa is a little off!

      Alexa compares your stats to the stats of all websites and from that prepares a mathematical number for you portrayed into a ranking.

      The thing is you can have the best day your site ever seen and still drop in Alexa rankings if other sites your compared with had higher traffic days!

      overall I still like Alexa but I use it over a large period of time and that's where the benefit is! You can also monitor your competition traffic and see where there getting visits from and start marketing in those area's!
      Well, the problem was it also said my page view was pretty low. And I doubt all 69,999 sites had a higher traffic day than me on my best day.

      Originally Posted by Dan Grossman View Post

      Originally Posted by mysteryleaves View Post

      the problem is their is no other company but them so it gives a indecation of traffic
      Just to add to that, Google. I think it was google trends or something.

      Originally Posted by Graham Maddison View Post

      I use statcounter (free version) to keep track of my stats. from what I can make out, they seem pretty acurate, but you do need to paste some code into every page you need monitoring. The beauty is you can get stats on page visits exit links etc plus the obvious visitor numbers.

      Graham
      Google analytics does all that too
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  • Profile picture of the author AndreVas
    Love or hate Alexa, better Alexa ranking sites convert better then ones in 1 million+ range.

    Infact I NEVER buy a product if site in not in top 100,000 alexa.

    So eat that you Alexa haters and justifiers. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author MeTellYou
    I think a good alexa ranking looks impressive. It does not matter if you like it or not.

    If it helps your conversion, that's what's important...
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