Alexa rankings - unpredictable and / or useless?

**p00p** · 05-03-2003, 10:36 AM

I don't get how Alexa works. A site that I have left for dead for a few years is still in the top 100 000. Yet one that is very much alive and getting good traffic is not even in the top million. *shrug*

**foe** · 05-03-2003, 10:46 AM

I use it sometimes to see how a site is doing generally, IE if its recieving any traffic.

**AdultNex** · 05-03-2003, 10:51 AM

Originally posted by p00p
I don't get how Alexa works. A site that I have left for dead for a few years is still in the top 100 000. Yet one that is very much alive and getting good traffic is not even in the top million. *shrug*

Name the site.

**nxventures** · 05-03-2003, 10:53 AM

sometimes it takes a while for alexa to list a site. i think they only index new sites every 40 days? something like that.

**AdultNex** · 05-03-2003, 10:54 AM

Originally posted by nxventures
sometimes it takes a while for alexa to list a site. i think they only index new sites every 40 days? something like that.

You can manually add your domain to the Alexa database. Mine got added in 2 weeks.

**p00p** · 05-03-2003, 10:54 AM

Originally posted by AdultNex

Name the site.

http://www.hostultra.com/~p00p

**European Lee** · 05-03-2003, 10:55 AM

Alexa is full of crap.

We have sites that according to them get a shitload of traffic but, the reality of it is that these sites get squat.

We also have sites listed that Alexa says gets no traffic when in fact they pull a fair amount

Regards,

Lee

**rooster** · 05-03-2003, 10:56 AM

I site I have that gets around 13,000 uniques is listed as #33,000 something.

Id say its pretty useless because I know of communities and stuff which push hard to get their members to install that toolbar to help their ranking.

Plus theres a ton of sites out there like humor, wallpaper, etc sites that have a ton of traffic but its garbage traffic.

**nxventures** · 05-03-2003, 10:57 AM

Originally posted by AdultNex

You can manually add your domain to the Alexa database. Mine got added in 2 weeks.

so it was 26 days after they last indexed that you submitted

**AdultNex** · 05-03-2003, 10:57 AM

You can't control your Alexa rating. It's all in the visitors. The way your Alexa rating is counted is by the Alexa toolbar the visitor has installed on their browser.

**European Lee** · 05-03-2003, 10:58 AM

You know whats even funnier than the Alexa rankings...

The fact that some of the BIG companies rely on them for traffic analysis lol

Regards,

Lee

**AdultNex** · 05-03-2003, 10:58 AM

Originally posted by nxventures

so it was 26 days after they last indexed that you submitted

Could be that too.

**AdultNex** · 05-03-2003, 10:59 AM

Originally posted by European Lee
You know whats even funnier than the Alexa rankings...

The fact that some of the BIG companies rely on them for traffic analysis lol

Regards,

Lee

They aren't too far off for the big mainstream sites.

It gives you a rough estimate.

**gruffy** · 05-03-2003, 11:01 AM

Originally posted by rooster
I site I have that gets around 13,000 uniques is listed as #33,000 something.

Id say its pretty useless because I know of communities and stuff which push hard to get their members to install that toolbar to help their ranking.

Plus theres a ton of sites out there like humor, wallpaper, etc sites that have a ton of traffic but its garbage traffic.

13,000 uniques a day? a month? a year?

**gruffy** · 05-03-2003, 11:04 AM

Originally posted by AdultNex
You can't control your Alexa rating. It's all in the visitors. The way your Alexa rating is counted is by the Alexa toolbar the visitor has installed on their browser.

Thats the most interesting part about it - do you think enough people have the toolbar installed to make an accurate approximation of popularity?

Also - does this work somewhat in the way that pagerank does?

ie, I had a site in the #75,000 spot that sat there for months. I actually managed to get it listed in Yahoo directory (submitted 18 months ago) and it jumped to about #68,000. Traffic is the same.

Now I have a similar site that has double the amount of traffic - but it is listed at around #160,000

Doesn't make a lot of sense.

**Madball** · 05-03-2003, 11:11 AM

So lets assume a couple k ppl have the alexa toolbar installed.

Some of those ppl by chance goto Joe Blows 10k a day CJ site and he gets a decent ranking, while John Does 100k CJ site receives (by means of statistical sample errors) a rather low number of visits by Alexy toolbar users.

That's how it happens.

You could have a 500k+ a day site, if you get nobody with the toolbar installed visiting you will be attributed a low ranking. All a question of statistical errors...

**heymatty** · 05-03-2003, 11:18 AM

I think a good amount of webmasters have the alexa toolbar installed.

Look at gfy

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/tr...ckyourself.com

That ranking is a lot higher than some sites that get 200 or 300k uniques a day.

**rooster** · 05-03-2003, 11:20 AM

"a day? a month? a year?"

a day. and I know of other sites that have similar traffic but their ranking is like 9,000 (compared to my 33,000) because they push their visitors to install that toolbar.

Alexa rankings - unpredictable and / or useless?

Alexa rankings - unpredictable and / or useless?

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