Comments on: Thoughts on Alexa data http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/ neat fun stuff Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:13:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jade @ No Longer 25 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-472154 Jade @ No Longer 25 Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:03:54 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-472154 Until I got my own domain this month I had never heard of Alexa. Now I have the tool bar and the button on my site but before that I didn't have a clue. I feel like the numbers don't give a full representation but they seem to be important if you want to advertise so we have to do it their way. There's also a bit of satisfaction when moving up the rankings! I'm still unrated, not sure how long it takes. Jade Until I got my own domain this month I had never heard of Alexa. Now I have the tool bar and the button on my site but before that I didn’t have a clue. I feel like the numbers don’t give a full representation but they seem to be important if you want to advertise so we have to do it their way. There’s also a bit of satisfaction when moving up the rankings! I’m still unrated, not sure how long it takes.
Jade

]]> By: John http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-457199 John Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:57:40 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-457199 Both Alexis Ranking and Google page rank are entirely worthless. The only value either has is when ignorant people pay someone as a result of either. The only person who wins is the person who is selling the illusion. The only thing Google uses page rank for is to ding bad websites with a PR of 0. Our page rank has gone up and down from 2 to 7 and back to 3, yet our sales has continued to rise and our search engine placement has never changed by more than 1 or 2 placements for our important keywords. We have seem other sites rise up in Google quickly and then months later just disappear, as Google constantly gets smarter to the tricks. Both Alexis Ranking and Google page rank are entirely worthless. The only value either has is when ignorant people pay someone as a result of either. The only person who wins is the person who is selling the illusion. The only thing Google uses page rank for is to ding bad websites with a PR of 0. Our page rank has gone up and down from 2 to 7 and back to 3, yet our sales has continued to rise and our search engine placement has never changed by more than 1 or 2 placements for our important keywords. We have seem other sites rise up in Google quickly and then months later just disappear, as Google constantly gets smarter to the tricks.

]]> By: Jennifer White http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-422780 Jennifer White Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:11:52 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-422780 I agree with the comment above about the plugin in Firefox. Alexa is useful for the quick graphical indication on the browser. Other than that I also find that their data is out of date and often off by orders of magnitude. OK tool, but not as good as it could be. I agree with the comment above about the plugin in Firefox. Alexa is useful
for the quick graphical indication on the browser. Other than that I also
find that their data is out of date and often off by orders of magnitude.
OK tool, but not as good as it could be.

]]> By: Tuke http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-124187 Tuke Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:48:16 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-124187 When it comes to alexa you have to be careful not to just take the numbers as is just like with any other statistic. First anything that has a rank number of 100K or higher (as in 200K not 10K) is about as accurate as blind person taking a shot after being spun around a few times. Now as for the ones between 1 and -100K? you have to compare LIKE sites to get any meaning thus comparing ask.com with mattcutts.com on alexa is about as useful as comparing a freeway to a country. This is for the obvious reasons of skewness which many users here have pointed out already. Finally if the numbers on the sites you are comparing feel wrong then maybe it is because one of them is using techniques to ramp up their ranking, thus any ranking on site you suspect is doing that is meaningless and you should ignore it. As for the government (.gov) sites having a declining reach, think of it this way. All the time more users are coming online in the world. Most of those new users today are not in US as the penetration of internet in US is relatively high compared to the rest of the world. The users who use the internet from those other countries are not generally speaking as interested in any information on us government sites as US citizens, thus the more of the world comes online the less the reach of the .gov sites should be. I am a technical person and I do give alexa ranking some value as it gives me an easy way to see how my competition is doing compared to me, but I always apply the principals above before just going "oh my gowd this site is..." fill whatever you want. When it comes to alexa you have to be careful not to just take the numbers as is just like with any other statistic.

First anything that has a rank number of 100K or higher (as in 200K not 10K) is about as accurate as blind person taking a shot after being spun around a few times.

Now as for the ones between 1 and -100K? you have to compare LIKE sites to get any meaning thus comparing ask.com with mattcutts.com on alexa is about as useful as comparing a freeway to a country. This is for the obvious reasons of skewness which many users here have pointed out already. Finally if the numbers on the sites you are comparing feel wrong then maybe it is because one of them is using techniques to ramp up their ranking, thus any ranking on site you suspect is doing that is meaningless and you should ignore it.

As for the government (.gov) sites having a declining reach, think of it this way. All the time more users are coming online in the world. Most of those new users today are not in US as the penetration of internet in US is relatively high compared to the rest of the world. The users who use the internet from those other countries are not generally speaking as interested in any information on us government sites as US citizens, thus the more of the world comes online the less the reach of the .gov sites should be.

I am a technical person and I do give alexa ranking some value as it gives me an easy way to see how my competition is doing compared to me, but I always apply the principals above before just going “oh my gowd this site is…” fill whatever you want.

]]> By: Squeaky http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-124109 Squeaky Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:23:25 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-124109 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.. 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..

]]> By: Werner http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-123310 Werner Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:54:21 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-123310 How important is Alexa? In Germany, Alexa is not so well known, How important do you think the Alexa rank really? Greetings from Germany Werner How important is Alexa?
In Germany, Alexa is not so well known,
How important do you think the Alexa rank really?
Greetings from Germany
Werner

]]> By: David http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-122483 David Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:53:06 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-122483 I help manage a government website www.govbenefits.gov - we've seen our site traffic decline over the past two years which is consistent with the "Reach" data I see on Alexa, I'm wondering from the group if there is any sense if the "reach" data is at all accurate. Since we don't advertise ranking is not so important. My fundamental research question is, over the past five years has there been a decline in site traffic to .gov domains? I'm having trouble find a reliable source of data to answer that question. When I put in four or five other large .gov domains like epa.gov, hhs.gov, and ssa.gov it would appear that there has been a decline in reach. Any help is greatly appreciated. I help manage a government website http://www.govbenefits.gov – we’ve seen our site traffic decline over the past two years which is consistent with the “Reach” data I see on Alexa, I’m wondering from the group if there is any sense if the “reach” data is at all accurate. Since we don’t advertise ranking is not so important. My fundamental research question is, over the past five years has there been a decline in site traffic to .gov domains? I’m having trouble find a reliable source of data to answer that question. When I put in four or five other large .gov domains like epa.gov, hhs.gov, and ssa.gov it would appear that there has been a decline in reach. Any help is greatly appreciated.

]]> By: Notebook http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-122310 Notebook Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:25:27 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-122310 I don't think that anybody really trusts Alexa stats. We use google analytics, and other 7 stats just to give us an indication of what is going on, not to rely on statistics. Anyway the sales are important, not stats. I don’t think that anybody really trusts Alexa stats. We use google analytics, and other 7 stats just to give us an indication of what is going on, not to rely on statistics.
Anyway the sales are important, not stats.

]]> By: WebTenet http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-119656 WebTenet Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:38:22 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-119656 Everyone knows Alexa data is far away from accuracy since they depend fully on the sample space of internet users who have the alexa toolbar installed or any firefox plugin like SearchStatus. My alexa rank shot up from 1,373,556 to an awesome 261,641 in just a month and half after installing SearchStatus plugin on my firefox. However inaccurate, many people are using their alexa rank for pricing advertisements... at least I know someone who was utterly disturbed because AdBrite wanted to remove advertisements from his site because his alexa rank dropped. Not sure if this should be believed. I have put both SiteMeter and Google Analytics on my website. The stats given by Analytics and SiteMeter are grossly different... looks like a jungle of stats, counters, analytics... and so on. Is there anything that is truely reliable? Everyone knows Alexa data is far away from accuracy since they depend fully on the sample space of internet users who have the alexa toolbar installed or any firefox plugin like SearchStatus. My alexa rank shot up from 1,373,556 to an awesome 261,641 in just a month and half after installing SearchStatus plugin on my firefox.

However inaccurate, many people are using their alexa rank for pricing advertisements… at least I know someone who was utterly disturbed because AdBrite wanted to remove advertisements from his site because his alexa rank dropped. Not sure if this should be believed.

I have put both SiteMeter and Google Analytics on my website. The stats given by Analytics and SiteMeter are grossly different… looks like a jungle of stats, counters, analytics… and so on. Is there anything that is truely reliable?

]]> By: Squeaky http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-alexa-data/#comment-119591 Squeaky Tue, 25 Dec 2007 04:08:09 +0000 http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?p=317#comment-119591 It is sad that large amount of people, base Alexa traffic stats for their business marketing. Alexa doesn't even support Vista users and with the big push that computer manufacturers are making for Vista for Business, that really hurts a lot of us. Alexa, I rather believe in the tooth fairy. It is sad that large amount of people, base Alexa traffic stats for their business marketing. Alexa doesn’t even support Vista users and with the big push that computer manufacturers are making for Vista for Business, that really hurts a lot of us.

Alexa, I rather believe in the tooth fairy.

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