Alexa - why oh why are you quoting it?

[dubl1nguy112]

I see a lot of supposedly professional IT/Web people on this site mentioning Alexa rankings and it really makes me wonder.

It is possibly *the* most useless metric on the web - It only gauges the activity of people who have the Alexa toolbar installed, the vast majority of whom are either Chinese or American, and it's not available for any platform except MS PC using the IE and FF browser.

Even the Alexa site disclaims any promise of quality information with the quote "The traffic data are based on the set of toolbars that use Alexa data, which may not be a representative sample of the global Internet population. To the extent that our sample of users differs from the set of all Internet users, our traffic estimates may over- or under-estimate the actual traffic to any particular site." Alexa Web Search - Help

It strikes me as the same sort of crutch site owners use when they quote the number of 'hits' their site gets.

I have to say when I hear someone mention Alexa I stop listening to them.

 

[Gavin]

I have to say when I hear someone mention Alexa I stop listening to them.

I have to disagree. I only stop listening when they mention their Alexa rankings

Its a flawed system that can only be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

[dubl1nguy112]

I have to disagree. I only stop listening when they mention their Alexa rankings .

Good point, going by my own post I should have stopped listening to myself. Ah well.

 

[louie]

As mentioned already Alexa is a lot of bull....

My own anti-virus deleted the .exe file, being detected as treat... and no is not a cheap anti-virus either....

 

[green]

Alexa is not completely useless. I don't have their toolbar, will not use it soon and I don't brag about my Alexa ranks because it has nothing to do with real traffic facts or value for developed sites. But it's another indicator (low importance) of a domain activity. I said "domain" not website. I usualy use its numbers when looking for domains that are registered but parked, not resolving or never developed. In this case it is important because a good domain will have type-in traffic from webmasters or domainers and a part of them have the toolbar installed.

 

[tomed]

I hate hearing that word Alexa. I had one client in the past that based all our work on his Alexa ranking. He simply refused to ignore the alexa statistics even though he was getting great traffic and top for most of his keyphrases!

 

[mneylon]

The problem is that there's nothing else out there that can give a meaningful rank of any kind.

Alexa - rubbish that can be gamed (there's entire threads on it here somewhere)

Compete - seems to be almost entirely US based

Google PR score - doesn't really mean anything in terms of traffic

What else is there?

 

[Lottoplus]

The problem is that there's nothing else out there that can give a meaningful rank of any kind.

Alexa - rubbish that can be gamed (there's entire threads on it here somewhere)

Compete - seems to be almost entirely US based

Google PR score - doesn't really mean anything in terms of traffic

What else is there?

Your right, I can't find any. People need some type of barometer but the Internet's highest ranking websites isn't catered for.

I am surprised that Google haven't come up with one

 

[mneylon]

I am surprised that Google haven't come up with one

I strongly suspect that Google is trying to do this already

 

[andywozhere]

It's more a marketing tool than anything else (and one I'm not adverse to using)... In terms of real statistical data, as Blacknight said "what else is there?" I see some ludicrous claims from some sites based on very dodgey statistical measurements. At least least Alexa lumps everyone in the same boat (it's consistently inconsistent).

 

[dubl1nguy112]

It's more a marketing tool than anything else (and one I'm not adverse to using)... In terms of real statistical data, as Blacknight said "what else is there?". I see some ludicrous claims from some sites based on very dodgey statistical measurements. At least least Alexa lumps everyone in the same boat (it's consistently inconsistent).

Well I'd rather not quote data at all than use a flawed system, its data (when compared to Google Analytics) is so far off the mark on my sites that it renders it completely meaningless, for example it tells me the majority of my site visitors are S. African, when in fact they are number 8 or so.

Unless site owners release their logs or Google start to anonymously track users' activities (not a bad idea imho) there is no way of knowing.

If you are hearing ludicrous claims on traffic (ie. hits) the best thing to do is to ask the site owner on their understanding of that particular metric, and then explain to them what it actually means in real terms.

Most people want to believe good news so any good news for them regardless of how flawed the source is is going to be what they quote. My problem is when industry professionals start using it.

 

[andywozhere]

Fundamentally I agree. I always use Google Analytics for my stats for potential advertisers, while I could have used Webalizer and my stats would have looked more impressive (almost three times the number of page impressions for last month). If everyone was honest and used the same statistical package then there would definitely be no need for Alexa.com, however as far as I'm aware there is no other major site for comparing site statistics (excluding ABC for some of the bigger ones) and until there is Alexa.com will still rule the roost. I'd welcome an alternative.

 

[andywozhere]

Most people want to believe good news so any good news for them regardless of how flawed the source is is going to be what they quote. My problem is when industry professionals start using it.

My final tuppenceworth here! I think it is OK to quote in moderation as long as you point out that it is not perfect.

I've seen my Alexa.com ranking and my Google Analytics stats rise slowly over the last few months and to be honest for someone like me who might be considered more of a hobbyist than a pro in terms of web development it's just kind of comforting to see it rise, even if it doesn't mean that much. Kind of a pseudo-statistical blanky.