Does Google use Alexa in its algorithm in any way?

Firstly, i want to start this query by stating that i dislike Alexa Traffic Stats - the fact that it can be manipulated so easily makes it a close to worthless statistic in my eyes.

However, i have heard that Google actually uses Alexa statistics as a part of its search engine ranking algorithm. I have never thought this to be the case myself, but i was wondering if anyone knew for certain whether there was anything to this?

Would Google really use such an unreliable statistic in its calculations - going by some of the PageRank values out there you never know...

 

No,Google doesn't use Alexa Algorithm in any way.
they managed to develop their Insane Algorithm without any help from Alexa.

 

they certainly won't use a measure which is very approximative and can be easily manipulated. The fact that the measure also comes from a third party, owned by an e-commerce company, who may not be objective, removes any interest to it's use..

 

Google does not use the Alexa algorithm, at least not according to the SEO program I am trying out. According to Matt Cutts (Google engineer), Google are constantly changing their algorithms, the latest on 27 June, 28 July and 17 August. Keeping up to their changes requires constantly monitoring of the top 10 rankings of competitor sites for whatever keywords you are optimizing your site for.

 

Google has adsense, analytics and toolbar data which covers probably 70% of the internet and the worlds population. Far more accurate than alexa.

 

Let's not all knock Alexa. It is just an approximate measure. As an order of magnitude I believe it is still valid.

 

Thanks for asking this question! I was just reading another thread about buying autosurf traffic, and several people thought it was great because it improved the Alexa stats, even though the surfers weren't buying anything or signing up for a mailing list.

My own take is that Alexa gives you a rough idea of visitors, but what really matters is what the visitors do when they arrive on your site. I'd rather have 50 customers than 1000 visitors who click away after 5 seconds. Is there a benefit to Alexa rankings that I'm missing?

 

Interesting

where you have heard it ?

NO.

 

Not missing a darned thing as stated, it is what is is. We don't exaclty have a ton of raw data to mine so every little bit helps.

It is not a LARGE player so some figures may be skewed if optimizing for say, Google. SO enjoy the tool for what it is.

As far as LOVE.. Alexa and MSN sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G . The Alexa search results are powered by MSN.

Cheers

 

Well the source was someone selling traffic, so I figured the information was a bit suspect.

That's interesting. I wonder if MSN search uses Alexa data.

 

I can't imagine anyone taking Alexa data seriously. When I took the toolbar off my computer, my Alexa rankings drop by nearly 500,000. Alexa is easily manipulated.

 

Alexa is worthless unless you are top 1000 site and even then I would not look too much into it.

 

Alexa is still a valid way of looking to see how well your site ranks with Alexa users. And unless Alexa users are from another planet, the rankings within Alexa should be more or less the same as Google. Afterall, it is just the same general population of the world which are using both search engines.

It is the quality of traffic which is more important. For an example, you may target the word "free' as part of a keyword phrase, and attract a lot of visitors who are seeking something for free. But if you specify you are selling the product, you will probably get much less traffic, but the site is attracting those visitors who are looking to buy something. So in this case, the quality of the traffic is much better, as more sales are generated.

 

Here's a good link for those interested in determining Alexa rank and daily traffic or vice versa http://www.sillyjokes.co.uk/alexa/index.php

Seems quite accurate.

 

I thought it did use alexa!

what is alexa good for then?

 

Correction:
I posted here earlier that the SEO program I am using does not consider Alexa rankings, but I just found out, that they do
From the latest IBP-9 newsletter
"The new IBP-9 version now analyzes Google PageRank, Alexa TrafficRank, inbound links, inbound link texts, IP addresses and much more."

So at least according to IBP-9, the rankings from Alexa are considered just like Google's Pagerank, but I still highly doubt Google takes Alexa's rankings into their algorithm.

 

I think it's a far stretch that they would.

 

i'm sure this is a dumb question but can someone please explain how Alexa data is manipulated?

 

Yeah it is pretty dumb wanting to fake Alexa stats.

 

Colin,

Alexa extrapolates its figures from a sample of tool bars. If you artificially boost the traffic via a few toolbars you have a disproportionate impact on the reported figures.