Alexa Ranking Biased Towards Directories

Do you think Alexa ranking is biased towards directories?

I understand that Alexa's ranking is based on searches done on their toolbar. I would guess that a significant portion of the websurfers that install the Alexa toolbar would be webmasters, since many webmasters are aware of Alexa (not to mention obsessed).

Webmasters, as we all know, seek out directories for backlinks and exposure for their websites. If many of them have the Alexa toolbar installed, than Alexa is going to register that traffic.

So, do you think Alexa ranking is somewhat biased towards (favors) directories?

 

I said yes, precisely because of the fact that webmasters seek out directories (especially the ones that no one else is interested in).

 

No A is not biased, but it is a master at producing very accurate in-accurate data

 

Seems reasonable... I'm sure the forums, script communities, SEO sites, etc. also benefit from webmasters using the Alexa toolbar. Most casual internet users that I know have never even heard of Alexa.

 

As above, not just directories but also forums etc - perhaps because they are the types of site that get loads of page loads / page refreshes per visit.

My directory is alexa 170,000 my france site 750,000 but the latter gets at least 3 times as many visitors. And when I had a private discussion forum for a while with just 30 active members it was alexa 60,000 (and it wasn't at all a webmaster related forum, so it isn't just due to that).

 

I don't think alexa is biased towards anyone, it's just the matter of who uses the toolbar and who doesn't.

 

I didn't mean any personal or programmed bias, I just mean that webmasters are a significant user of the Alexa toolbar.

And because webmasters are a significant user of the Alexa toolbar, it seems reasonable that websites that attract webmasters will receive a higher traffic rank on Alexa, if they have the toolbar installed.

 

Not necessarily. Alexa toolbar only works with IE and Windows systems, and so other browser/OS users, which tend to be more tech-savvy than IE/Windows users, are excluded from alexa coverage. I would say geography-wise there's definitely bias in Alexa users, but I'm not sure about such bias that you are suggesting.

 

Agreed - there's more of a geographical factor than anything else.

 

I'm curious about this statement, could you expand on that a little more?

 

It's been reported that a large percentage of intenet users have the Alexa toolbar installed in a certain country.

 

I am using a FF extension “Search Status” don’t know if it counts for Alexa ranking.

 

I think it does ! Ask ! I added Seach Status recently, and noticed that whilst editing my directories in FF the, "page views per user" rocketed, because I had viewed a lot of pages. I have now disabled it in.

 

From the disclaimer page of Alexa:

 

They should integrate Alexa on IE and Firefox then we would have a very accurate system.

 

I wouldn't say adding FF support would make alexa ranking very accurate. Browser support is one thing, but there are other factors too. General acceptance for Alexa toolbar is too low to make it trustworthy. Alexa ranking 10,000 or lower does not tell me anything..

 

I think directory owners are more likely to care about Alexa rankings and use booster applications to artificially inflate their numbers.