This post is not about how informative or useless Alexa data may be. I understand how it is useful and also its shortcomings. I just want to understand how Alexa works. The reason I question my understanding of it is this: I was under the impression that if you install the Alexa code into a site that all visitors of that site would then be counted. However, let's take two sites for example... Site A is a webmaster related site. It gets about 600 uniques per day. Site B is a software related site. It gets about 13,000 uniques per day. Both sites have the Alexa button in place. However, site A has a better Alexa rating than site B. Now... If site B did not have the Alexa code in place, I would not give this a second thought. I would completely understand. However, since it does have the code in place, I don't understand. Does anyone else?
I think this code doesn't count all the visitors (logically). There's already been a topic about this and the conclusion is in my first sentence
Data can also be collected though an Alexa widget. You just add the widget code to pages and it starts collecting data.
i doubt it! the code has no effect, i have tried the widget, it doesnot makes any difference! may be a visitor click on that widget and goes to alexa, installs the toolbar and then visit your site again, but this is very rare alexa collects data from, it's toolbar for both firefox and I.E. also alexa counts data from plugins like search status and other third party toolbar that sends results to alexa! Note: Alexa is the best measure to collect webmaster traffic, though it can be manipulated so a good alexa rank dosenot necessarily mean that the site has huge traffic, but a poor alexa rank for a webmaster related site prove that the site has very less traffic
Well, my ranking has shot up from over 3 month average of 4,000,000 six weeks ago to about 1,200,000. All I did was install an Alexa widget. Note: I don't have a webmaster related site
Are you sure it wouldn't have increased anyway without the widget? Alexa rank of 1m is very easy obtain, you shouldn't need the help of a widget to get it.
The biggest improvement was in the first few weeks after I installed the widget, and I don't have a Alexa toolbar installed. So yes, I'm sure the widget had a lot to do with it.
Chris, I have been experimenting with the Alexa data myself on some directories and here is what I have found (not completely scientific, but data from my limited study): - Adding widget alone to site did not increase the Alexa ranking as far as I could tell - Clicking on that widget (on the testing site) did increase Alexa ranking - Adding Alexa toolbar to browser and visiting site 4-10 times a day from two different locations (work and home) increases rankings whether the widget was on the site or not. So, I think the widget provides the most value if someone clicks on it and the toolbar is where most of the data (that is used in rankings) is collected. I hope that helps....
as i told, this the case when, one of your regular visitor sees something new on your site, THE WIDGET! and clicks on it and goes to the alexa and download the toolbar and then comes back and view your site ones or twice! as the kind of ranking you have now, i guess a few alexa visits can give you that kind of a drop!
That's all speculation on your part. All I know is that I installed a widget and my Alexa rank improved immediately. I see no value in the Alexa toolbar so I didn't install it. I doubt whether any non-webmaster will think the Alexa toolbar is a handy addition to their Google/StumbleUpon/Del.icio.us/Furl/etc tool bar collection, but that's just my speculation...
4,000,000 six weeks ago to about 1,200,000 : these figures even for a non-webmaster site dosenot impress i mean, if one of your regular visitor installs the toolbar, after checking the widget on your site, you can easily have those rankings! if you give more details about your daily uniques and repeat visitors, only then we can make an estimate of whether the widget has helped or not!
Come on man, who in their right mind will click on the widget, install the toolbar and go back to the site? And what make you think I'm trying to impress anyone, and with useless Alexa stats at that? I'm just stating the facts: my site's Alexa ranking hovered in the 4,000,000 for months and improved almost immediately once I installed a widget. To me it's blatantly obvious that the widget did the trick.
what i meant is, from 4000k to 1200k is not an impressive change! also the search status mozila plugin is used by a lot of people, so it has an effect to the ranking aswell! am not sure if the widget records any kind of traffic data to improve the rankings, but since you are saying, i will try the widget test ones again
I have given up even looking at alexa rankings. They are just a way to show off infront of other people and yet can be so easily manipulated its stupid. You know your own stats and how much traffic you have so concentrate on that.
alexa traffic is the best measure for a webmaster related website, if your alexa ranks are better it dosenot means that your site has a great traffic, but if your alexa ranks are poor, then it is absolutely certain that you don't have webmaster traffic! Hope it clears!
I think Alexa works much like Nielsen ratings for TV shows...they use a small "sample" of people who have the Alexa toolbar installed to gauge a website's stats. Extremely unreliable in this case, IMO.