alexa.com

how valuable is this?

[LostJames]

hi, it's LostJames again here. (still lost!)

this post probably don't belong here on the Google News but didn't know where else to post. (please move it to it belongs if it belongs anywhere)

One of so called "SEO company" contacted me again with the alexa result. Alarming me my traffic is falling, etc.

It looks like it is powered by Google. But, I do not know how much weight i would really want to put on the "detailed" result from the site.

Sorry, if this post is totally out of this place. :(

[Dolemite]

The traffic data is taken from the Alexa toolbar, their search results are from google.

I would say that if you're not in the top 100,000, the sampling and thus the accuracy of Alexa data may be questionable.

Compare your own traffic stats to Alexa stats and see if there's any correlation.

As far as SEO's feeding off dropping Alexa stats, that seems like a questionable practice. If they can't drum up their own business without resorting to this sort of thing I can't imagine they'd be any good.

[jeremy goodrich]

I've got a few sites getting several hundred visitors a day. Their alexa rank is non existant.

However, from everything I've read (here) about Alexa, it seems that once you get closer to the top, the more accurate the data is...

though, I don't know where the cut off is from 'accurate' to 'off the wall' perhaps around the 5,000 top sites of the web? Top 10,000?

[jomaxx]

Don't you have web logs that tell you whether your traffic is rising or falling?

[boknows]

I tried to read up on alexa and how it works and what i found is that it works from viewers with the alexa toolbar.

I hope this helps

[Chris_R]

What alexa says is pointless. It is a good measure (as good as you can get for free) of how your site compares to other sites, but as has been pointed out - you need only to look at your own stats to see how you are doing traffic wise.

The SEO company is trying to "scare" you.

Keep in mind:

1) Alexa figures have NOTHING to do with google. They only show how much traffic you have gotten from a small segement of the internet community (those with alexa toolbars).

2) Alexa.com gives search results from google. This is what they mean by powered by google. Not that the traffic # is powered by google.

Any SEO firm that trys to confuse the two is unethical and should be avoided.

[msgraph]

>>What alexa says is pointless.

I agree and I think rcjordan said it best:

IMO, Alexa is a great site for impressing people that don't know any better --which kind of concerns me, because I know from experience that JohnQ doesn't know anything at all.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[werty]

I do not think there is much value in the ranking that they give you...Just an example is that a week ago my page was ranked at like 1,000,000+ Then I posted on my forum on the site and asked people to download the toolbar... I am now ranked around 40,000. No one even replied to the post so I am not sure how many people actually downloaded it. My actual traffic on the site stayed the same.

Just from installing it on my work computer our company site has grown quite a bit in ranking.So I think by just installing the toolbar and visiting your page you will shift the results quite a bit.

One slightly weird thing is that it shows backlinks that vary from the regular google results.

I think if you could get in the top sites, or in the "movers and shakers" it may help you generate new traffic.