Are the New Alexa Rankings More Accurate?

DaleKing

Alexa began displaying website popularity rankings in 1998,  with the goal of showing Alexa Toolbar users how popular any given site was within the Alexa community. Alexa`s rankings were generated through an analysis of Internet usage by people who use the Alexa Toolbar. Over time, Alexa became the standard by which website popularity was measured.
However, one of the biggest complaints with Alexa is while it`s a useful tool, it`s not all that accurate.
Well, apparently, Alexa is trying to change that. According to information on their website, they now aggregate data from multiple sources to give users a better indication of website popularity among the entire population of Internet users. They are normalizing the traffic from their global panel to provide consistently accurate rankings for all countries.
Alexa toolbar users` interests and surfing habits differed from those of the general population in a number of ways, and they describe some of those possible differences on their website.
Alexa claims the new rankings better reflect the interests and surfing habits of the broader population of web users.
Alexa says that they are constantly working to ensure that they provide the most useful data that they can, and will continue to fine-tune their algorithms.
I tested out the "new" Alexa, before writing this article. So is Alexa more accurate than before?
To be perfectly honest, I didn`t notice any discernible difference in the way Alexa performs. Its results are still way off when compared to my own statistical data. So right now, Alexa`s new rankings appear to be more style than substance.
But your mileage may vary.
 
So has anyone here tried the new Alexa yet? Did you notice any significant difference?
 
Dale King

blavel

I monitor the top 10 travel blogging web sites through Alexa, and I found it interesting to note that since Alexa changed their rankings TravelBlog.org has well and truly knocked Travelpod.com off the number one perch.
 
So either Alexa are doing something quite different, or TravelBlog has actually made up a lot of ground since they last updated their figures!

Webline

I`ve never been that intent on following what they do to start with .... but it sounds like it is still a "best guesstimate" system .... if only a small fraction of internet users use the toolbar, how much fudging with algos will get you close?

DaleKing

I monitor the top 10 travel blogging web sites through Alexa, and I found it interesting to note that since Alexa changed their rankings TravelBlog.org has well and truly knocked Travelpod.com off the number one perch. So either Alexa are doing something quite different, or TravelBlog has actually made up a lot of ground since they last updated their figures!    Hmmmmmm...that`s interesting, and exactly why I posted this. I wanted to hear the experiences of other Alexa users. Dale King

DaleKing

Besides Alexa, which I refer to but don`t necessarily rely on, I use the internal analytics provided by my hosting company - AWSTATS, as well as the analytics from another independent source - OneStat. I use two sources to compile my data, just because I`m weird that way. But it`s certainly not necessary.
 
That being said, I have also noticed a significant improvement with Alexa. They`re not quite there yet, but they definitely appear to be moving steadily in the right direction.
 
Dale King

x3xsolxdierx3x

Does anyone know just how often Alexa updates those `rankings` they have on their site? Iv`e been checking it occasionally, for a while, for random sites rankings........and, they always seem to be the same......
 
is it something that`s updated once every month or something?

x3xsolxdierx3x

oh, and, has anyone used THESE before......
 

www.compete.com

 
and
 

www.quantacast.com

 
Iv`e found them to be pretty neat tools, as well

DaleKing

I use Compete, but it`s really not all that accurate either. That being said, it`s still a pretty neat tool.
 
Dale King

consumertreehouse

Alexa seems to be working correctly when it comes to my website. As the weeks go by and my traffic increases my rankings are increasing and I am well on my way to reaching my goal.
My only question/issue with Alexa is that it has yet to rank my Forums pages even when they are getting the same traffic as my website. We`ll see the Forums are fairly new so I am going to give it another month or two.

anushkachhakrabarti

New Alexa Rankings are More Accurate is not that much true.Alexa Rankings accompanying is the thing that I found. Alexa offers more about sites than just guest insights.