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Are the New Alexa Rankings More Accurate?
DaleKing
subscriber Posts: 141
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
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
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Comments
So either Alexa are doing something quite different, or TravelBlog has actually made up a lot of ground since they last updated their figures!
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?
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
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
is it something that`s updated once every month or something?
www.compete.com
and
www.quantacast.com
Iv`e found them to be pretty neat tools, as well
Dale King
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.