No one creates a blog just for the sake of posting articles for people to read; every blogger strives to get traffic, monetize the site, get a high CTR with ads without increasing bounce rate, get a high Google Pagerank, a respectable Alexa traffic rank and list goes on and on. It’s a fact that a high Alexa traffic rank gives your site some sort of reputation but then, you should realize that this statistics is far from accurate. Alexa traffic rank is not a direct measure of your traffic and whether you have a high or low ranking, it shouldn’t be the sole yardstick you should use to measure your success.
Don’t get it twisted, I’m not implying that a high Alexa traffic rank is basically useless, you only need to understand how it works before you kill yourself over poor ranking. As a matter of fact, it’s used by advertisers to determine your blog’s market value and if you really intend to monetize your site, you definitely need a very high score. I’m sure by the time you understand how it works, you will know how to get a high ranking or at least, stop worrying over it.
How does Alexa traffic ranking work?
Like I mentioned earlier, Alexa ranking is not a direct measure of your traffic, it uses its own algorithm and simply put, it only measures your site’s popularity on a global level. The bitter truth is that some of those sites with higher Alexa traffic rank may have much less visits and page views than your blog. You think I’m kidding? Seriously, I’m not. I have my reasons and they are based on facts and personal experience.
Alexa gets its data from its toolbar users install on their browsers. When those with Alexa toolbars visit your blog, Alexa notes it and this is what the ranking system is based on. It does not take your real daily visits and page views into consideration and that is why the statistics shown is very different from what you have on Google Analytics.
Basically, the more people with Alexa toolbars visit your site from different IP addresses and geo-locations, the more likely you’ll be ranked high in the system.
3 factors I believe may affect your Alexa ranking
Now, let me share my little experience here and we’re using two of the sites I own as case studies. Doncaprio.com is a blog with an Alexa rank that’s okay, well… just okay to say the least. It’s presently listed in the top 50 thousand websites in the world. I also have a web forum, 9jaclub.com with a poor Alexa traffic rank. I checked today and it’s like 370,000 or something.
Checking Google Analytics, 9jaclub.com has more visits and much more page views than doncaprio.com but why does doncaprio.com rank much higher in Alexa? This is why:
1. Mobile visitors with no Alexa toolbar
Alexa doesn’t have a toolbar for mobile browsers and when a greater percentage of your visitors are on their mobile phones, you’ll definitely have a poor traffic rank based on Alexa algorithm. The forum users I was talking about are majorly on mobile and this is a big contributing factor.
2 Visitors geolocation
When all your visitors are from just a particular country, don’t expect to get a high alexa ranking.
3. Localized content
This is quite similar to the point above. Your site/blog content really matters when it comes to attracting visitors from around the globe. If your content is all about local stuffs happening around you, don’t expect your rank to sky-rocket. A pretty good, SEO optimized content that targets a global audience plays a major part in this thing.
How to get a high Alexa traffic rank
Since you have a clue on why you have a low ranking, you definitely know what to do but I’m going to highlight just a few points below:
- Target a wider audience
- Write SEO optimized articles
- Help yourself and install Alexa toolbar
- Keep your site frequently updated
- Use social networks
- Consider installing their widget on your blog. I think it helps.
Conclusion
I believe a high Alexa traffic rank comes naturally if you first work on your Google page rank and get a decent traffic. Alexa traffic rank is inaccurate to say the least and you shouldn’t kill yourself over it. Opitimize your site, let Google fall in love with your content, drive massive traffic to your blog and every other thing follows including the money.
Twitter: itechcode
says:
Nice Tips Mate. Thanks for sharing this tips.
Thanks for dropping by, bro!
Twitter: augustusvibe
says:
Nice tips. I used to think alexa ranking has more accurate way of generating her result.
Twitter: xlimderek
says:
Really enlightening
Awesome post bro
Alexa toolbar really does help increase the ranking as i have installed it in every computer i come across and made my blog their homepage
But as you said it isn’t worth all the fuss.
Yeah, we we still need it anyway. Thanks for the compliment, Derek.
Twitter: mavtrevor
says:
This is quite an eye opener…..well i hope Netmediablog ranks between the first 100k sites worldwide before the end of this year.
Nwosu Desmond recently posted..tTorrent Lite: Torrent App for Android
All the best, Desmond.
Twitter: enairablog
says:
I use to tell people, that they should not focus on alexa ranking, rather focus on traffic and google search and other search engine traffic and you will see alexa rank you high.
Thanks Doncaprio for this eye opener
NaijaDiary recently posted..http://www.sefan.ru: A website for free games, andriod apps, themes, videos and applications
That’s the truth. I never cared about Alexa right from the start, just doing what I had to do to pull in organic traffic.
Twitter: ahmsta
says:
yeah. Alexa is mostly good for marketers/ advertiser when it comes to measuring a site value. Using alexa toolbar helps greatly… As i have used this to increase my clients ranking before handling over the website.
Nice article.
Twitter: edi4all
says:
Really, Alexa rank is important but for now, I don’t give much attention to their Global rank stuff, i rather go for the sites that are linking in. BTW, I prefer Studying a blog’s progress with Google Analytics. It has No global rank widget, still there’s something great you may show your readers out of it, i think they got their own widgets too.
You mean Google Analytics widget? Seriously? Never heard of it.
nice tips don. time to install Alexa toolbar on my pc as I never cared about it before
Twitter: obasimvilla
says:
Never had this toolbar i think it’s time to them a try
Obasi Miracle recently posted..Effective 7 Proven Steps to Help Increase your Google Page Rank
Twitter: Questechie
says:
The rate at which Alexa Ranking is applied in accessing site’s worth is quite alarming, considering its high rate of parity and inaccuracy. Imaging my site visitors viewing only 1.1 page(s) per visit, that’s pathetic. On the other hand, Google Analytics reports over 6.5 pages per visit. Your guess is as good mine!
Twitter: deco_slim
says:
focus on seo and your alexa ranking will skyrocket
Twitter: divyanshojha
says:
Wow! i don’t care about alexa rank except for attracting the advertisers…..
But i m excited and thrilled with this new theme of yours !!! ::D
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For a non-profit or government websites, its ok to maintain a poor Alexa ranking as these kind of websites are mainly used for reference.
As a blogger or commercial website owner, you should learn to scratch your head over dropping Alexa rankings as this could be a sign of a drop in visitors.
Hey Don,
Bro I think, you’re definitely wrong at the last point on how to increase Alexa rank, installing a widget of Alexa never affect on our ranking. I don’t say it from my own experience, but I’ve asked this question to the owner of WPBeginner.com, he just said that it never affects. Removing that widget it would be better!
Thanks of other post except this point you’re great..
Mairaj Pirzada recently posted..Why Blog Commenting? Some Benefits and Tips of Commenting!
I actually tried something that made me include it, maybe it’s just coincidence though. I removed the widget for some days and I saw my 7 day ranking drop. Maybe just a coincidence like I mentioned earlier. Thanks for dropping by, Mairaj.
Twitter: daayur
says:
This is a real burden lifted frm the mind of worried bloggers
Nice.
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Twitter: Mediaxxpress
says:
Nice Post! Keep it up bro
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thanks for this great info. i have a different idea about alexa rank. thanks for writing this
Inception recently posted..Covert Affairs S03E02 HDTV 480p 150MB
Thanks a lot .. was concentrating more on alexa rather than any other stuff on my blog . now am pretty much clear and will focus on my content and google page rank ..
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Thanks for the information listed here. I’ve got the Quirk SearchStatus toolbar installed and I’m using it to keep an eye on my ranking as a result of my SEO activities. It’s creeping up, but then again it’s early days in my site’s presence, and I’ve only recently (last few weeks) started writing articles and joining forums to post site related responses and information. The road is long, but I’ve made a start!
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doncaprio, nice article here,
please, my website share button stopped displaying and its really giving me concern, since my traffic dropped.
I am on wordpress, Mobile press to be precise.
You can check it here, http://www.nigerianuniversitynews.com .
Please what can i do, i am using a facebook button plugin.
You can go through this post – http://www.doncaprio.com/2012/07/facebook-share-button-stopped-working-heres-a-quick-fix.html
their are many tricks to make alexa rank higher. iam searching for that.
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Fantastic article! I had no idea that all these things went into the Alexa ranking. This really gives some great context and understanding of how Alexa figures that ranking. Thanks for the tips about how anyone can improve their Alexa ranking.
Twitter: TCaursoCPA
says:
Great information, didnt even consider the mobile side
Twitter: hollidayvann
says:
Thanks, Don Caprio, for the thorough and straight forward post on Alexa. It’s cool to get a significant bump in the rankings, but it can be just as frustrating to experience one of their massive dumps. So, of course, now I know to take my emotions out of it. The best thing that any blogger can do is produce the best content possible and, with a little promotion and luck, traffic should flow.
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Twitter: QuanSullivan
says:
Great info/post Bro. Blog looks great…taking notes. Thanks! Connect with you when I finally make it to Nigeria…..
~Q
That would be great and I look forward to that. Thanks for the compliment too .
Kind Regards.
i really commend you for this post. Please keep up the work
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Twitter: pdarchitecture
says:
Having read your blog it resonates with my experience and I can certainly endorse your conclusion. Having just dropped from a Google PR3 to PR2 I am seeing my Alexa rank falling away rapidly immediatly after. So yes, definitely work on keeping Google happy and the Alexa ranking will follow. Interesting to how Alexa use their toolbar within there algorithm, I have added it to my own computer to add just one more to there system
Twitter: ashucnb
says:
Really Great Post Mate..!! That initiate my lots of concept and bring natural update without any cost…
Thanks For Share
Cool post, these tips should come in handy.
Cheers
Twitter: tourexplora
says:
Thank you for the recommendations. it is helpful since this one month I was so panic when my Alexa rank has been dropping so much.
Great article ! Just awesome thanks buddy
Thanks for sharing the info, I recently added the Alexa toolbar to my site as I wasn’t listed at all. About one day after adding the toolbar my site was listed with Alexa and every day it has been improving. As you say there are much more important things to do then checking the Alexa ranking, must keep writing good quality pages etc to keep Google and my visitors happy!
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Twitter: goIDESIGNSTUDIO
says:
“Opitimize your site, let Google fall in love with your content, drive massive traffic to your blog and every other thing follows including the money.”
This is the real think. Alexa is just and eco-centric non-relevant to make-a-success-with-your-business number.
Forget about it. Focus on what’s important.
Twitter: mrsgrapevine
says:
I never thought about mobile phones. Three years ago 95% of my traffic was from internet browsers, and now 30% of my traffic comes from mobile users. This is the first article that really talked about the problem side of it. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that more traffic from my mobile site would affect my Alexa ranking. Thanks!
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Twitter: wpbunk
says:
Hello Don,
Currently my site is having 262000 alexa rank.It is increasing very slowly.Just 3-4K everyday.I have toolbar installed.I don’t want to put alexa widget on my blog as it downgrades the look of the blog.Is there any way to boost your rank quickly?Any help will be appreciated.
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Hi,
Thanks for article. I’ve always been frustrated by how inaccurate Alexa measurement is but you have to play the game as advertisers do seem to take it into account. What really annoys me though is that so many people are surfing using mobile phones and tablets. Surely Alexa need to consider this if it wants to have any relevance at all. I use Dolphin android browser with Alexa plugin but cannot find info as to whether the plugin counts as a visit.
thanks bro i will never judge a site by its alexa ranking
thanks for sharing ! very good site
Based on what you said about mobile views and furthermore mobile applications I believe their ranking about top websites in the world is not so accurate! I think Facebook is the first website in the world with it’s really massive traffic and number of daily users. The fact is a huge number of it’s users use the mobile applications to connect, and that traffic never measure by Alexa! So Alexa stats are getting more and more inaccurate everyday because of these mobile views and applications.
Twitter: bleepingtech
says:
Hey Don,
. Thanks for sharing.
That really helped me. I was searching about the same on Google as I was really confused about Alexa
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Yeah, Alexa ranking is not accurate as it only counts traffic from those that installs its toolbar. That is why most web masters have higher rank as they websites are visited by people who own a blog or site. This is because most of them install Alexa toolbar.
For all Alexa fanatics…
We have recently launched a service to track Alexa rank history.
Submit your site @ http://www.siterankhistory.com and enjoy a 30 day trial!
Twitter: naukriupdates
says:
Hello Sir,
The same thing happens with me also,
After starting my first wordpress site, I am ranked far good, but suddnely it was coming down slowly, I dont know the reason behind it, But I think what you post here about alexa, I should consider it, I have never go through it as I thought alexa get their data from Google. but I come to know now they also have their algoritham and thats why my google and alexa traffic are much different.. Thank you sir…
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Twitter: trafficyup
says:
A big thanks for this useful article. great tips
Twitter: trafficyup
says:
Mr. Don Caprio, you are right. Alexa tool bar is one of the best way to increase Alexa traffic. I have used it. I have got great results from it. Your other tips are nice. I will try it. Thanks.
Really nice article….I will download their toolbar for my blog. Guess it will increase d ranking.