With more than a hundred million websites that thrive on the web today, attempting to rank each site relative to each other would be a seeming insurmountable task. No one in his or her right mind would ever dare to undertake such a seemingly insurmountable endeavor – you might have just speculated. Well, Alexa just did that. But, like any other metric, that forces the question – just how important is Alexa ranking for your site?
What is Alexa?
Yes, the right question is of a “what” type because Alexa is not a person. Alexa is an online statistical tool used to give you an idea where a particular site is standing on against the million other sites in terms of popularity. The Alexa ranking is kind of like one of those annual popularity polls in the real world for your favorite movie actors and celebs. The criteria for judging, however, are not based on good looks and charms, but with the number of both the site visitors and the pages viewed for every visit made.
Alexa is a subsidiary of its mother company, the web giant in e-commerce, Amazon.com. Although Alexa also provides other services for web analysis, such as SEO performance and recommendations, the company is more widely known for its free global web analytics.
How the Alexa Traffic Ranking Works
Alexa gives a website its ranking by keeping tabs on its traffic history. This traffic data is gathered on a day to day basis from those that have the Alexa toolbars installed in their web browsers. The data collected based on a three-month period is then utilized in a sophisticated algorithmic formula for computing the site rankings.
The Importance of Alexa
For website publishers and advertisers, Alexa ranking is one good tool that they can make use of to determine the popularity of a website. Valuating the cost that comes with selling a commercial ad space on your site is determined through Alexa ratings and other website analytics like Google PR. Advertisers, on the other hand, will have a basis whether a website is worth investing in or not.
The page rank of websites is also utilized by many online users who might want to go shopping from the web. A website with significantly better page rank is a good indication of the site’s credibility.
Perhaps the most important benefit in using Alexa rankings is taken into account by many website owners themselves. Most internet savvies maximize the use of these ranking for benchmarking and competitive analysis to improve their web presence. Not to mention the reputation that these rankings can bring into one’s website and the instant gratification that comes along with it.
And, because Alexa has the capability to provide the rankings in terms of a keyword and on a global scale or a more specific geographical location like a particular country, you can analyze the importance of your site based on what matters to you.
About the Author
Krystine Joy Sitjar is a freelance author from Portland, Oregon with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Krystine is also currently working as a part-time Financial Advisor to help other people manage their credit in a proper manner. She considers herself a computer and cell phone expert.
