“My website is less than 3 months old. I have been steadily growing the traffic and my Alexa rank was about 820,000, which I know means I hardly get any traffic. I just went to my site last night and it jumped to 10,000,000. I’ve actually been increasing traffic, so I’m wondering about your thoughts?
Was 820,000 just a tease that was not true… for reference, I’m probably getting 35-45 unique visits a day (according to WP stats) at this point, so I’m not sure how that should translate to Alexa rank.
Any help would be great. Thanks.”
Submitted by Augie, author of a guide about creative real estate investing
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Alexa is a funny little ranking engine. Your fluctuations in rank can be pretty dramatic until Alexa gets a handle on your site.
They have changed their algorithm to, supposedly, better reflect and predict all your traffic. This means they no longer depend on simply guestimating your rank based on Alexa toolbar users who visit your site.
After the update I went from 32,000 to 60,000+ and now I believe they rank me well over 100,000. Yet, my traffic continues to grow.
The important thing to remember is that Alexa is one of several indicators of your site’s traffic health. Of course, you know the exact number of uniques you get each day from your own stats. That’s the main indicator, above all else, you should use to gauge how you’re doing.
It is quite possible Alexa doesn’t know enough about the traffic that is hitting your site because it is too low at this point to estimate more accurately in their rankings.
With the traffic level you have now, my focus would be on more marketing, deeply important and interesting posts (linkbait) for your niche, more commenting and networking on other blogs and social sites, and link building.
Regardless of the quirks in Alexa’s particular ranking system, you want to set a benchmark of a solid 100 visitors per day and then shoot for 500, 1000 and beyond.
Eventually Alexa should reflect this progress in their rankings.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Jack-
Thank you so much for answering my question. Do you think I should just remove the alexa widget? Is it shouting “I’m not popular!” to my visitors?
Augie
The general rule is to put any widget up when it has something good to say about your site. Until it does, some people might assume you are a nobody and not even pay attention to your great content!
I know I’m not supposed to dwell on these things, but I think there must have been a glitch. It’s back to where I thought it should be. I’m wondering if anyone else experienced something like that?
Augies last blog post..Buy Your Primary Residence With Creative Investing Techniques
Alexa rank seems like one of those things that should be ignored. As should Google rank, really. Just keep plugging along and improving your site and your numbers will reflect it. Continually monitoring your rank doesn’t help any and and can actually be deflating.
seowordsmiths last blog post..Paid Links vs. Directory Submission Services
I always wondered if Alexa was a good measuring stick for traffic. I know it’s not completely accurate but when people come to your site, they use the reading on the toolbar to gauge if your getting traffic or not. Even when selling a website most users look at the Alexa ranking.
Sam With Georgia Deal Makerss last blog post..Is There A Second Massive Foreclosure Wave On The Way?
Augie, Jack is right, keep adding the relevant link bait, in other words, great content your visitors want to read and link to. One of our sites went from an Alexa rank of 437,000 to 700,000 + whilst at the same time going from 100, to 500 and then 1000 uniques a day!
The site now has a fanatical following, makes excellent income into 6 figures, and has now spawned a couple of off shoot sites that are starting to make money. I have found Alexa to be a totally meaningless measure of a sites profitability, and that is the point for me.
As for its ability to measure traffic, I am at a loss to know how it works and don’t particularly care! I would certainly take of the Alexa widget from your site because it has no relevance for your visitor.
Since looking site by the way although I don’t know what Jack thinks, I would take that tag cloud away. In my humble opinion it is a further distraction, I don’t believe it has any seo value and use that for some more relevant ad space.
Cheers, Ian Orford – ThinkPadToday.com
Ian Orfords last blog post..Lenovo Coupon – The Last Christmas ThinkPad T400 Coupon Code!
Thanks Ian! That’s what I call “value added commenting!”
Thanks again, everyone, for your feedback. Nice comment on the tag cloud. I never really liked it, but saw most people use it. Isn’t it another way for google to find your content? Meaning, it will index the keyword against the related articles. This way you have more entry points?
Augies last blog post..Buy Your Primary Residence With Creative Investing Techniques
It’s a little redundant. For the valuable space it takes up you can let your categories and sitemap do the same job. Although you should always try to reference other posts you’ve done in new posts when applicable. Use best keywords to link to older stuff when relevant in new posts.
sitemap do the same job. Although you should always try to reference other posts you’ve done in new posts when applicable. Use best keywords to link to older stuff when relevant in new posts.
Great tips
Does i can improve the rating of my blog by using this Alexa Ranking engine, who doing the ranking really?