Define: Alexa Rank

[kingkg]

I've learned a lot about domains in the past year and a half... but I would like to have a better explanation of what the "Alexa Rank" is, and how it's determined. Thanks a bunch for anyone that responds!

 

[shockie]

check out their faq: http://www.alexa.com/site/help/

 

[kingkg]

ok. thanks. :D

 

[bizcorp]

Shockie - nice link, that answers the question perfectly.

Remember that the alexa rank is just an approximate figure of the number of visits to a site - I have found it in some cases to be very inaccurate. But it does have its uses. My 2cents.

 

[stevephilipps]

I'm not certain exactly how accurate the alexa rank is, but i have found that other parts of their website have been useful in helping me get a better ranking for several websites i have worked on.

 

[whitebark]

alexa rank = essentially useless metric. It's easily faked, and it's compiled by tracking users willing to install what is all but spyware on their computers. It gets nowhere near my computers!

I have a site getting 350,000 unique visitors a month and it's alexa rank is lower than another site of mine getting just over 1,500 visitors a month. That says it all.

If you are going to buy a domain/website based on traffic don't rely on alexa - ask to see the actual traffic logs/3rd party service like google's analytics.

 

[shockie]

i have a site with 7,500+ uniques in the last 3 months with an alexa rank of 1,500,000+ for the last 3 months... third-party stats are definitely important if you want more than just a vague idea of your traffic.

 

[ZeRohiLL]

I agree that the rank is nothing to go by - -

Anyone know - or what is - the HIGHEST (as in xx,xxx,xxx) alexa ranking one could have?

 

[shockie]

i think i saw 20+ million for a new site that wasn't even 3 months old yet.

 

[ZeRohiLL]

If I recall, 29,xxx,xxx

 

[kingkg]

So, considering the Alexa Rank seems to be shady, what is the biggest indicator you look at, for example when you see an estibot appraisal with different numbers....?