Any serious person who understands search engine optimization (SEO) knows the credibility gap left by those who use Alexa as a tool for website analysis. I cannot count the number of times someone has boasted to me about their most recent Alexa rankings and used it as a barometer of SEO prowness.
Here are some excerpts from an SEO expert.
EXCERPT FROM “AlexaRank, Compete, Google Toolbar PR, and other SEO quackery”
Posted by Michael Martinez on July 31, 2007 in Competitive Analysis“I usually form an opinion of someone’s SEO capability within 30 seconds of reading the subject line of their forum posts. If their opening sentence or paragraph mentions Alexa, Google Toolbar PR, or some similar popular “ranking” value, I usually write them off as having no substantial knowledge of search engine optimization.
Now, there are quite a few “A list” and “B list” SEO bloggers and forum operators out there who still bring up Alexa rankings, Google Toolbar PR, and a few other SEO buzz expressions. I give none of them any credibility for understanding what to do with numbers. I put no stock in their analysis.
High Alexa rankings have been shoved into people’s faces as some sort of vindication of competence and skill for years. Those numbers really mean nothing. Alexa’s data is a fringe snapshot of Web traffic and it will be more accurate for some sites and less accurate for others.
Unless Alexa can offer a consistency of accuracy, however, its rankings are meaningless babble with no relevance whatsoever to any useful comparison of site visits and visitors. If you consider (for the sake of discussion) that an Alexa ranking of 50,000 is at best 50% accurate and an Alexa ranking of 256,000 is at best 10% accurate, what sort conclusion can you draw about the quality of either Web site? None, really.
The problem with Alexa rankings is that we have no way of knowing how far off their estimates are from reality. Every Web site that Alexa reports on potentially receives more or less traffic than Alexa suggests it may be receiving. There no signals that tell you whether the Alexa numbers are close, too high, or too low.
Analyzing other people’s guesswork means your own analysis can never be more informed than guesswork, and it’s not fair to say that you’re making educated guesses. You’re making guesses based on guesses and ignorance, just as the guesses made by Alexa and Compete are based on ignorance.
But as far as comparing Alexa ranks and Compete traffic with other sites goes, you might as well hang a shingle on your door that says you’re a qualified dinosaur doctor. You have as much credibility that way.”
I could not have said it better myself.
Tue, Aug 5, 2008
New Media & Technology