Is Alexa Ranking Really that Important?

Alexa
I’ve been in several discussions/arguments about the importance of Alexa. This is the conclusion I’ve come to….

Is Alexa Important: YES
Is Alexa accurate: NO

Think of it this way… Alexa is to Web Marketing/Advertising as Arbitron is to Radio Marketing/Advertising.  Arbitron is a tool that determines which radio stations have the most listeners and who their target audience is. Radio sales people use this the data, which is far from accurate, as a sales tool to get new advertisers. So why do they use inaccurate data?  Simple… because it’s the only data they have. It’s the only measurement that will help advertisers determine ROI (Return on Investment). Now, take that same principle and apply it to Alexa… Although it’s not necessarily accurate, it still has importance.

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As always, give me your thoughts…

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Comments

  1. Unfortunately you’re totally correct. Alexa is a joke, its not accurate but people that don’t understand how it works will always use it to measure how much traffic a website gets.

    We gotta live with it.


    Adam
    August 13th, 2008
  2. Yes, we definitely have to live with it. The good thing is that we, as marketers know how to improve rankings with Alexa… so, it could work in our benefit.


    Jason
    August 14th, 2008
  3. Yeha.. I have seen some cases when alexa ranking confuses you..


    subesh
    August 17th, 2008
  4. I agree, it is hard not to ignore Alexa. It has some validity that it can give you a rough idea of how well a site is ranked but after the first million, does anyone really care?


    Eva
    August 18th, 2008
  5. [...] discussions/arguments about the importance of Alexa. This is the conclusion I??


    alexa
    September 3rd, 2008
  6. yes PR value tells the truth


    erichansa
    September 5th, 2008
  7. I too agree… however PR is really not much better.


    Andy
    September 20th, 2008
  8. yeah, alexa is absolutely a joke.


    kungfuchem
    October 13th, 2008
  9. [...] just read a post that asked the question “Is Alexa Ranking Really that Important?“. It presented the conclusion that Alexa isn’t accurate but that it is important. I [...]


    Old Li2-Crystals
    October 18th, 2008
  10. Firstly, in Snapshot one can compare only three sites. Secondly, sites with less that 10000 uniques are excluded and thirdly, this is available only for the US audience. These three limitations still keep Google the favorite followed by Alexa.

  11. Alexa is a very important benchmark to determine the rankings and traffic of sites. Google is placed at the 2nd position as per Alexa rankings and traffic rankings and is facing tough competition from Live.com and of course Yahoo.

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