mord
Joined: Nov 13, 2002
# Posts: 117
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Posted: 2005-Mar-18 16:44
I am wondering if any of you smart guys can help me understand the below dilemma. While I understand that Alexa results are not exact science, the following is a mystery to me.
My site rank 45.000 on Alexa. My main competitor ranks 80.000
I have about 400 subscribers, while my competitor claims in various press releases that he has 5000 subscribers. I would assume that with 5000 subscribers, his rank would be much higher than mine. What gives?
I like to compare using Alexa as it gives me a bearing as to how well my site does relative to my competitors. The above dilemma however really bothers me.
Thank you for your consideration.
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bhartzer
Staff
Joined: Jun 08, 2000
# Posts: 7042
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Posted: 2005-Mar-18 17:08
I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. Alexa rankings are based on people who have the Alexa Toolbar installed and their web surfing activities. Apparently more people who have the Alexa Toolbar installed visit your site than your competitor's site.
You can read more about how they detemine the rankings on the page About the Alexa Traffic Rankings.
There are other ways to determine your competitor's traffic (I'm assuming that they would have more subscribers if they have more traffic), so I would see if you can determine their real amount of traffic.
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mord
Joined: Nov 13, 2002
# Posts: 117
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Posted: 2005-Mar-18 17:23
Considering we are in the same industry, I would assume that my competitor would have many more visitor who use Alexa. I find it hard to believe that my visitors are unique in that aspect. The obvious question is, do they really have 5000 subscribers?
What are the other ways to determine traffic?
Thanks
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mteasdal
Joined: Eons Ago
# Posts: 376
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Posted: 2005-Mar-18 17:27
I use Alexa to measure traffic as well. This is a VERY high level look at it. It can be manipulated some what easy from what I have read. If someone has a slideshow and it is left running it may have many hits/page-views. If it refreshes new images every 10 seconds and left running in the background it could really move the stats. I don't know if they fixed this yet but it was working like that.
"other ways to determine your competitor's traffic"
I don't know any other tools like Alexa to measure traffic. Do you know others that you can share with us.
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mteasdal
Joined: Eons Ago
# Posts: 376
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Posted: 2005-Mar-18 17:30
mord - My compeditors will jump high for 6 months because they used adwords. They then have a major drop when they stop paying for ads because their site is not indexed well in search engines. Find out where they are putting ads and that may help. What sites are linked to them. What banner ads are they running? What content do they have that people what to spend more time on their site.
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mord
Joined: Nov 13, 2002
# Posts: 117
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Posted: 2005-Mar-18 23:38
It is intersteing how the replies ignore the logic. I am fully aware how Alexa works, and that it can be manuipulated. However, this is the exact opposit case.
Neither I nor my comptitor is manipulating the ranking.
I am repeating my question.
How could a site with 5000 subscribers be ranked at 80.000, while my site with only about 500 subscribers rank far higher at 45.000?
IN fact, my competitior spends a lot of money advertising on major sites, and yet is Alexa rank is only 80.000.
I on the other hand spend fairly little on adds, and I for sure am not manipulating the ranking.
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mord
Joined: Nov 13, 2002
# Posts: 117
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Posted: 2005-Mar-28 17:13
Is that it?
When the facts are stated, NO ONE CAN GIVE A REAL ANSWER?
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bhartzer
Staff
Joined: Jun 08, 2000
# Posts: 7042
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Posted: 2005-Mar-28 17:50
mord, I'm not saying that you or your competitors are manipulating the Alexa rankings (at least I didn't intend to make it sound that way). I apologize if I came across that way.
I think the real answer lies in the fact that Alexa's data is not accurate. They get their data from people who have their toolbar installed (and obviously more people who have the Alexa toolbar installed visit your competitor's site than your site).
In my opinion, the real answer is that the Alexa data is incorrect and not accurate.
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yellowwing
Joined: May 21, 2002
# Posts: 2526
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Posted: 2005-Mar-28 18:45
You can spend a few more hours pondering the complexities of Alexa, or you can think about how to double your subscribers.
Forget what the competition is reporting. How can you beat him in the search engines and ecommerce? Study what your competitors are not doing. Make a plan. Make a budget and timetable. Execute the plan.
I'd rather double my business, rather than double a number on Alexa.
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dcaff03
Joined: Eons Ago
# Posts: 142
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Posted: 2005-Mar-28 22:36
My site rank 45.000 on Alexa. My main competitor ranks 80.000
I have about 400 subscribers, while my competitor claims in various press releases that he has 5000 subscribers. I would assume that with 5000 subscribers, his rank would be much higher than mine. What gives?
These are not facts..but an interpretation of a sites ranking based on a non-search engine tool bar (Google does not factor this data into their calculations)..and this type of data is never going to be accurate....
This data is not an accurate reflection of a sites real worth...
The real game online today is to focus your attention on your own business model and goals...worrying about your "competitors this or that" is not going to move you forward...yes..being aware of your competitors is important..
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bhartzer
Staff
Joined: Jun 08, 2000
# Posts: 7042
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Posted: 2005-Mar-28 22:47
sites ranking based on a non-search engine tool bar (Google does not factor this data into their calculations)...
This is off-topic, but just to clarify:
Actually, they do use the Google Toobar data. They won't ever say how they use it or how much weight they give to Toolbar data, but we need to be aware that it is very much a part of the Google algorithm.
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unreviewed
Joined: Dec 07, 2000
# Posts: 6776
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Posted: 2005-Mar-29 00:02
>>very much a part of the Google algorithm.
I think it very doubtful that Google is using tool bar data to affect search results. That type of user statistical data is useful for marketing, but could not contribute value to actual ranking of web sites.
In other words, it would make as much sense to rank web sites higher if they have a good Alexa score ... but Google doesn’t, because the numbers only apply to users that Alexa can track, or in G's case, the amount of users that have the Google tool bar installed.
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dcaff03
Joined: Eons Ago
# Posts: 142
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Posted: 2005-Mar-29 23:13
I was referring to the Alexa toolbar...thanks
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