A long time ago, I wrote about Alexa and why it matters. It’s been about 10 years since I wrote that article and I wanted to follow up on it, because I still get questions from bloggers and content creators who ask if they should still pay attention to Alexa rank.
By the way, when I mean Alexa, I don’t mean the one you can use like Google Assistant or Siri. I mean Alexa from https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo.
What is Alexa rank
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Alexa rank is a type of ranking for websites, that are usually determined by the traffic that the site acquires, IF the user happens to have the Alexa browser extension. This extension allows the user to leave reviews about a site, as well as share their own demographics, like where they are from, their gender, their age range, and much more.
Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about Alexa rank anymore. Not everyone has the Alexa toolbar, so you can’t really get an accurate rank or info from it. Sure, I was hung on it… like 10 years ago, but I quickly realized that the only stats that matter, especially to advertisers is: your Google Analytics, what people are searching for with your site, if you’re getting blog subscribers, engagement on social network channels, and what’s actually going on with your site in the search engine results.
You can use it, but if you’re going use Alexa rank in your media kit for advertisers, then you want to encourage your readers to download the toolbar. Sure, throw it in if you want, but not all advertisers use it as religiously these days.
Of course, Alexa itself, outside of their website rank tool, they have other tools that are paid services that could help with optimizing your site. They are a decent tool, but for all purposes of this article, again, this is entirely about the Alexa rank free tool that had been highly talked about years ago.
Do you use Alexa’s website ranking tool? If so, why? If you have before, and no longer, why did you stop using it?
Hey Nile,
I remember those days Alexa used to be a hot measuring stick for advertisers. I had forgotten about it until recently when an advertiser used my Alexa stats as a way to reduce advertising fee on my site.
I think some advertisers still pay attention to it but generally, it’s weighing out of value.
Thanks for bringing it up. Hope you are going to catch some fun this weekend
I don’t bother myself with Alexa rankings anymore because, it is no longer accurate or perhaps, never was.
I’m new to blogging and have not heard of Alexa before. Thanks for filling me in.
Interesting I wasn’t aware that Alexa was no longer an important metric.
If you want to use their premium version, then it might be more useful, but the majority of the people who used Alexa rank back in 2009/2010, used the free version. This only has basic information. However, this really isn’t a statistic that advertisers even consider anymore.
does Alexa rank matter? I don’t think I have ever used it because Alexa rank is never the criteria for the site,s ranking.
Interesting I wasn’t aware that Alexa was no longer an important metric. Thanks for sharing this information I really like your posts.
Even I don’t think it is important. It is useful to have a look at it and forget. But we can not rely completely on it.
I think aside from seing Alexa rank as a blog growth measurement tool, let’s use it to motivate our blogging journey.
No matter what it is I still think if you know your ranking is going up then you will keep working so it doesn’t drop.
Alternatively, if you discovered your ranking went down, it’s a good opportunity to work on your blog.
Let’s keep advertisers out here and pick the passion to blog from our rankings.
To me, Alexa is still a cool tool.
Google still ranks No. 1 on Alexa and other top sites are doing well, I think its still a useful tool we can consider.
I understand and agree with you Alexa Ranking is still a part of SEO and Ranking of the website on Google.
Hi Nile,
Thank you for writing this wonderful post and bringing attention to the use of the Alexa toolbar. I am still a big fan of the Alexa tool that helps me to determine our competitor’s traffic status, ranking keywords, site info. Alexa is the first tool that I use every time that makes our task easier for analyzing and researching.
Thank you,