This Alexa Ranking Is Coming In For A Landing Like a Meteroite To Earth!
This blog’s Alexa ranking has been dropping fast like a meteroite down to earth. Does a low Alexa ranking really mean much? Over the years I’ve looked at it. I’ve also done research on Alexa. I love using their website for the hottest news and trends of the day. But does the Alexa ranking do much for us bloggers?
4 Things An Alexa Ranking Can Do For You:
- Gives Your Site Authority. Perception becomes reality – If your score is high or low, others may perceive your blog or websites popularity based on this ranking.
- Gives You Visibility to Other Bloggers / Companies – Some bloggers and companies look at this particular ranking. They do it to see if they want to advertise on your site. Bloggers may look at it to see if they want to do a guest post there or link to your blog.
- May Drive You More Traffic – If your Alexa ranking is low it may drive more traffic for you. It’s all about that perception. More traffic drives more traffic. Ironic, isn’t it?
- Increase Page Rank – Will a lower ranking on Alexa increase your Google pagerank? That appears to be true in most cases but not all.
Top 5 Ranking Websites by Alexa Ranking:
- Google – No surprise there. Who doesn’t visit Google at least once per day?
- Facebook – Amazing for 5 years time on the web and they are #2.
- YouTube – No surprise either that this video website ranks low.
- Yahoo – Surprising they remain in the top 5. They have had many changes there at Yahoo over the years. Changes in content, ads and top brass.
- Baidu – China is getting on the bandwagon online.
Top Ranking Blogs by Alexa Ranking:
Blogspot #11 – Does this mean more blogs are made on blogspot?
WordPress #22 – WordPress sure has moved up in the rankings this past year. It’s popularity seems to continue to grow.
Tumblr #29 – Another blog platform that has become very popular. Tumbler now has over 50 million blogs!
Blogger #43 – Not sure the difference from blogspot – would you know?
Mashable #321 – They have a team of bloggers that update on the Social Media and Seo daily, no surprise they are so low in ranking. They are the #1 blog to come up in the top 500.
SeoMoz Blog #401 – Another team of bloggers that update daily and the #2 blog in the top 500.
Hubspot #861 – One of my favorites when I first started. They too have a team of bloggers that update almost daily.
ProBlogger #3,751 – Darren Rowse is a full time blogger and author. His blog is on the Genesis theme. (Thanks to Fabrizio for this one)
Matt Cutts #6,956 - Surprised Matt is not lower in this ranking.
John Chow #8,260 - Not surprised that John ranks this low. Who doesn’t know John in the blogging world? He has been blogging for at least 6 years. Read more on how he means business. (A great piece by Sapna at H4hitech blog)
Seth Godin - #9,153. Do we even count the master Seth Godin here? Seth is an author of 12 bestseller books that are translated into 33 different languages. He is a public speaker. He uses Typepad as his blog format. Nothing ususal about Seth. He is also the founder of Squidoo.
Basic Blog Tips #10,114 – Another team of bloggers blogging for Ms Ileane, a phenomenal site that I’ve seen grow in the 2 years I’ve been following them.
Traffic Generation Cafe by Ana Hoffman – #12,827 – Amazing for a one person blog. Ana can really drive traffic!
Don Caprio – #20,896 – The Geek’s Journal by Don Caprio. Don also has several guest posts and contributors on his blog.
All Tech Buzz – #24,819 – Owned by Imran Uddin with contributors and an editor. This tech blog ranks low too.
Inspire to Thrive - 98,801. When I first started on blogger my alexa numbers were lower and then went back up to over 1 million on WordPress. Changing formats for your blog may change your Alexa ranking. If you have time the wayback machine can be fun. Especially if you have made changes to your blog in the past. I’m curious if the average load time would be the same on other applications for page speed.
Most of the blogs that rank low have dual authors /contributors. The exceptions are John Chow, Seth Godin and Ana Hoffman whose ranking is really amazing for a one person blog!
What Does Alexa Look For To Rank Your Blog Or Website?
Alexa started back in 1996. They wanted to share timely and relevant information about websites across the web. They have built a database about websites, site statistics, related links and more. They use all of this data to come up with ranking numbers. You can check your Alexa rank via country or worldwide. The numbers above I used are for worldwide. You can also find all of your backlinks via Alexa. Some people have disputed their numbers over the years. I have found them to be relative, maybe not always perfect but pretty much on target. They use the past 3 months of data to formulate their numbers.
7 Ways You Can Lower Your Alexa Ranking Yourself:
- Install the toolbar in your browser – Simple!
- Claim your site on Alexa – Another simple step.
- Review other sites or blogs on Alexa. Some may return the favor. Don’t expect it!
- Get listed in DMOZ Directory – Not easy at all. I’ve been trying for years with websites to no avail. Love to learn a trick on this one!
- Update content regularly – If you are blogging this should be a no-brainer.
- Be sure your site has SEO incorporated into it. The right keywords can go a long way for you.
- Backlinks – The more quality backlinks you have the lower your rank should be. Those backlinks should come naturally via quality content.
Alexa Site Audits
You can also have Alexa do a site audit for you. There is a one time charge of $199 or a monthly fee of $149. The monthly will give you 2 reports per month. You can cancel at any time. The one time audit gives you one report now and another report in 30 days. Their report will give you tips how to optimize your SEO and increase traffic. It will also let you know if you are providing a good experience for your readers. You can track your progress via the audits. I have not done one of these to date. I’d love to hear from someone who has.
Have you done anything to decrease your Alexa ranking for your blog or website?
Do you think Alexa rank is an important factor in overall traffic and rankings of your blog?
