Alexa Ranking, by button, not toolbar
I was always under the impression that Alexa Ranking was only determined by the number of people visiting a given website who have the Alexa Toolbar installed.
I read somewhere that having an Alexa button (see the osworld button near the bottom of the right hand column), helps to increase (or should that be decrease) the Alexa Ranking. I was skeptical, so I decided to test it out.
I've been hovering at about 51,000 for a long while - since implementing the button, my rank has gone to about 45,000. I can't say for sure that this is because of the addition of the button, but it would certainly appear to be so.
Of course, Alexa Ranking is heap of doo-doo anyway, but there are reasons why some sites would want to become better ranked - not least because a number of 3rd parties base `value` on Alexa Ranking - or at least it is a factor in an equation…
Therefore, if you run any services which do this (examples being PayPerPost, Text Link Ads, Review Me?), you should think about installing an Alexa Button.
It's pretty painless, takes perhaps 60 seconds, and could help with your bottom line.
Comment by Chance — November 10, 2006 @ 3:51 pm
I've used Alexa buttons on ecommerce sites I have managed to bring Alexa rankings up, and I know it works. Usually this was because some store owner attached importance to the Alexa ranking and the button was put in place to accommodate them.
Lately a lot of services have been using this worthless statistic to rank and price your blog, so I guess its a fair reason to put the gaudy button on your site.
My Alexa ranking is so low though, I'd be embarrassed to show everybody what it is
Comment by SarahG — November 10, 2006 @ 6:07 pm
I used to have it on my blog and the ranking went from 150,000 to around 90,000. However I removed it after reading a comment that made me feel like an amateur to have it there.
Of course it wouldn't help my blog anyhow as I don't use anything that's inspired by Alexa!
Comment by dreamscape — November 13, 2006 @ 2:11 pm
If Alexa uses the button to collect stats, then it would only make sense that your ranking would increase if you used it, as the total number of people who browse your site is going to be significantly more than the number of people who browse your site and have the Alexa Toolbar installed.
Of course if that is the case, then it calls the validity of Alexa's ranking system into question. There would no doubt be bias with just the Alexa Toolbar, but with this, the bias goes off the charts. It is as you say burt, a "heap of doo-doo "
Comment by Shobber — November 16, 2006 @ 5:21 pm
Heap of doo doo.
For lack of a better system Alexa does ok. No statistically its not perfect. The services that are using it for valuation have to have some metric to judge on. I think a combo of pagerank,alexa,technorati can help give a decent valuation.
my 2cents