Alexa Rank 101 – Everything you need to Know

Do you want to assess the success of your recent SEO campaigns? Well, you need to check the site’s Alexa rank. No other all-in-one SEO tool does a great job at providing reliable site metrics…..

What is Alexa's rank?

Alexa rank

Alexa rank is a web metric for measuring the popularity of a site. It shows how a website is fairing relative to all the other sites. The platform utilizes a proprietary methodology that compares a site’s estimated web traffic and visitor onsite interactions over the past 3 months.

That being said, Alexa rank is a proprietary metric for Alexa.com, a web traffic analysis company specializing in publishing global website rankings. According to stats from the last two decades, Alexa makes use of the traffic data of its partners to rank popular sites. Until its closure in May of 2022, Alexa used to be an authoritative web traffic analytics platform.

You can still using Alexa API or you can use semrush to check data.


What can Alexa rank do?

What can Alexa rank do

Alexa rank can be used to improve your website’s traffic and conversions. Here are some of the uses of Alexa rank:

  • Improving your digital marketing skills

Alexa allows you to compare sites and see how they perform within specific niches. This is a great way to kick-start your digital marketing business.

  • Part of your SEO and PPC strategy: Evaluating keywords

Alexa is also home to some of the best SEO optimization tools. You can check your competitor’s keyword selection and check the one driving traffic to their site and try applying the same on your site. You’ll be able to boost your traffic from organic searches with this method.

  • Assessing the commercial potential of websites

High-quality sites within a given niche often have better Alexa ranking. You can use such sites to market and popularize your site.

  • Identifying valuable opportunities for partnering with influencers

It’s possible to use influencer marketing to push conversion and traffic on your site. Alexa allows you to identify influencers whom you can partner with within your niche. That’s a great way of driving traffic and conversions to your site.

  • Identify potential sites for ghost content publishing

With Alexa, you’re able to identify high-ranking sites within your niche. By guest posting on such sites, you will be able to increase your website’s traffic significantly.


How does Alexa rank work?

The Alexa rank algorithm audits sites and compares its daily unique visitors with the estimated number of page views in the last 3 months. According to Alexa.com, Alexa's rank is also computed based on web traffic stats from their global data panel which is based on data derived from extensions on browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Brave, etc.

That said, the take-home here is that a site’s Alexa rank is calculated based on:

  • The number of unique daily visitors
  • An average number of page views per visit.
  • Traffic from the global data panel.
  • Unspecified third-party data


Alexa rank tool

The Alexa rank tool is an easy way to estimate the popularity of a site in comparison to all other websites. By undertaking competitive analysis, it’s possible to use this tool to benchmark your site against competitors.  Simply put, the Alexa rank tool shows you how your performance compares to your direct competitors. Below is a summary of what you can do with this very important metric tool:

  • Web traffic statistics analysis

Web traffic statistics analysis

With the Alexa rank tool, it’s possible to analyze and compare the performance of your site’s traffic stats against competitors. That way, you will be able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your SEO strategy, ad campaigns, and other measures you’re currently using to drive traffic to your site. You will be able to know what’s working and what’s not working.

  • As an Audience overlap tool

As an Audience overlap tool

The Alexa rank metric is based on the number of page visitors and views. By using the Alexa rank tool, it’s possible to check and analyze the competitiveness of keywords. You will also be able to identify top-ranking sites within your niche for targeted ads to draw traffic from them.


Top 20 websites according to Alexa rank

Top 20 websites according to Alexa rank

The following are the world’s most popular sites according to Alexa rank as of the end of 2021. The summary table below compares the Alexa rank of the top sites with their SEMrush traffic.

Alexa Rank Position SEMrush Traffic
1.      Google.com 694M
2.     Youtube.com 1.8B
3.     Tmall.com 30.6K
4.    Qq.com 11.7K
5.     Baidu.com 9.8M
6.    Facebook.com 598M
7.     Sohu.com 1.32M
8.     Taobao.com 685K
9.    360. cn 19.3K
10. Jd.com 705K
11.  Amazon.com 1.16B
12. Yahoo.com 288M
13. Weibo.com 915K
14.  Wikipedia.org 2.98B
15. Sina.com.cn 842K
16. Zoom.com 16.6M
17. Outlook.live.com 19.6M
18. Netflix.com  19 87.7M
19. Microsoft.com 65.7M
20.                       Reddit.com 127M

How to get a better Alexa ranking

how to Increase Alexa rakings

Want to improve your website’s Alexa rank? Below are some proven tactics that you can use to boost your Alexa rank:

  • Create fresh, engaging, and original content

Ensure all content on your site is original, fresh, and very engaging. That’s the best way to keep your readers on your site. The more readers interact with content on your site, the better the Alexa ranking.

  • Optimize your metadata

By adding a relevant title and short description to each of the content on your site, you make it easy for Google and Alexa to figure out the niche and therefore the target audience of your site.

  • Share your content on social media

This is a great way to boost, not just your Alexa ranking but also your search engine ranking.

  • Inbound and internal links

Inbound links are from other websites to your site. While search engines use them to define a site’s authority, the Alexa rank metric is also based on inbound links to your site. The more, the better. Similarly, internal links are also used by the Alexa rank algorithm in computing a website’s global rank. You also want to have more internal links, not only for easy navigation within your site but to improve the Alexa ranking.

  • In-depth keyword research

You can use platforms such as Alexa to assess your competitors’ SEO strategies. That will allow you to assess the keywords that are driving traffic to their site and optimize your website for those particular keywords.

  • Implement SEO best practices

Besides keyword research, inbound & internal links, Alexa ranking also banks on how well a site is optimized for SEO. The more optimized your site is for SEO, the better the ranking.


Alexa turned off, what tool should I use?

If you can’t access Alexa.com anymore, don’t worry. There are several tools you can use for web traffic analysis. To find the best Alexa.com alternatives, you can read our article on Alexa Rank Alternatives.


FAQs

1. Is Alexa rank accurate?

Although Alexa rank is a great metric for assessing the performance of a website against another site it’s not necessarily accurate. The reason for this is that stats on this platform are at times not very consistent with those of other analytics tools such as Google Analytics. Partly, this is attributed to the fact that Alexa's rank is based on a narrow range of rank parameters compared to platforms such as Google which has a comparatively wider range of rank parameters.

2. Can Alexa rank be manipulated?

Yes, it is possible to manipulate your site’s Alexa rank temporarily. The best way to do this is to open multiple page addresses on your site using JavaScript. In practice, this is often applied in some websites where users are made to click through many pages just to read a single post. Yes, such sites have been found to have a significantly good Alexa ranking, although with a terrible user experience.

3. How to check the Alexa ranking of my website

You can check the Alexa ranking of your site by using Alexa’s Free Traffic Tool. Alternatively, you can use free or premium Alexa rank checker tools which are plentiful on the web. You might also make use of free browser extensions such as SEOquake.

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