Alexa is a web traffic monitoring system that works by analysing traffic data that is collected through a variety of sources.  This data is collected both through the Alexa toolbar and through an integrated Alexa app that webmasters can place on their web pages that report back to Alexa on who and how many are visiting your site.  Unlike many other rankings, it is better to have as low of a numerical ranking as possible: Google, the most visited website in the world, currently has a rank of #1, while Facebook (the second-most popular) is ranked #2, and so on.  This article will outline how the Alexa system works and how it can be used to your advantage.

The Basics of Alexa

Alexa is meant to be representative of web traffic and not a total measurement; through a series of tools, Alexa collects data which is fairly representative of how web traffic flows and makes projections accordingly.  While Alexa may only be monitoring 10% of web traffic at any one time, this is a large enough cross-section to accurately determine the rank of most larger websites (Google for example, measures #1 in both instances).  Alexa can be thought of as a “poll of the internet”, collecting data from enough sources to make calculations on web traffic and rankings without having to gauge every single visitor to every single site.

How Alexa Can Help You

Besides offering its ranking service, Alexa also has a variety of other tools that can help websites and businesses determine how effectively they are reaching their audience and whether or not their current methods of attracting traffic are working.  Other services include the ability to view current hot search results by search engine, the option of viewing which sites are linking to you and from where your inbound traffic is coming and other general information about current traffic patterns, all provided via Alexa’s Web Information Service.

Boost Your Rank

Within the parameters of Alexa’s measurements, you can take steps to boost your site’s ranking and therefore become more noticeable across all search engines.  One of the best options to help with this is Alexa’s browser toolbar, which collects information about sites you visit – including your own.  Whenever you are making changes/edits to your site and refreshing, this toolbar will collect that information and use it to raise your site’s traffic rank.  There is also an Alexa script that can be added to any site or page that will report all traffic back to Alexa for proper indexing and ranking.

What Is My Rank?

There is a simple and fast way to determine the ranking of your site or any page on your site.  Pingler offers an Alexa Multiple Rank Checker, which will allow you to check your pages (and those of your competitors): you can compare up to ten different sites at once to determine the specific rankings of each.  With this information in hand, you can begin to determine what steps you must take to improve your Alexa rating and (if necessary) to catch up with your fellow competitors.  This tool – and Alexa in general – may not work if your site is new or has a very small amount of traffic.