Alexa Ranks: Why They’re Important And How To Take Advantage

Web rankings more or less determine the relevance of many websites today. In its simplest definition, the term web ranking refers to ‘a website’s position in search engine results pages, determined on a specific set of criteria that provide end users with accurate and helpful search results.’ Website ranking, as a concept, is stressed as an important component of search engines today, particularly by Google themselves.

 

Search engine website rankings are important for many reasons, if not, just one: website rankings essentially help a website gain web traffic. The main goal of many webmasters, in fact, is gaining a significant amount of web traffic that helps sustain their website. High-ranking websites gain what’s known as website authority, which essentially presents said websites as valuable resources of various types of information to many end users.

 

Search engines, however, aren’t the only authorities that measure website rankings. Website ranking tools also perform this task. They’re mainly used to measure factors correlating with web rankings. A lot of these tools are available for webmasters to use without intervention from search engines. The most well-known web ranking tool, however, actually comes in the form of another website.

 

Behind Alexa.com

 

High web rankings correlate to gaining more web traffic. It’s particularly evident with webmasters who want to rank higher on Google’s search engine results pages. Some webmasters now see value in gaining a higher rank within the Alexa ranking system, a ranking metric used exclusively by Alexa.com.

 

Alexa measures web traffic based on the frequency of visits from users who have installed their corresponding web browser toolbar. The website generates their search results after recording user data for a period of around three months, using parameters like page views and web reach to measure web traffic.

 

Like search engine results pages, Alexa-rated websites with lower numerical rankings have better web traffic and page views. The websites with the most web traffic from across the Internet rank in the top ten. Facebook, as another example, is currently ranked number one, as of June 2013.

 

The Alexa toolbar can be used like other web ranking tools, downloaded into a modern web browser to measure a site’s web traffic. Webmasters can even take advantage—they can use this tool to measure and/or compare their site against their competitors. The Alexa toolbar works as one of many web ranking tools that measures site traffic against other site traffic. Some webmaster experts, however, warn that the ‘sample size’ of results for most sites might be too small.

 

Behind the Benefits of Alexa Rankings

 

Alexa rankings might improve a website’s exposure. As an example, they can inform potential advertisement partners and even other webmasters about a website’s potential value. Sites with higher Alexa ranks become more likely to attract potential advertisement partners and/or marketing offers.

 

This might lead to a cycle where a site gets enough advertisement and/or marketing support to facilitate web traffic, as a result, raising their Alexa and search engine rankings. Even personal web pages and blogs receive the same benefits, though Alexa denotes personal pages using a special asterisk next to their name.

 

Alexa rankings also provide webmasters with valuable information concerning their website’s viability. The main factors proving a site’s viability include its web exposure via search engine optimization, daily web traffic and even the construction of the site itself. Although Alexa provides plenty of benefits, the limited reach of the Alexa toolbar may prevent most sites from getting ranked by Alexa itself.

 

Taking Advantage of Alexa

 

Alexa, as a part of today’s web ranking tools, can be an asset to improving a website’s rankings and subsequent authority on the web. Webmasters can take advantage, provided they follow guidelines that correlate to properly boosting a site’s Alexa ranking.

 

According to many webmaster resources, improving a website’s Alexa ranking is a simple process, that can include:

 

• Downloading and installing the Alexa toolbar. Webmasters are advised to search and visit their own site via the tool. Placing the Alexa widget on their site helps encourage site visitors to click on the widget, potentially counting toward building said Alexa rankings.
• Create quality and relevant web content. It’s important to create web content that provides valuable information to web users. High quality web content helps encourage people to visit any website, increasing their overall web authority as a result.
• Optimize the website. Webmasters can’t get accurate or dramatic results without optimizing their site’s web exposure. The simplest optimization techniques involve inserting choice Alexa-related keywords and building a healthy list of backlinks.

 

Webmasters who already pull a significant amount of web traffic likely benefit from Alexa the most. Users who visit those websites are likely to have their toolbar installed or have some type of general exposure to Alexa. For other webmasters, however, the results can be unreliable due to the lack of exposure across other channels not associated with Alexa.