Any site owners out there may be freaking out a bit to see a giant change in their Alexa rankings. They have just rolled out a new algorithm of sorts, and it’s had a huge effect on rankings. You can see the full details of the change at the official Alexa Announcement Page.
It’s a pretty shocking change to say the least, my own Alexa graph went from looking awesome, to bizarre and sporadic. In fact, just looking at many of the blogs on the 45n5 Top 100 list, it seems like the average alexa rank has been multiplied by about 3-4 times (not good).
It could be that they have decreased their dependence on the Alexa Toolbar to calculate rankings, which would explain why the “make money blogs” are getting hit hard, as surfers of these sites are more likely to have it installed.
This is a drastic change to say the least, and I have a feeling Alexa will be getting a lot of nasty feedback from a lot of people. I wonder what sites will benefit from the change, as this is supposed to “better reflect the interests and surfing habits of the broader population of Web users.”
I guess time will tell.
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Is it possible for Alexa to gather info from people who did not install the Alexa Tool Bar?
That I’m not positive about. I was pretty sure I heard somewhere this was the case, and it does make sense… Maybe now they have changed that though, or at least made changes to reflect that, who knows.
I wonder if this changes made because of the entrecard effect? It’s quite easy to get the alexa rank down during that time.
One thing i have noticed aswell since the Google PR stuff up the Page ranking people become more dependent with the alexa ranking and they might have notice everything that is why they change their algorithm.
I noticed a big drop in my own Alexa rank a few days ago, but things seemed to have settled down to their normal levels again
Tim,
i have also noticed my rank dropped so big just this morning. i also believe this will infuriate other site owners as Alexa continues to prove how bias its system is. unfortunately, it’s still the norm in determining a site’s traffic.
I think Alexa made the right decision. It always amazed me to see a money/seo blog with less traffic than me, outscore me by 50,000 in Alexa rank. You are exactly right in saying people who read those blogs are more likely to have the toolbar installed. I will continue to keep my toolbar going:)
Yeah, I’m definitely not saying the change is necessarily a bad thing, but it’s pretty radical to say the least.
I’m wondering what kinds of sites have gotten a huge boost as opposed to a huge drop. It’ll be interesting to learn what criteria they are basing their rankings on now.
Mine went from 95,533 to 190,213 overnight. I only got below 100k a couple of weeks ago, so this was really disappointing. But I see that my one week average is 167,462 so I am hoping it will not take too long to get below 100k again.
I went from 53,777 to 199,908 :O
Of course, Alexa rank is just a number. It doesn’t affect my real traffic
Too bad people pay so much attention to it though, as this huge shift proves how unreliable, even in their own eyes, the rankings really were, and may still be.
I didn’t seem to fair as bad as most people, but I don’t know why so it’s not much help to anyone.
Mine went from 104,000 to 154,831. I had been averaging 45,000 for the previous couple of weeks so I was expecting to drop below the 100,000 mark so it is a considerable difference, but not nearly as bad as some peoples change.
I wish I had more insight into why I wasn’t affected quite as bad so it would be of help to people.
I have a feeling all Entrecard blogs probably felt a drop, as this is probably the sort of traffic they are trying to account for.
It’s gonna be a while before anyone can figure out how this new system works; well, that’s to say, as well as we knew last time, which was unclear to say the least.
We thought we did something wrong; but I must say our drop wasn’t as substantial compared to other sites.
I still don’t fully understand Alexa’s vague explanation that lots of their user’s wanted their algorithm changed. From what I can see, a lot of users are not very happy at all!
I think it’s just the growing number of sites that say “Alexa isn’t reliable”. They perked up.
Their credibility definitely comes into question even more so now. They blew their old ranking system out of the water, proving that even in their own eyes, it was flawed.
Hi Tim,
I was unable to click on your Alexa link from your main page. Any issue for the link “Alexa Announcement Page” ?
I can click it fine. Contact me if the problem still persists, with more info if possible (your browser, etc.) Thanks.
Hi Tim,
I think is my browser issue. I am using Firefox. Previously, I was unable to click on the link in the main page. Now, I have clear my cache and try again. It work well…Sorry for disturbing you…
I’m actually fired up about this update, I saw my blog’s rank go from about 500,000 to 350,000 overnight. Another friend of mine in the same niche (dating/seduction) saw his go from 450,000 to 250,000 overnight.
This rank update is a good thing. Everyone knows that the old ranks based on the Alexa toolbar were biased towards “make money” and “marketing” type blogs. And blogs in other niches were unfairly ranked.
This is a great move by Alexa as it increases the credibility of their ranking system and makes it much more reflective of true traffic patters. Sure there are going to be a lot of angry “make money” bloggers but who cares about them anyways:)
Glad to hear you’ve experienced a boost! I definitely agree the system was biased towards certain sites, but I’m pretty sure those sites were by the people who cared more about Alexa in general
It’s probably a good move overall I agree, but I don’t think it necessarily helps their credibility from the start. If the last system was faulty, what says this one is any better? It’ll take time to see.
And yeah, there will be a lot of pissed off people who take Alexa way to seriously, when in all reality, it’s just a number. Real visitors are what counts right
One of my sites saw its Alexa halved overnight which is good for it as I think the new number is a clearer representation on how it should rank. I’m still waiting on the next Google PageRank update to see how that plays out too.
i was goin down with alexa ranking frequently till i got weekly avg of 250,000 but now am back to 900,000!!! that was a big shock for me!!! how could alexa know and rank through those people who dosnt use alexa bar!! and if so.. then why is that big change in rankings?!!!!! aren’t alexa bar users are a fixed percentage of those who dont!!!??!!
It gave me a reality check a while. It stopped the ego trip over numbers. What am I trying to do by blogging any way, make numbers bigger? Not. At least not these type of numbers.