This experiment started due to my post on how inaccurate Alexa Ranking is, I wanted to see how easy it is to change ones Alexa Ranking within their guidelines.
It’s one thing to change ones ranking with small tips, but to see a really big increase in ranking I also toke one small step in order to get more traffic.
So what did I do to change my Alexa Ranking with over 100,000 places in 14 days…..
Letting Alexa know how many visitors my blog has.
In order to do this, I installed their script on the blog thereby giving them the 411 on my hits, viewed pages, time on the blog and so on.
Then I installed their plugin on my Firefox, Internet Explore and Chrome, thus making sure that my on hits on the page also recorded in the stats. 
And that was all I did the first week, just to see of that was enough to change my ranking and it was. It didn’t change a hole lot but still, it showed that just by adding their script you could change the ranking. Thus backing up the idea of Alexa not being accurate at all.
More traffic
because this blog is also about my themes, I have had spikes in hits in the past due to publishing new themes at WordPress. But earlier it didn’t have any influence on my ranking, so in order to see the result in a bigger scale I went on a hunt for blog lists.
You all know them, lists with blogs that are high pagerank and of course gives “DoFollow” links to commentators. I love these lists not because they give backlinks, but because they are a source for good debates, posts and the best part is that the show the way to blog owners that also gives and not only takes.
Meaning these blog owners are the ideal ones, for you to create relations with. Like Ana Hoffmans blog called “Traffic Generation Cafe”
I added this blog to 10 of these lists, not knowing what that might do to my blog….. Because I had never before done that, so something new for me also.
And then is was just a waiting game to see the result, and it came and I mean really it came.!!!
From the 12 October to the 30 October my traffic increased with 176.66%, this increase it of course not only due to my adding the blog to these lists but also my two other posts on Alexa.
In other words I went from about 50 hits a day to 167 as a month record for one day, and I’m petty pleased with that.!
The outcome
My starting Alexa Ranking was 409,935 and now a couple of weeks later it’s 315,732 that means my ranking has changes almost a 100,000 places in only a couple of weeks.
This profs without any doubt that it’s way to easy to manipulate with the rankings on Alexa, and bare in mind that my currency rates site still has more than 2000 hits a day and it has a ranking of 726,099.
So should you care about your ranking on Alexa.??
I you ask me, then the answer is still no unless you want you sell the domain and ad spaces to advertisers that doesn’t know how inaccurate it is.
What do you think about this little experiment, does it prof anything and what do you thing about Alexa Rankings.?
About Jimmy Sigenstrøm
Hi Jimmy,
Interesting experiment. I wish that Google was so easy to influence! Alexa is a bit of a dead fish here in the UK, Google has 90+ % of the search share so really not worth chasing Alexa, but all the same interesting to see how you have approached this research.
Regards
David
Twitter: ForteProperties
says:
How important is a good ranking with Alexa? I know some friends who manage to get amazing rankings in Alexa very quickly, but in Google and other search engines they don’t perform very well at all.
Owner Financed Homes Austin recently posted..Austin Real Estate: Finding a Place to Call Home
Twitter: syelus
says:
Hello. I have never tried to rank with alexa, but I did notice it has no data at all for some high ranking websites. I guess you have to enter their script in your website like you did. Good experiment anyway. I wonder if it has brought you more income?
I also like Ana Hoffman. Learned a lot from her recently. Thanks for sharing,
Sye
syerodriguez recently posted..Yoga Swing Exercise
Twitter: w3blogdk
says:
I’m sorry to say it hasn’t had any effect on my earnings, but in time it might come.
But as long as it pays the domain and host.!
Twitter: AlbanyInsurance
says:
From everything I have read on Alexa rank it does not seem to be a legitimate gauge of your blog’s traffic rank. What other services are available to get an indication of traffic rank?
Thanks!
Ryan Hanley recently posted..11 Blog Feeds That Will Change the Way You Market Your Business Online
Twitter: w3blogdk
says:
The best one is by far the Google Analytics, but other than that is use AWstats and Webalizer. The last two you can link to, so your advertisers can see your traffic stats.
I would never use my Alexa ranking to set the price on any given ad, but many will….
I know some friends who manage to get amazing rankings in Alexa very quickly, but in Google and other search engines. |
malunggay56 recently posted..How To Get a Boyfriend
Alexa ranking is nonsense! A blogger friend told me the steps exactly like what you’ve done. I installed the toolbar and widget. After about a week, my Alexa ranking improved tremendously. Naahhh…, do not trust Alexa rankings a bit!!
Peter Lee recently posted..Can Kindle Fire Take on the iPad?
Twitter: naturallaw1
says:
I have seen Alexa rankings for eons, and I often wondered how valuable and how accurate it is. Granted you probably haven’t closed the debate, but you did shed some good light on the subject for now. I was thinking of doing something specifically to improve it, but for now I will just stick to the natural tried and true methods of increasing traffic.
Steve recently posted..Definitions, Natural Law part 1
Twitter: w3blogdk
says:
No I probably haven’t closed the debate, there are those how think that Alexa ranking are all that and they will always say that Alexa is accurate and I’m wrong. But I still hope that I gave some webmasters an idea on what it is and what it’s good for.
Twitter: w3blogdk
says:
The only cases that it might reflect the google ranking, is when the site is a webmaster blog or a seo blog otherwise it’s always wrong at least imo.
My Alexa ranking is unstable. I get hundreds of thousands for my displacement in just a month and then it rose again then goes down. I haven’t tried using their script though. If it will improve my Alexa ranking then i guess Alexa is not accurate at all.
Nick recently posted..how to get a girl to like you
Twitter: urlookinggoodLA
says:
Hi Jimmy,
My site’s alexa rank and traffic are both unstable. I get one day up to 100 visitors and on the other less than 10. Any ideas? I could really use some help…..
Larissa recently posted..3 Beauty Tips on Why to Wear MakeUp
Twitter: w3blogdk
says:
I’m sorry to say, but the first thing I would do was to change the blogging software you use.
90% of all users don’t want to have to set up a profile in order to be able to comment on a blog.
So I would change it to WordPress, then install comluv, keywordluv, and when that’s done I would go on blogs that has a list with blogs that have those two plugins and ask to be put on the list.
This will give you some traffic, but you still need to spread the word about your blog like you do now,
Then I would add my feed to Twitter by using something like twitterfeed.com, that posts every new post on the blog for you on Twitter.
And about your Alexa ranking, well don’t use time on it the higher ranking will come with more traffic, but you could claim your site that would help also.
i am still in a mess does alexa ranking still depends on traffic or google PR
because i don’t see a co relation , i have seen many websites like authorities and NGO/NPO organizations with almost nil traffic but high alexa please elaborate
Twitter: problogsuccess
says:
Interesting experiment. Seems that Alexa ranking does not reflect the real traffic. However, it might give a measure of the traffic.
Jane recently posted..List Building: Strategies To Build Email List
Twitter: trainermikem
says:
My Alexa ranking is still not that good but I now have a PR3 website so I am not worried about Alexa.
Mike recently posted..Dealing With Lumbago and Lower Back Pain
Twitter: w3blogdk
says:
The Alexa Ranking will come in time, so no you shouldn’t worry about it.
That is really interesting, I had no idea that alexa was so inaccurate. I have heard that is good to submit your site to alexa for seo purposes.
Dave recently posted..Game Review: Good Robot Bad Robot
Since Alexa statistics are dependent on people who use their toolbar, if your target audience is the community that would use the toolbar, Alexa’s ranking may be of use to you. I suspect that those who use the toolbar are (as a group) more technically-oriented than the general population.
Boyd Carter recently posted..Technorati
I have seen the blog list at Traffic Generation Cafe. That list as help me to get new backlinks as well as learn something new. With so much information on the web yuo need to learn from the best. I think the list at Traffic Generation Cafe provides the best information for knowledge on the net.
Mr. MakingUsmile
Mr. MakingUsmile recently posted..Recess Satisfies the All Work and No Play Mentality
Twitter: w3blogdk
says:
Hi
Glad you found the list and in the end my blog also
Twitter: locksmith_la
says:
I dont know much about the alexa ranking system as I have never been ranked on it before, but I recently opened a site, and I have been moving up in the rankings on google rather quick using strategic SEO tactics, and SMM, I have been seeing great results.
Yeah Alexa doesn’t seem to think much of my site at them moment, listing my at just over 6 million! I must actually find out a bit more but from what I see in the comments I’m not sure if it counts for too much here in Ireland, but might be worth looking in to!
Twitter: Geekrevealed
says:
I think alexa rank doesn’t matters much in blogging, what matters most is the traffic. and if your blog gets 2000 hits a day try to increase them to 3000 or 4000 rather than concentrating on Alexa Rank.
Ankit recently posted..How to delete your Facebook account
Twitter: amalgex
says:
Jimmy,
That’s a really interesting post indeed.
I’m not surprised about the spike in traffic from adding your blog to dofollow lists – but I am interested, did that also result in a massive spike in spammy commenting?
I tend to use alexa as something to compare one site with another so you get an idea of traffic relative to one another. No idea how accurate the statistics are – it would be interesting to get a feeling for that. It certainly seemed that it would be pretty accurate, which the massive increase in traffic that you experienced.
Also, did the traffic continue, was it a sustained flow of traffic, or did it stop after a short time?
Thanks for the interesting article,
Merry Christmas!
David.
David recently posted..How To Get A Six Pack Fast!
Thanks for your experience sharing. i think one of the most effective way for increasing your alexa rank is a link in Dmoz.com
if you want to increase your alexa rank, try to have a link for your website in Dmoz
Twitter: yeremibolton
says:
Great experiment. I have always thought Alexa Rankings to be greatly contrived. This may just have proved me right.
Yeremi Akpan recently posted..Blogging to the Bank Reviews
very impressive experiment that a good technic to fool alexa
i think i gonna try it now
thank you very much
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