@howwhowhen It’s definitely a sign that you are going in the right direction!  I use Alexa to compare sites (like Site A has a better rank than Site B) but I don’t get any more specific than that.  

@howwhowhen

Does your new Alexa rating correspond with an increase in traffic (per Google Analytics or other stats)?

@howwhowhen  I can shed a little light on Alexa. I’m actually friends with an original Alexa team member

Back in the 90′s Alexa offered a free browser plugin (a toolbar). That plug-in also collected browsing data which was sent back to Alexa to create its rankings. At the time it was commonly believed that Alexa had enough people using the toolbar as to be a statistically accurate sample for its rankings. It still offers the toolbar today.

Then, Alexa was purchased by Amazon, quite a few years ago. According to the Alexa website, the toolbar is still how it collects data. With millions of installs, it probably is a pretty good gauge of your overall ranking compared to other websites. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Alexa has leveraged the unbelievable reach of Amazon to gather even more data via cookies set by Amazon. But that’s just wild speculation on my part

So, that’s why they don’t need you to participate in any way by installing code or tags. I think the correlation between your increase in traffic and your improvement in Alexa ranking is kind of a nice little validation that Alexa rankings are fairly accurate.

@mspseudolus Thanks for that background info, very useful. I was actually unaware of the Amazon tie-in. I would agree with your hunch they now have other sources of data besides the toolbar. 

Speaking just the toolbar — I would urge people not to put too much emphasis on what Alexa is telling you. It can be a decent gauge for where a site stands in general, but it is so often gamed by the black hat folks that the data is tough to trust.  

@robpeck  @richardmclaughlin   I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there was a direct relationship between installing the Alexa toolbar and your Alexa rank improving. How many people do we all know who saw an improvement in their Google rankings after placing Google Ads on their site?

You’re right, Rob. It’s pretty common knowledge that Alexa can be gamed.

In the 12 years I’ve been operating websites, I’ve never seen much use for the Alexa rating.

@moinshaikh there is a browser bit, which helps Alexa figure out which sites you hit and then there is another piece that you can include on your site. The bit on your site let’s Alexa know how many people land on your site.