The things that interest me…why not share it to the world???

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

My Alexa Rank: From Something to Nothing

This day turned out to be my saddest day as the author of VJ Czar World. The reason? My blog's Alexa rank dropped from something to nothing.

To let your works be read and seen by many people and to make your blog popular are I think, the main objectives of every blogger. To let your works be read and seen by many people is to increase your blog’s traffic. On the other hand, to make your blog popular is to achieve a high position in various blog/site ranking systems such as the Google PageRank and Alexa.

The loss of my Alexa rank has been both a disappointment and bewilderment. Disappointment because my efforts to make my blog visible in the blogosphere seem to have no effect at all; and bewilderment, in the sense that I just don’t understand why it happened when my blog’s traffic are considerably high.

Shortly after I knew this tragic event happened, I asked myself what were the things I recently did. I was thinking if there’s something that might be behind this, something that violated Alexa’s TOS, or something that triggered the Alexa bots to plunge my blog out of the chart.

Right now, I am suspecting two recent activities. First is the dealing with traffic exchange websites; and second, the pasting of RealRank codes on my blog.

Lately, I have been fairly hooked up with traffic exchanges. I’m doing it through websites such as TrafficEra.com and StartXchange.com. Their services have really boosted my blog’s traffic in just a very short span time. As effective as they are, I never think of them as clear agents of cheating my traffic. Instead, I look at them as something that gives me an opportunity to expose my blog to more internet users.

The last time I saw these websites, they were still bearing high Alexa ranks. But now, I was surprised when all their ranks got replaced with the statement “No rank data available”. I also looked at some of their competitor sites and found out that they're facing the same misfortune. I think Alexa bots were just reprogrammed to follow a new algorithm.

Meanwhile, for not so a long time, I’ve known that RealRank was made by IZEA, formerly known as PayPerPost (PPP). PayPerPost is a renowned paid-to-blog website which eventually became Google’s rival in terms of advertising strategies. Last year, Google slammed PayPerPost through lowering the PageRanks of its member bloggers. This had been a very drastic move because having a PageRank is a criterion in order to make money through PPP. Because of this blackmailing act, PPP created a new ranking system that would be replacing Google's PageRank. This system is the so-called RealRank. However, I got shocked when I found out the real score about it. RealRank was actually made to replace not only the Google PageRank but also the Alexa and ComScore ranks. Knowing these facts made me assume that Alexa has just done something to counter PPP. That counterattack may be the lowering the Alexa ranks of blogs/sites with RealRank scripts attached on them.

To test whether my suspicions are true or not, I opted to for a while stay away from one of these two activities. The engaging on traffic exchange sites was the one that I chose to avoid. Why just one? Well, let’s just say I am living with the principle “Take things one at a time”. Let’s see if I’ll retain my Alexa rank the moment I refrain from doing it.

p.s.

I’m not sad now.

Got relieved.

Make sure to leave a comment, ok?

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30 comments:

Dave Bradley said...

You're not alone, I'm showing n/a for traffic on several of my sites, but not all. Hopefully it's a glitch...

Anonymous said...

Several other high-profile sites are also showing n/a. Apparently, Alexa mentioned they would be fixing and adding historical data this month, so maybe we're all simply in the middle of that. I certainly don't think it's anything any of us has done to annoy Alexa.

db

Czar said...

Yeah...I guess you're right. I've also seen popular websites which don't currently have Alexa ranks. I guess I have to wait a little more.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

PageRank and Alexa rankings are very overrated in my honest opinion. But it gives marketers a selling point and basically eye candy for the webmasters who are not in the "know"

In my opinion if I was rankeed in the 3Millions and a PR0 yet my sales conversion ratio was 1 out every 5 visitors I would really not care. Would you?

Its quality over quantity and people cannot get this out of their heads that the "hits" the "unique's" and overall traffic must be high to be successful. While this is somewhat true the fact remains is if your brought a quater of that but the quality was higher you would see better results.

One can also make the arguement of sheer volume and masses which is valid. But I would much rather not sift through millions of garbage visitors if I did not have too.

Anonymous said...

I think that alexa ranking is NOT a real traffic indicator as it is based on the information gathered from alexa Toolbar users.

Needless to say, you will rarely find any normal internet user having alexa toolbar installed....so relax and try improving your real traffic and NOT alexa traffic rank

Anonymous said...

There are various reasons for the ranking to be declining. I would only be interested if the decline were unexpected, if it were the long-term (three-month moving average) values that were declining, and if those values were declining in comparison to my competitors.

The alexa numbers are dubious, and there are many causes for skepticism, some of which have already been outlined. In addition, your short-term (daily and weekly) numbers could be affected by your site having been down the day they measured ("Yesterday" is whatever date is indicated in the lower right-hand corner of the graph) or if the alexa bot happens to visit during your "slow" time.

For example, my site provides educational materials for high-school and college students. Their end-of-week homework isn't due until Monday, so my traffic heads to the basement on Friday, and doesn't rise again until Sunday evening. If the alexa bot comes by on, say, a Saturday afternoon, my "rank" for "Yesterday" might be "N/A", even though my "rank" for "1 wk. Ave." might be around 50K.

Web Hosting FAQ said...

Content is the key. What people fail to realize, sure, they may be receiving traffic, but in the long run, are the visitors to the site reading the content?. When it comes to paid posts, this is the point I have been trying to get across. Advertisers do not necessarily understand Alexa and the ways people "game" the system.A blog can have an Alexa rank of 50,0000 but how many unique readers are viewing an advertisers post or clicking on a link ? If I had something to advertise I would rather a blog have written content, a steady flow of regular readers as well as a high PR. Technorati rankings are important as well. I use the redirect and that's it. With the sudden surge in bloggers wanting to lower their ranks, went from 75,000 something to 244000 something, yet my traffic flow has remained the same. Just my 2 cent worth.

kreuzfahrten said...

Hey, man!
Don't worry about that thing - that Alexa rank is totally wrong while counting of the index of pages in fact - I'm sure.Pr is much more important!

pietra ligure said...

Thanks for the post so much!
Like it a lot!
You seem to be a real talent in blogging.

Dissertation help said...

Extremely useful and informative article. I wish i can do all of that in a short period of time. But for sure doing those will produce results. I will try to spread your words through my blog and link it back to you. Thanks a lot for those tips.

Mr. Parts said...

Thanks for the post. Very informative!

Error_Reader said...

I think that alexa ranking is NOT a real traffic indicator as it is based on the information gathered from alexa Toolbar users.

Needless to say, you will rarely find any normal internet user having alexa toolbar installed....so relax and try improving your real traffic and NOT alexa traffic rank

Fuel_Saver said...

Hey, man!
Don't worry about that thing - that Alexa rank is totally wrong while counting of the index of pages in fact - I'm sure.Pr is much more important!

Islandvacations said...

I too am experiencing a rapid decline of Alexa Ranking. My peak then was at 500,000, now I played at 1,000,000 to 999,000. I was also worried at the start but nowadays, I would rather say: "So what if I have this and that ranking, so long as my fans keep on following with my blogs."

LED_Lights_Man said...

Yeah...I guess you're right. I've also seen popular websites which don't currently have Alexa ranks. I guess I have to wait a little more.

OBD_Scanner said...

You're not alone, I'm showing n/a for traffic on several of my sites, but not all. Hopefully it's a glitch...

Car_Parts_Man said...

Several other high-profile sites are also showing n/a. Apparently, Alexa mentioned they would be fixing and adding historical data this month, so maybe we're all simply in the middle of that. I certainly don't think it's anything any of us has done to annoy Alexa.

Super_Flux_LEDs said...

Thanks for the great information.

Mr LED Strobe Lights said...

Yeah...I guess you're right. I've also seen popular websites which don't currently have Alexa ranks. I guess I have to wait a little more.

Thanks!

LED Lights for Homes said...

Hey, man!
Don't worry about that thing - that Alexa rank is totally wrong while counting of the index of pages in fact - I'm sure.Pr is much more important!

Dodge_Ram_Parts said...

Yeah...I guess you're right. I've also seen popular websites which don't currently have Alexa ranks. I guess I have to wait a little more.

Thanks!

Philips _Xenon_HID said...

Extremely useful and informative article. I wish i can do all of that in a short period of time. But for sure doing those will produce results. I will try to spread your words through my blog and link it back to you. Thanks a lot for those tips.

eShanne Online Money | Create Money Online said...

although this topic is too old already but i had the same experience like you here.. damn it! my alexa dropped from below 650k to 2million, i just dont know why.. just like you've said maybe it was the crucial advertising IZEA - heck hell yeah i've delete it from my blog - hope my blog ranking will be ok soon! argghh.., it says no PPC! ahaha. what a heck!

HID_Lights_Bulbs said...

Yeah...I guess you're right. I've also seen popular websites which don't currently have Alexa ranks. I guess I have to wait a little more.

Electric_Supercharger said...

I think that alexa ranking is NOT a real traffic indicator as it is based on the information gathered from alexa Toolbar users.

Needless to say, you will rarely find any normal internet user having alexa toolbar installed....so relax and try improving your real traffic and NOT alexa traffic rank

Hidlight_Accessories_HID said...

You're not alone, I'm showing n/a for traffic on several of my sites, but not all. Hopefully it's a glitch...

Complete_HID_Kits said...

That was very interesting, but as others have mentioned. You are not alone

BMW_Accessories said...

You're not alone, I'm showing n/a for traffic on several of my sites, but not all. Hopefully it's a glitch...

http://www.ledcarkit.com/ said...

Hey, man!
Don't worry about that thing - that Alexa rank is totally wrong while counting of the index of pages in fact - I'm sure.Pr is much more important!

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