Om Malik takes a jab at Alexa this morning. Hear hear! I long ago gave up Alexa results. This blog ranks in the top 5000 on Technorati, but is usually around number 110,000 on Alexa. It makes no sense.Â
Om says, “…if you are a startup that brings up your Alexa ranking in a meeting with us and tout that as your shining achievement, it would be time for my smoke break!” I’ll join you Om. Alexa’s numbers are meaningless.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I guess that's where old adage, you can make statistics tell whatever story you want. Few people realize Alexa is only as good as its sample (like all polls and ratings). We've seen some wild swings in numbers that are frankly not explainable. The Alexa fails because of the small sample and because there seems to be a lag in their numbers (is it really real-time??)
{ 1 trackback }