Because Google is not the only search engine...

[minstrel]

... and may not even be #1 forever, it is worth putting some effort into how you rank on the others.

Here, from a recent newsletter, is some information on optimizing for ExactSeek, using Alexa:

How ExactSeek's New Ranking Algorithm Works

The main factors used to determine website ranking are page content relevancy and site traffic data provided by Alexa Internet, with the emphasis being on content relevancy.

Title, Meta Description and Meta Keywords tags will continue to play a role in site ranking, but not in the way they they did previously. The information from the Title and Meta Description tags (if found by the ExactSeek crawler) will be shown in the search result listings, and the content of all 3 tags (if found) will be compared to page content as a check of overall relevancy. In cases where sites have more or less equal content relevancy for specific keyword searches, Alexa popularity data will determine which sites receive higher ranking in ExactSeek's search results.

How You Can Improve Your Site Ranking

The good news is that almost any traffic building strategy will work to improve your site's ExactSeek ranking, including:

-Link exchanges
-Any type of advertising
-PPC campaigns, and
-Search engine optimization techniques.

Why is the above true? Because an increase in people traffic to your website will result in a corresponding jump in your site's Alexa ranking which in turn will be factored into your ExactSeek site ranking.

[Steven Glover]

I am a tad concerned about any SE that basis it's result in whole or in part upon a sites alexa ranking. I have taken the following information directly from Alexa in regards to the way it measures traffic.

Some Important Disclaimers
The traffic data are based on the set of Alexa users, which may not be a representative sample of the global Internet population. Known biases include (but are likely not limited to) the following:

Our users are disproportionately likely to visit alexa.com, amazon.com and archive.org, and traffic to these sites may be substantially overcounted.

The Alexa Toolbar works only with the Internet Explorer browser. Sites frequented mainly by users of other browsers will be undercounted. For example, the AOL/Netscape browser is not supported, which means that Alexa collects little data from AOL users, and our traffic to aol.com is likely lower than it would be for a more representative sample.

The Alexa Toolbar works only on Windows operating systems. Although a large majority of the Internet population currently use Windows, traffic to any sites which are disproportionately visited by users of other operating systems will be undercounted.

The rate of adoption of Alexa software in different parts of the world may vary widely due to advertising locality, language, and other geographic and cultural factors. For example, to some extent the prominence of Korean sites among our top-ranked sites reflects known high rates of general Internet usage in South Korea, but there may also be a dispropotionate number of Korean Alexa users.

In some cases traffic data may also be adversely affected by our "site" definitions. With tens of millions of hosts on the Internet, our automated procedures for determining which hosts are serving the "same" content may be incorrect and/or out-of-date. Similarly, the determinations of domains and home pages may not always be accurate. When these determinations change (as they do periodically), there may be sudden artificial changes in the Alexa traffic rankings for some sites as a consequence.

The Alexa Toolbar turns itself off on secure pages (https:). Sites with more secure page views will be under-represented in the Alexa traffic data.

[rlrouse]

While it's true that Alexa rankings aren't "accurate" (and they never will be given the way the data are collected), they are a pretty reliable indicator of a site's traffic level relative to other sites in the same category or those that target the same search terms.

Google PageRank is far from perfect, but it's used every day by droves of webmasters to help them decide which sites to link to and which to avoid.

The Google SERPS for any given keyword aren't perfect either. Just look at the number of SPAMed sites and non-relevant sites that keep cropping up. But we still use them all the while we're complaining because we're happy with the quality of the SERPS overall.

My point is that it's virtually impossible to have perfect search results based on any ranking criteria.

IMO, search engine rankings based on Alexa data are probably just as "accurate" and "relevant" as any other. At least you're comparing apples to apples because you're comparing sites against other sites in the same "market".

Any site can SPAM it's way to the top of the SERPS for an unrelevant search term (at least for a while). But Alexa rankings reflect real visitors for the most part. The accuracy of the Alexa rankings themselves aren't really an issue.

The relative Alexa rankings of similar sites are an issue, and they can be pretty reliable when used in this context (for comparison purposes).

Of course only time will tell if my theory holds water...

[minstrel]

I'm not crazy about ranking sites based on the Alexa toolbar either - it's a good example of sampling bias (the opposite of a random or representational sampling procedure), one of the first principles you learn about in any course on statistics or research methods.

However, we have to live with what's out there and apparently Alexa-based ranking is one of the things that's out there...

[minstrel]

While it's true that Alexa rankings aren't "accurate" (and they never will be given the way the data are collected), they are a pretty reliable indicator of a site's traffic level relative to other sites in the same category or those that target the same search terms.

(snip)

IMO, search engine rankings based on Alexa data are probably just as "accurate" and "relevant" as any other. At least you're comparing apples to apples because you're comparing sites against other sites in the same "market".

But see my post above: Alexa rankings are "accurate", even within your stated limitations on defining accuracy, only for the population represented by people willing to install Alexa's toolbar on their browser, and that may be very different from anything we would be happy to describe as the "normal population" of internet users. You're right that no system is perfect but some are more imperfect than others. Would you be happy if your choice of television shows or movies was based on the viewing preferences of only those members of the population willing to install, say, a text-captioning device or some other non-standard accessory on their television receivers?

[rlrouse]

minstrel:

I see your point, and it's one that I hadn't considered.

[Steven Glover]

Consider this as well. We used to use Alexa as a measuring tool for ourselves. Ever computer here had the bar installed. Our homepage was probably loaded at least once per minute on every computer here. Our numbers kept getting better on Alexa. So one day we decided that we wanted to see what would happen if we took Alexa off all teh computers. SO I went thru unistalled Alexa and ran Ad-Aware to make sure it was gone. We left alexa off for two weeks and our Daily Page Count was nearly twice what it had been with the bar installed on our machines. We stuck the bars back on and it was an immediate reversal.

My point is it would be very easy to setup a computer or two with the task of loading the same page over and over again!

[rocky1]

Getting away from the technicalities involved in this matter momentarily, one might also want to consider this from the logical standpoint that if a site is ranked based primarly upon it's popularity, how is a new site supposed to attain ranking on that Search Engine? Theoretically if it's new it's not popular; if it's not popular it's buried at the bottom of the list; if it's buried at the bottom of the list it isn't going to get much traffic, and thus it isn't going to get any more popular!

Unless you're on the top of the pile when they implement, you probably aren't going to get there without targeting the other engines, and doing some heavy marketing on your own.

In reality, if we all treat ExactSeek with the same respect they're showing us, they aren't going to be a contender for the #1 spot, and thus we don't have to worry about them, Alexa, or their algorithm!

Rocky

[Steven Glover]

I hadnt thought of that point Rocky. You are correct!

[computers]

A couple of weeks ago my site was #37 on Google, now it is at 107 and not moving up, very frustrating. I know that Alexa and ExactSeek are 'different', but I'm not listed on Alexa at all, but am in #6 on ExactSeek. Now my average monthly count is averaging about 2500/mth. Not too good, unfortunately ExactSeek is the best hope I have right now, I get most of my hits through them. Without the funds to do marketing, how is one supposed to get up there? I've checked and rechecked, even had my site checked, and it always comes out great, but I'm just not getting the high listing like I do with ExactSeek.