SEO Tips for WordPress

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s unpaid results—often referred to as “natural,” “organic,” or “earned” results.

What is Alexa Ranking?

This is a ranking system set by alexa.com (a subsidiary of amazon.com) that basically audits and makes public the frequency of visits on various Web sites. The algorithm according to which Alexa traffic ranking is calculated, is simple. It is based on the amount of traffic recorded from users that have the Alexa toolbar installed over a period of three months.

This traffic is based on such parameters as reach and page views. The reach refers to the number of Alexa users who visit a particular site in one day. Page view, as its name shows, is the number of times a particular page (URL) is viewed by Alexa users. Alexa.com makes it clear though that, if a particular user visits the same URL multiple times on the same day, all those visits will be counted as one.

The first step of the ranking process is calculating the reach and number of page views for all the sites on the Web on a daily basis. The Alexa ranking is obtained by performing the geometric mean of reach and page views, averaged over a predefined period of time (three months).

How Alexa Ranking Works?

It’s quite easy to get started. All you have to do is visit the alexa.com site and download (and install) the Alexa toolbar. This toolbar offers a search function but it mainly displays the rank (at a global level) of the visited site, as well as the sites that have been visited by Web surfers that are linked in some way to the site being visited.

The Alexa toolbar not only displays information, but it also sends data to the central server. Thus, each time you visit a Web page via a Web browser (be it Internet Explorer or Firefox) that has the toolbar installed, information is sent to the server indicating your IP and the page you are visiting. Such data is gathered from all the Web users who have the Alexa toolbar.

With Alexa, the smaller the numerical ranking, the better. Most people say that if you manage to make it in the top 100,000, it is a sign that your site enjoys quite heavy traffic.

How to Increase Alexa Ranking for Your Blog?

How can you increase the Alexa ranking of your blog? There are many ways to do this. In this article, we’ll be looking at what Alexa ranking means and some simple tips you can apply to get a higher Alexa rank.

A quick note about Alexa ranking numbers: people usually speak of a “higher” Alexa ranking as better, but in reality the lower the number, the better. So keep in mind that for this system, higher really means a lower number!

What do the numbers mean?

Alexa ranking is not an exact or infallible number. It does not necessarily have anything to do with a site’s profitability, for example. Some sites are very popular but not well monetized.

Nor does it equate with other popular rating systems such as Google PageRank (PR). Sites with high PR will have higher Alexa rankings but this isn’t always the case. Google will often place a high value on websites, such as educational sites, that don’t always get that much traffic.

For these reasons, some people say that Alexa Ranking isn’t important and you shouldn’t be concerned with it. I don’t agree with this, though. While Alex ranking is certainly not the only metric you should be looking at, it does say a lot about how much traffic your site gets. And without traffic, you don’t have any chance of reaching your goals!

Advantages of a High Alexa Rank

Aside from being a good general measurement of your traffic flow, there are other benefits to having a good Alexa rank. If you want to sell advertising space on your blog, this is a number that potential advertisers will probably want to see.

If you ever want to sell your website, Alexa rank can be very important. This is one of the first things that website buyers and flippers will look at. So having a higher ranking will mean you will get more for your site.

So let’s look at some of the best ways to increase your Alexa Ranking.

Tips to Increase Alexa Rank

Use Alexa’s Services

Go to Alexa.com and claim your website. Also, download their toolbar on your browser if you haven’t already done so. You can also place an Alexa widget on your site to keep track of your progress.

These actions won’t automatically give you a high ranking, but they will ensure that Alexa knows you exist. It’s also good to be able to instantly see the ranking of your site so you know when it’s improving (or getting worse).

Stay Active

One of the most important things you can do to improve your Alexa ranking is to update your blog or website regularly. This will help you get more traffic and help keep your site in people’s minds.

The quality of what you post also matters, of course. While it’s okay to post some content from other sites, as long as it’s relevant and high quality, you should also have plenty of original content as well. Even sites that use the “curator” model – taking content from other sites – always add lots of their own commentary to make their content unique.

Share and Bookmark

Use social sharing and bookmarking to get more traffic to your site. After making a post, you should share it on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Depending on your niche, you may also want to use Pinterest, LinkedIn and others.

Social bookmarking and Web 2.0 sites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and others also help get wider readership for your posts.

Submit Your Site to Search Engines

When you start a new blog or website, submit it to all of the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing. This will help your site get indexed sooner, which will lead to more traffic and a better Alexa ranking.

Get Quality Backlinks

Even with Google’s new algorithms, backlinks are still important for getting ranked higher in the search engines. This, in turn, leads to more traffic and a higher Alexa ranking. Yet today you have to be careful to only focus on legitimate links from high quality sites. Never purchase cheap links, as these will harm your site rather than help it.

You can get quality backlinks in a number of ways, such as:

• Participate in discussions and make comments on popular blogs in your niche
• Guest blog on popular blogs, especially those in your niche
• Submitting articles and videos to popular sites such as YouTube
• Being active in popular forums (link to your site with your signature)
• Participate in many social networks; be sure to fill out your profile and include a link to your site

Many Ways to Improve Your Alexa Ranking

There is no one magical formula to increasing your Alexa ranking. As you are ranked higher by the search engines and get more traffic, you will naturally get a better Alexa ranking as well.

That’s why your best policy should be to improve the quality of your site in as many ways as you can. Be as active as possible with your blogging efforts, and publish content that is valuable to your readers. If you do this consistently, you’ll find that your Alexa ranking gets better and better!