The Alexa free traffic ranking service is part of the Alexa Web Information Service. Part of the family of companies, the data found on Alexa is available to website developers and researchers all over the world. URL information, web search, category browsing and crawl Meta data are all part of the services Alexa offers. The ranking package included in the services is determined based on the usage of the toolbar users can download.



Traffic rankings are based on the usage of the toolbar over a three month time frame. A website is ranked based on the ease of reach of the website and how many page views are receives. Because this service is fee based package, the individual website reach is determined by how many Alexa members visit it. Page views are determined by how many times it is viewed in a day. Multiple views by the same user are counted as one. The site with the highest numbers is ranked at number one.

The traffic ranking service is for domains at the top level only. Subpages within a domain are not tracked or counted, and neither are subdomains unless they are personal home pages or blogs. These pages will be identified with an asterisk next to the rank number. These pages are also ranked the same way other websites are, so whatever ranking number a site gets is the rank overall among the service’s members.

Web developers who use this service will pay a small fee for what they use and nothing more. There is no start-up fee to get their site registered and for every 1,000 hits, users are only charged fifteen cents. Once the site is live through Alexa, members can find it by using the downloadable tool bar.

This causes a hit to be logged and adds to the ranking numbers. After three-months of information collecting, the numbers are then reviewed with the previous ranking and a visual graph is constructed so that the website developer and owner can see how they are doing. Graphs are also constructed for daily rankings as well.

Top ranked websites are determined based on the changes in the sites average number of users. The current week’s numbers are compared to the previous weeks. The bigger the change, the higher – or lower – the website moves in the rankings.

Users of this search engine site need to remember that the rankings of the various websites available to them are not an accurate picture of how the site is doing internationally. It is a picture of how it is doing in Alexa only. This service also only works with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Mozilla.

If the website is operated AOL or Opera, they may not have a traffic count at all because they are not supported. Usage of the software is another factor that must be taken in consideration when a site owner reviews their ranking numbers. This software may be used more in some areas than others. Also, sites with secure pages are not counted by the software.