This is a guest post from Rebecca Atkinson, the Web Marketing and Analytics Consultant we had on the last episode of Profitable Mommy Blogging.
During our recent chat, April and I talked a lot about web analytics, dissecting many important things to help you better understand what is happening on your blog and what those statistics mean.
One thing we didn’t get to was discussing ranking. I know many (mom) bloggers focus on their PageRank and Alexa Rankings, and in my opinion, neither of those rankings are worth a second thought.
Here’s why:
PageRank is Google’s way of determining how “important” they think pages on your site are using a scoring system of 0-10. It relies heavily on how many other “quality” sites link to your site. Things like the age of your site and the types of sites that link to you are what count. But, PageRank is only updated every few months by Google, so it’s not as relevant as focusing on something like being found in search engines. I won’t discount that this used to be very important, but if you take a look at Facebook’s log in page, Google only gives that a PageRank of 8. Makes me wonder what it takes to get a 10 and puts into perspective how unrealistic the rating system really is.
Alexa has been providing data and ranking sites since 1996, and in many cases, some useful statistics and information on user behaviour and habits, including visits to your site. It’s not a bad tracking system or tool, but it has certain disadvantages. Alexa requires that people have their toolbar installed on their computers. And while they boast over 10 million users of their toolbar, we know there are more than 10 million internet users out there. As a Canadian, I also have a problem with the fact that Alexa ranks Canada as an “other country” and doesn’t display for me how many Canadian visitors come to my blog <Link: http://thedirectapproach.blogspot.com>.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use either of these tools, I’m just saying that the information they provide should be taken with a grain of salt and used as an indicator of how your blog may be performing, but not as an absolute. In other words, don’t obsess over them.
It goes back to what April and I discussed throughout the show; it’s more about relevant, quality content, an engaged audience, subscribers and commenters. The more people interact with your blog, the greater a selling point you have to advertisers. Things like PageRank and Alexa don’t tell advertisers whether people really like your site and whether they’d be willing to potentially click on an ad, or read a product promo you endorse.
8 Responses to “PageRank and Alexa: How Important Are They?”
Felicia - I Complete Me
1 year ago
You know I recently tooted my horn over at moms mastermind because my website had a Google page rank of 3. I didn’t know what that meant and since I’m a new blogger all you see and hear is what is your page rank. I now know not to obsess over it and to worry about my content and active commenter. I have been told over and over I have great articles, but I have very little comments. I need to figure out a way to get more comments.
Felicia – I Complete Me´s last blog post..Do We not Give Men Enough Credit
Rebecca Atkinson
1 year ago
Hi Felicia,
Getting people to speak up can be difficult – many people wait for someont else to start the conversations first. Here’s a few thoughts..
1. Start the conversations on social media networks and then carry over to your blog where you post some of the conversation.
2. Spend time commenting on others blogs to get your blog noticed, the more value you provide to others, the more likely they are going to be to start giving you the value you are looking for.
Somone once told me if you sy everything in your post, then there’s not much reason for comments now…
Rebecca Atkinson´s last blog post..What an Ultrasound Can Teach You About Your Data
rjleaman
1 year ago
Good points. When you think about it, ranking tools only tell you how one particular system or another rates your blog in relation to other sites. More significant success metrics would be those that reflect how readers react to and interact with your blog – time on site, page views per user, and bounce rate, of course, but also the quality and vigour of the conversation that happens in the comments. There’s something appealing to human nature about a number value laid on by an outside “authority” like Google or Alexa, however: perhaps that’s why it is so hard not to give those numbers more thought than they might actually warrant at the end of the day!
Boss
1 year ago
Great article. I always thought it was weird how Alexa could have accurate measurements when you had to have the toolbar installed. The best they could do was give an estimate. There are more than likely double the users who don’t use the toolbar in the united states alone.
“Somone once told me if you sy everything in your post, then there’s not much reason for comments now…”
I’ve heard that too Rebecca. So Felicia, another thing that I have heard is basically to ask questions in your posts. Don’t give everything out in what you write as people will eventually start to comment. Then you can add even more insight into the comments.
I have read some articles where the comments actually give more information than the original article.
Boss´s last blog post..HOW TO: Measure Social Media Marketing Success
Squawkfox
1 year ago
I don’t usually think about my site’s PR or Alexa rankings – but some advertisers may ask. If you’re looking to monetize your blog it may be worthwhile to consider these numbers.
Squawkfox´s last blog post..6 Words That Make Your Resume Suck
Sharninder
1 year ago
I don’t really think that the google pagerank has any relevance anymore. Sure, its a great statistic to tout but practically has little value since google anyway doesn’t show the users the *real* pagerank – the one based upon which pages are displayed in search.
As for alexa, I’ve never really believed in it because to have a high alexa ranking the visitors have to be using the alexa toolbar which is not in the blogger’s hands. It depends on the niche a blogger is in if his visitors are savvy enough to have the toolbar installed.
I think the technorati ranking is more relevant than any of these matrics.
Sharninder´s last blog post..View PDF and HTML files on your Kindle
At Home with Kim Vallee
1 year ago
I do not put my page rank or Alexa rankings on my media kit (it is easy for the advertisers to get the numbers if it is important to them) because they do not measure real value. I provide my average monthly visits and page views amongst other things.
I think it is to the blogger community to educate advertisers about other metrics. We must find a way to show what is our real influence and which added value our brand delivers. I will go further by saying that with people commenting on your posts on social networks, you cannot simply measure your influence by what is happening on our blog.
At PodCamp Toronto 2009, Jeremy Wright of b5media raised that question. There is a need to capture more relevant statistics than the ones we got today. As a community, it is important that we participate and have a say instead of being imposed metrics by the advertising industry. I am glad that you raise that question.
At Home with Kim Vallee´s last blog post..Pom-poms and Balloons for a Boy First Birthday’s Party
Rebecca Atkinson
1 year ago
@Kim, I couldn’t agree with you more. This really is the bigger question. How do you measure (and quantify) value. Because value can be something different to you vs. me, it really is important that we look at this issue in more detail and try to create more relevant statistics and benchmarks. There’s been many a post written lately on how to measure and quantify the value of social media and conversation (even I’ve written a series sharing my thoughts), but at the end of the day – there’s still no concensus is there?
@Sharinder, it’s interesting that you mention Technorati rankings, as again I don’t personally find that ranking system very useful either. They have had a lot of criticism for not tracking all the blogs in the blogosphere and/or how they create their ranking systems as well.I know many people who have watched their rankings go up and down by large scales magically overnight for no apparent
reason (myself included).
As rjleaman said above, these tools really only tell you how *they* rank your blog and there seems to be no two tools that think alike.