What is and how to improve Alexa rank

Alexa traffic rank is a rank provided by Alexa.com to your blog or a site based on its level of traffic.

Unlike Google PageRank where it relies more on the number of (quality) backlinks to your blog, Alexa rank is based solely on the amount traffic your blog receives.

It is calculated based on the data collected from Alexa Toolbar users over a period of the past three months.

 

Getting to know Alexa

Some important information about Alexa traffic ranking:

• The rank is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data.
• The main data comes from analyzing the web usage of Alexa Toolbar users.
• The lower the number, the higher the ranking.
• Rank is updated daily.
• Is a domain level rank (with the exception of blogs in recognized blog hosts such as blogspot blogs).
• Also ranks by country.
• Rankings of 100,000 and above regarded as unreliable.

You can read more on how Alexa does the ranking on the About the Alexa Traffic Rankings page.

 

Boosting Alexa ranking

Now that you know a little bit about Alexa and how it works, it’s time to put the knowledge to work. Here’s what you can do to improve your blog’s traffic rank:

1. Be an Alexa Toolbar user
   Who is the most frequent visitor to your blog? You are.  Then doesn’t it make sense you yourself install an Alexa toolbar in your browser? Visit this page to install  Alexa Toolbar. Imagine, every time you visit your blog, you actually help improving your Alexa rank!
   If you’re using Firefox, install an extension called SearchStatus. It does the same thing, plus it also displays Google PageRank, Compete rank and mozRank, among loads of other useful features.
2. Encourage your readers to install the toolbar
   Your subscribers, followers and friends –they are the ones who frequent your blog. Convert them into Alexa Toolbar users by writing a post explaining to them the benefits of installing an Alexa toolbar, like what I’m doing now.
3. Attract webmasters to your blog
   Webmasters usually have the toolbar installed, so getting them to visit your blog will improve your ranking. What you can do:
   • Write articles that appeals to webmasters -about SEO, web traffic, site ranking.
   • Participate in webmaster forums. Share useful and relevant articles from your blog. Don’t spam.
   • Create a tools page for webmasters. They will keep coming back to your blog to use the tools. Here is an example: Blogger Sentral’s SEO Tools.
4. Install one of Alexa site widgets on your blog.
   Even though Alexa doesn’t mention it anywhere on their website, I personally think it might work. The widget displays your blog rank, just like Alexa Toolbar and SearchStatus extension do. That to me indicates it sends/communicates your blog data to Alexa.
   And if this is true, it might work even better than all the methods mentioned above -because all visits will be counted, even the visits by non-Alexa toolbar users!

Enjoy!

Do you know other ways to improve Alexa traffic ranking?