Posts: 10,688
Name: Steven Bradley
Location: Boulder, Colorado
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The problem with Alexa is it colelcts data from a sample that's not really random. The average person doesn't install the Alexa toolbar. It's web developers and SEOs who tend to install it. So at best you're getting a random sample of developers and SEOs. It's why Alexa rankings skew in favor of sites belonging to developers and SEOs.
The more Alexa traffic a site gets the more accurate the tool probably becomes, but even then most people who compare what Alexa says with what their site logs show say the data is completely off.
If you want to look at Alexa understand what it's really measuring and how it's biased in favor of some industries. If it's showing a site gaining traffic over time it probably is, but it doesn't have to be. You can probably also compare sites within the same industry with the assumption that each site within industry gets the same amount of web savvy visitors as the other sites.
But always keep in mind Alexa is a rough estimate of traffic at best.
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