Alexa empty China website traffic statistics are causing controversy

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Thousand Dragon Net February 3 reported the turn of the year, when the whole nation is the entire God is concerned about the southern provinces of the snowstorm, when China's internet industry, is the number of netizens chasing the United States and rejoice, thousands of domestic web sites, also suffered an avalanche-like hit- The United States to provide the world's Web site traffic ranking service Alexa (www.alexa.com), again take the data clear 0 and adjust the algorithm means to drastically reduce the flow of Chinese web site data, so that China's Web site's global ranking plummeted, the active within the uproar. This is since 2005, Alexa on China's Web site data adjustment range and the largest one. Its impact, not only covers a large number of personal sites, small and medium-sized sites and well-known industry sites, and even spread to Sina, NetEase, Sohu, Alibaba and other super large websites.

Although the industry has long pointed out that Alexa rankings are not credible, but due to the objective and impartial third party data services for a long time, the domestic has been formed to Alexa ranked as the driving force of the gray industry chain and industry unspoken rules, therefore, every time Alexa for China's website data adjustment, will cause or large or small oscillation: the saliva war between peers, similar sites low-level repetitive vicious competition, the industrial chain in the downstream of the trust crisis, the Chinese Internet industry in the world market overall image damage. Without a compelling reason, indiscriminate data cleansing also makes those domestic websites that have the right business ideas and healthy development suffer from goodwill and interest.

Alexa rankings, like cancer cells, are gobbling up the resources and dynamism of China's internet industry, violating the health factors of China's internet industry.

Alexa, where the Holy

Alexa was founded in 1996, was a site to do classified navigation. 1997, Alexa released the user to monitor the behavior of the software Alexa Toolbar, for users to download insert installed in the local browser. This kind of software integrates the user's common tools, such as search engine, target website quick link, etc., to help users improve their application efficiency. Through this software, Alexa for each installation has the software users online behavior of real-time monitoring. When the user visits the page, will send back a string of code to the Alexa server, this string of code contains the user on the Internet position, the surfer time, the content page and so on to visit the information. On the server side, the access data is categorized by site, thereby counting the number of user links (users reach) and page views in each Web site, and based on that data, a large ranking of global websites. Users can easily through the Alexa toolbar login to the site, query to Alexa included the comprehensive ranking of the site, the number of users linked to the installation of Alexatoobar software users the proportion of the total number, and the average page views and other data.

1999, Alexa by the United States, the largest E-commerce company Amazon acquisition, in the latter's strong support, Alexa gradually developed into the world's most well-known traffic ranking service site. The results of its rankings in the global Internet industry has a higher authority, as many advertisers and investors to evaluate the site's media value or investment value of reference indicators.

Alexa Daily in the internet this borderless ocean, collecting three kinds of information: one is to install the Alexa Toobar user information, the second is that these users to visit which sites; third, these users online shopping behavior. After the first two information comprehensive processing, according to the Alexa custom technical method, sorted out each website relative user scale and the visit quantity, further to the user scale and the visit quantity carries on the computation processing, obtains the website the ranking. The third type of information is provided to Amazon, which engages in online shopping services.

Alexa rankings are unreliable in China

That year, because there is no alternative to Alexa third party statistics, the industry to introduce and actively promote Alexa, I hope it can become a measure of China's Internet industry development relative level of the ruler. However, a few years down, there are many factors that make the Alexa rankings of Chinese websites can not objectively and accurately reflect the actual situation of the development of domestic websites, and led to Alexa ranked in China gradually become "chicken ribs."

Firstly, the data acquisition method of Alexa belongs to the sampling survey in the statistical category, and the result is accurate, which is influenced by the rationality of sample distribution and the size of two samples. Alexa.com is an American website that provides free ranking services for the global market and does not take any initiative to ensure that the sample distribution is reasonable when doing global data collection. Alexa Toolbar installation is mainly rely on those who use the Alexa ranking Service site promotion. This kind of relationship, resulting in the domestic installation of Alexa toolbar users are mostly practitioners. The unreasonable distribution of the samples made the Alexa have a large deviation in the data statistics of the Chinese website. A domestic company engaged in the Web site monitoring of the third party has disclosed that, according to the agency's real-time monitoring of site traffic results, different types of Web sites, because user groups and user behavior characteristics of different, in the Alexa rankings on the performance difference is very large. There has been a large flow of Web sites Alexa ranking is less than the phenomenon of small traffic sites.

Secondly, the accuracy of the sample survey is also determined by the size of the samples. The Alexa calculation method and data standard make the data accuracy problem, which is affected by the size of the sample scale of the regional market, and the proportion of the sample quantity of the regional market. Alexa in the Chinese market sample size is subject to a number of factors: first, Alexa without Chinese version, it is difficult to spread out in the ordinary Chinese netizens; second, Alexa does not target specific regional markets to do any publicity, as described above, relying solely on the use of its ranking services customers in the local promotion, Strength and coverage are very limited; third, in recent years, the domestic market appeared in some domestic client software and Chinese version of Plug-ins, the Alexa tool bar has shielding or replacement functions, but also to a large extent to limit or even reduce the Alexa toolbar in the domestic installed capacity. Therefore, under this condition, it is difficult to believe that Alexa data can reflect the real traffic level of domestic websites.

Alexa rank optimization becomes industry unspoken rule

Although Alexa in China has a serious congenital deficiency, but still because there is no authoritative, objective and impartial third-party data, in a long period of time, Alexa is China's internet industry the only reference data. Advertisers need to be based on Alexa rankings, the site's media value of the preliminary assessment; investors need to be based on Alexa rankings, the site's investment value and even the purchase price assessment; The site needs to use Alexa rankings, to prove their level of development, market influence and competitiveness. If let it be natural, let Alexa with insufficient sample quantity and unreasonable sample distribution constitute to the Chinese website carries on the data appraisal, then the website each aspect value is likely to be grossly underestimated. In this case, many of the domestic web site began to move towards an overkill--find ways to quickly upgrade their rankings on the Alexa site, and the goal from the company's business strategy to improve the company's development strategy. Because, only Alexa ranked up, only advertising revenue, only investors favor, in order to quickly become famous in the list of domestic well-known sites. This has become the Internet industry development of the unspoken rules.

A gray, lucrative industry emerged, that is, to provide Alexa rankings for the site optimization services. From the "Alexa Mutual Brush Alliance", to the use of viruses, rogue plug-in brush rankings, and finally upgraded to programming analog send data.

In Baidu, with the keyword "Alexa ranking optimization services" can be found more than 7,500, with the "Alexa ranking optimization", the result is 560,000. In these service sites or Web pages, some impressively write "completely cracked Alexa toolbar information, mastered the rapid improvement of the Web site ranking technology, the technology efficient, advanced and safe!" to ensure that the Alexa official acceptance, will not be considered cheating, will not be Alexa to eliminate the risk of data. At present, we can make a site without any traffic in 3 months time into the world's top 100. Some openly declared: "Reach and Pagevews, only unexpected, can not do!"

Alexa ranked through the procurement of services to create false traffic, but also through the flow of VC access to attract, has become a lot of domestic internet entrepreneurship team and Angel investment operation of a classic model. In such a market environment, those who would like to operate soundly through legitimate business development of the company, in the face of enormous economic pressure and market pressure, but also have to choose extraordinary means to improve traffic. This phenomenon is most prominent in small web sites and emerging, growth-oriented websites. And this kind of website, should be to promote the Chinese Internet industry sustainable development, continuous prosperity of the force, but now into the Alexa ranking of the mire difficult to extricate themselves.