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Including Alexa Ranking for Search Engine Optimization

By Sherri Lonon. Copyright 2007, Boss Design

Most website publishers have a fairly good handle on the importance of search engine optimization. What they don't necessarily understand is how it can work to their advantage in regard to Alexa ranking, as well.

Amazon.com is the driving force behind the Alexa.com ranking system. This site tracks traffic levels and is used, in addition to PageRank, to help advertisers make decisions about what sites they might want to advertise on and how much ads on sites might be worth. Considering this, Alexa ranking can be rather important for publishers who want to make money off of advertising placed on their sites. Alexa might not be the only factor that comes into play when rates are determined, but it is a big part of the picture, or can be.

How Alexa Ranking is Calculated

Alexa ranking is gained when visitors who have a special Alexa toolbar installed on their browsers visit sites. Simply put, the ranking is not necessarily the easiest to attain – especially in the highest-ranking categories. It is possible to break into a reasonable ranking level with Alexa, however. It often comes down to how well a site has been set up for search engine optimization and how well website development has been handled to draw in and keep traffic.

Ways To Improve Your Alexa Ranking

While many view Alexa ranking as slightly unfair and even flawed, the reality is it can be important. There are things publishers can do in regard to website development and search engine optimization to help draw in traffic that counts toward Alexa ranking. Some of the best ideas revolve around nothing more than building a quality site that has been tweaked for search engine optimization. Some options for picking up Alexa ranking and traffic that counts toward it include:

  • Putting the Alexa toolbar on the website and using it personally. Make it easy for visitors to help their visits count toward ranking by offering an Alexa widget or link on the site. Also, install the toolbar personally so personal browsing counts, too.

  • Optimizing the site for search. The importance of search engine optimization for Alexa ranking should not be discounted. The more traffic that is drawn to a site, the more likely it is visitors will help boost Alexa numbers along with other site stats that can be useful for advertising income and/or conversions.

  • Creating quality content. This is perhaps the number one concern in website development and ranking anywhere. The more useful a site is, the more likely it is to obtain visitors that help with rankings, earnings and more.

  • Creating Alexa redirects within the site. Use these internally to help boost visits counted by Alexa.

There are a variety of other ways to help boost Alexa ranking. They include advertising a site, using article directories, posting on forums and more.

The real key to boosting Alexa ranking is to increase a site's traffic. Search engine optimization, useful content and careful website development create a combination that is hard to beat on this end.

About the Author

Sherri Lonon is a Web Content Associate for HelpDocuments.com, an Internet marketing services partner of Boss Design that specializes in search engine optimization, website promotion and web content services. She has written hundreds of web content articles on a variety of subjects and is a very busy blogger. You may have seen some of Sherri's posts on the Boss Web Design Blog.

 

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