Getting to Know Alexa, the SEO Tool

April Nelson - November 4, 2020

Did you know that Alexa is related to an SEO tool by the same name?  Helping people find what they need from a massive amount of information is nothing new for Alexa. Many years before answering your questions through Echo, Alexa Internet company has been suggesting content and ranking websites. That’s right, Amazon’s assistant that wakes you up every morning, tells you the temperature, or streams your favorite podcast is related to an SEO tool. Alexa Internet was founded as an independent company in 1996 and acquired by Amazon in 1999, and is a wholly owned subsidiary.

Alexa Rank was a commonly used tool for measuring website “popularity” in the late 1990’s. A website is assigned a rank based on Alexa’s estimate of traffic the website receives over a 90-day period. A newer iteration is still available today, with some interesting upgrades. Below is a snapshot of amazon.com’s popularity over the past 90 days shown at the bottom right:

Beyond website popularity, Alexa Rank has evolved into a more intricate tool set that provides data about search demand, popular topics, and social engagement with content. For example, in the overview above, you can see a list of websites similar to amazon.com, based on audience overlap. This is one way to get a quick snapshot of other companies / organizations you are competing with for the same audience.

When using Alexa and other subscription-based tools, keep in mind that they each have their own methodology of estimating traffic and collecting data so are not comparing apples to apples. Use these types of tools to identify trends, uncover new keyword opportunities, and analyze your competitors.