how reliable is alexa toolbar

[RealBiker]

I want to know how reliable is alexa toolbar? Moreover, what is the difference between alexa rankings and alexa links? I am planning to use this toolbar to analyse my websites

[Cameron]

I'd say that it's pretty reliable, I used it to analyse 2 of my sites and they were about correct. I don't think there is a difference between alexa rankings and alexa links although.

[niallr]

Well, it only counts visitors that have installed the alexa toolbar - I would install Google Analytics on your site instead.

[Archbob]

Its reliable but only within categories. If your comparing say gaming sites and webmaster sites, then it is not reliable at all. Webmaster sites simply have a disproportinate amount of users that have it installed, probably to boost up their own ranking.

[webmasterneo]

Archbob has it right. Alexa has said it themselves somewhere in a disclaimer page that they have. I remember they used China as an example, where there may be a lot more people surfing in China so that, Chinese sites may have a disproportionate advantage for exposure. or something to that effect.

[e-webtemplates]

I am using Google Analytics . It's pretty good .

[webmasterneo]

Originally Posted by RealBiker

I am planning to use this toolbar to analyse my websites

If you really want an analysis of how your website is performing in terms of visitors and all that jazz, Alexa isn't the tool to use for the job. Use Google Analytics istead. It can tell you who your visitors are, where they came from, who referred them, where they go on your site, and so on. Also, your host surely must have one if not a bunch of those free stat tools like webalizer. So, you can make use of that as well.

Good luck!

[gabriel]

never used alexa toolbar...always i open alexa.com and check whatever stats i have to see....

[Preseren]

I always use it only for first ideas about how much traffic a site, that is not mine attracts. That means, if Im interested in buying something, and Im not getting the stats yet, Ill go to alexa and see what it says. Compare it to some websites from its category, so that I see what is going on.
For other stuff, just use google analytics, it shows you all what you want to see and more.

[vtabletop]

I find the Alexa tool bar pretty useful to get the statistics , but as someone mentioned , Google analytics is also very good and their reports are more detailed than the stats you get using alexa.