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Alexa Internet
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== Tracking == === Browser extensions === Alexa replaced their toolbar with browser extensions. These extensions were made available for Google Chrome and Firefox browsers. The Alexa browser extension displayed the Alexa Traffic Rank for websites, showed related websites, provided search analytics, and quickly allowed users to view the Internet Archive through the Wayback Machine.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Alexa Browser Extension|url=https://www.alexa.com/toolbar|access-date=2020-09-18|website=www.alexa.com|archive-date=January 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103051925/https://www.alexa.com/toolbar|url-status=dead}}</ref> They were last updated in May 2020, two years prior to the service's closure. ==== Toolbar ==== Alexa used to rank sites based primarily on tracking a sample set of Internet traffic—users of its [[browser toolbar]] for the [[Internet Explorer]], [[Firefox]] and [[Google Chrome]] web browsers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alexa.com/company/technology|title=Technology: How and Why We Crawl the Web|publisher=Alexa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402163843/https://www.alexa.com/company/technology|archive-date=April 2, 2014|access-date=November 6, 2011}}</ref><ref name="davis2">{{cite book|title=Google Advertising Tools: Cashing in with AdSense, Adwords, and the Google APIs|author=Harold Davis|publisher=O'Reilly Media|year=2006|isbn=978-0-596-10108-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/googleadvertisin00davi/page/12 12]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/googleadvertisin00davi/page/12}}</ref> The Alexa Toolbar included a [[popup blocker]] (which stops unwanted ads), a search box, links to [[Amazon.com]] and the Alexa homepage, and the Alexa ranking of the website that the user is visiting. It also allowed the user to rate the website and view links to external, relevant websites. In early 2005, Alexa stated that there had been 10 million downloads of the toolbar, though the company did not provide statistics about active usage. Originally, web pages were only ranked amongst users who had the Alexa Toolbar installed, and could be biased if a specific audience subgroup was reluctant to take part in the rankings. This caused some controversies over how representative Alexa's user base was of typical Internet behavior,<ref>{{cite book|title=Complete Web Monitoring: Watching Your Visitors, Performance, Communities, and Competitors |url=https://archive.org/details/completewebmonit00crol_895|url-access=limited|author1=Alistair Croll|author2=Seán Power|publisher=O'Reilly Media|year=2009|isbn=978-0-596-15513-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/completewebmonit00crol_895/page/n65 38]}}</ref> especially for less-visited sites.<ref name="davis2" /> In 2007, [[Michael Arrington]] provided examples of Alexa rankings known to contradict data from the [[comScore]] [[web analytics]] service, including ranking [[YouTube]] ahead of Google.<ref>Michael Arrington. [https://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/25/alexas-make-believe-internet "Alexa's Make Believe Internet"]; [https://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/13/alexa-says-youtube-is-now-bigger-than-google-theyre-wrong/ "Alexa Says YouTube Is Now Bigger Than Google. Alexa Is Useless"]. TechCrunch. 2007. Retrieved June 21, 2013.</ref> In 2021 John Mueller from Google confirmed again that Google does not use Amazon Alexa Rank.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murari |first=Krishna |title=Google Do Not Use Domain Authority And Alexa Rank {{!}} The Seo Today |url=https://www.theseotoday.com/2021/10/domain-authority-and-alexa-rank.html |access-date=2022-07-13 |language=en}}</ref> =====Search Status===== Until 2007, a [[Third-party developer|third-party]]-supplied [[Add-on (Mozilla)#Plug-ins|Mozilla plug-in]] called Search Status for the [[Firefox]] browser<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/ |title=SearchStatus: A Search Extension for Firefox and SeaMonkey|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627071242/http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/ |archive-date=27 June 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> served as the only option for Firefox users after Amazon abandoned its [[A9.com|A9]] toolbar.<ref name="a92">[http://toolbar.a9.com/ Home] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608183909/http://toolbar.a9.com/ |date=June 8, 2008 }}. A9.com. Retrieved June 24, 2013.</ref> On July 16, 2007, Alexa released an official toolbar for Firefox called Sparky.<ref name="Sparky2">[http://awis.blogspot.com/2007/07/sparky-add-on-for-firefox-released.html "Sparky Add-on for Firefox Released Today"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070729134152/http://awis.blogspot.com/2007/07/sparky-add-on-for-firefox-released.html |date=July 29, 2007 }}. Alexa Blog. July 16, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2013.</ref> On 16 April 2008, many users reported drastic shifts in their Alexa rankings. Alexa confirmed this later in the day with an announcement that they had released an updated ranking system, claiming that they would now take into account more sources of data "beyond Alexa Toolbar users".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alexa.com/site/company/announcement|title=Alexa Announcement|publisher=Alexa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424144640/https://www.alexa.com/site/company/announcement|archive-date=April 24, 2008|url-status=live|access-date=September 22, 2012}}</ref><ref>[https://techcrunch.com/2008/04/16/alexa-overhauls-ranking-system "Alexa Overhauls Ranking System"]. TechCrunch. April 16, 2008. Retrieved December 1, 2012.</ref> === Certified statistics === Using the Alexa Pro service, website owners could sign up for "certified statistics", which allowed Alexa more access to a website's traffic data.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alexa.com/pro/digital_marketer|title=Alexa Pro for Digital Marketers|publisher=Alexa|access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230145536/http://www.alexa.com/pro/digital_marketer|archive-date=December 30, 2014}}</ref> Site owners input [[JavaScript]] code on each page of their website that, if permitted by the user's security and privacy settings, ran and sent traffic data to Alexa, allowing Alexa to display—or not display, depending on the owner's preference—more accurate statistics such as total page views and unique page views.
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