Alexa : Yahoo vs. Google

I did a quick comparison of Search.Yahoo.com & Google.com, and here are the results from that comparison. It’s obvious why Wall Street is backing Google on this one, but the race is far from over…

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Comments On This Post

  1. Johan Bosini Says:
    January 10, 2006 at 4:15 pm

    Alexa is a very nice tool – however I would not trust its stats at all – as they are not very accurate.

  2. Johan Bosini Says:
    January 10, 2006 at 9:15 pm

    Alexa is a very nice tool – however I would not trust its stats at all – as they are not very accurate.

  3. searchquant Says:
    January 11, 2006 at 12:48 am

    Johan,

    To what extent and for what reasons do you think Alexa’s stats are not accurate?

  4. searchquant Says:
    January 11, 2006 at 5:48 am

    Johan,

    To what extent and for what reasons do you think Alexa’s stats are not accurate?

  5. Johan Bosini Says:
    January 20, 2006 at 8:53 pm

    Hi there
    Firstly, don’t get me wrong – I love alexa and use them daily for all sorts of things. Alexa does not pull stats from all internet users – it monitors behavior of users that have downloaded its toolbar only.

    The stats from Alexa come from a self-selected group of Alexa toolbar users on MS IE/Windows which most certainly under-represents some segments of the general Internet population. Mozilla and Mac users are excluded. Also, generally technically minded people use Alexa – there are millions of people out there who do not know about them.

    Also – most AOL users have Alexa installed as a default… so it is immediately USA skewed. The other major users are webmasters – again these people are not your average internet user. Many internet marketers and online marketing companies use alexa – but not your average Joe.

    Having said all this I think it is a great tool to see how a sites usage is changing, but these rankings/stats should not be applied to the internet population as a whole because that is not what they measure.

    In short Alexa excludes too many demographics. For one designers use apple computers – and thus Alexa excludes them, most technical administrators use linux, and so Alexa excludes them too. Also – many anti spyware programs delete Alexa, as it is picked up in virus scans. It can only generate stats for those users that have the toolbar installed, and who has it, and where they live on the globe is questionable.

    Alexa is a great tool – but know its limitations.

    Johan Bosini

  6. Johan Bosini Says:
    January 20, 2006 at 10:13 pm

    Hi there
    Firstly, don’t get me wrong – I love alexa and use them daily for all sorts of things. Alexa does not pull stats from all internet users – it monitors behavior of users that have downloaded its toolbar only.

    The stats from Alexa come from a self-selected group of Alexa toolbar users on MS IE/Windows which most certainly under-represents some segments of the general Internet population. Mozilla and Mac users are excluded. Also, generally technically minded people use Alexa – there are millions of people out there who do not know about them.

    Also – most AOL users have Alexa installed as a default… so it is immediately USA skewed. The other major users are webmasters – again these people are not your average internet user. Many internet marketers and online marketing companies use alexa – but not your average Joe.

    Having said all this I think it is a great tool to see how a sites usage is changing, but these rankings/stats should not be applied to the internet population as a whole because that is not what they measure.

    In short Alexa excludes too many demographics. For one designers use apple computers – and thus Alexa excludes them, most technical administrators use linux, and so Alexa excludes them too. Also – many anti spyware programs delete Alexa, as it is picked up in virus scans. It can only generate stats for those users that have the toolbar installed, and who has it, and where they live on the globe is questionable.

    Alexa is a great tool – but know its limitations.

    Johan Bosini

  7. Johan Bosini Says:
    January 21, 2006 at 1:53 am

    Hi there
    Firstly, don’t get me wrong – I love alexa and use them daily for all sorts of things. Alexa does not pull stats from all internet users – it monitors behavior of users that have downloaded its toolbar only.

    The stats from Alexa come from a self-selected group of Alexa toolbar users on MS IE/Windows which most certainly under-represents some segments of the general Internet population. Mozilla and Mac users are excluded. Also, generally technically minded people use Alexa – there are millions of people out there who do not know about them.

    Also – most AOL users have Alexa installed as a default… so it is immediately USA skewed. The other major users are webmasters – again these people are not your average internet user. Many internet marketers and online marketing companies use alexa – but not your average Joe.

    Having said all this I think it is a great tool to see how a sites usage is changing, but these rankings/stats should not be applied to the internet population as a whole because that is not what they measure.

    In short Alexa excludes too many demographics. For one designers use apple computers – and thus Alexa excludes them, most technical administrators use linux, and so Alexa excludes them too. Also – many anti spyware programs delete Alexa, as it is picked up in virus scans. It can only generate stats for those users that have the toolbar installed, and who has it, and where they live on the globe is questionable.

    Alexa is a great tool – but know its limitations.

    Johan Bosini

  8. Johan Bosini Says:
    January 21, 2006 at 3:13 am

    Hi there
    Firstly, don’t get me wrong – I love alexa and use them daily for all sorts of things. Alexa does not pull stats from all internet users – it monitors behavior of users that have downloaded its toolbar only.

    The stats from Alexa come from a self-selected group of Alexa toolbar users on MS IE/Windows which most certainly under-represents some segments of the general Internet population. Mozilla and Mac users are excluded. Also, generally technically minded people use Alexa – there are millions of people out there who do not know about them.

    Also – most AOL users have Alexa installed as a default… so it is immediately USA skewed. The other major users are webmasters – again these people are not your average internet user. Many internet marketers and online marketing companies use alexa – but not your average Joe.

    Having said all this I think it is a great tool to see how a sites usage is changing, but these rankings/stats should not be applied to the internet population as a whole because that is not what they measure.

    In short Alexa excludes too many demographics. For one designers use apple computers – and thus Alexa excludes them, most technical administrators use linux, and so Alexa excludes them too. Also – many anti spyware programs delete Alexa, as it is picked up in virus scans. It can only generate stats for those users that have the toolbar installed, and who has it, and where they live on the globe is questionable.

    Alexa is a great tool – but know its limitations.

    Johan Bosini

  9. Tim Says:
    March 27, 2009 at 1:08 am

    Blast from the past but we still don't know where the story ends

  10. James Bishop Says:
    June 10, 2009 at 8:10 pm

    Google definitly won the race so far, but things may take a different turn soon with the introduction of Bing.

  11. Link Degisimi Says:
    July 26, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    Blast from the past but we still don't know where the story ends

  12. Rapid4files Says:
    August 7, 2009 at 12:32 am

    Google is my opinion!

    God made a Google :)

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Vinny Lingham is an International Award winning Entrepreneur & Search Engine Marketer. He is currently CEO of Free Website maker, Yola.

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