Keith Goodrum

If you read the forums you will see many different ways people try to game Alexa. Most of the time it’s some BS theory that hasn’t been proven… but they know it will work! This person usually says they are currently conducting tests, and will get back with the results. Sometimes these black hat tricks work, but most of the time the fail… or only work for a short period of time.

There Are No Shortcuts…

There is no way to game Alexa. You are not going to cheat your way to the top of their rankings using some silver bullet… sorry to disappoint you, but that’s the way it is.

Do you really think that a company with room full of engineers, programmers and technical geeks are going to allow black hat tricks to work? Seriously, their focus is to build an accurate ranking system.

The entire business model is dependent on the credibility of the ranking system.

How long do think they would stay relevant and survive if it got out that there was a way to game the system? They have developed a ranking system that has become one of the tops in terms of credibility. The trust is so strong that advertisers and the internet community base marketing decisions on the Alexa score.

Checkout what Geoffery Mack at Alexa The Web Discovery Machine blog said about How To Boost Your Alexa Rank

So How Do You Improve Your Alexa Score?

It’s really not much different than what you do to get traffic for a blog. There are things you can do to get that score down.

Here is a list of 9 things to do to get Alexa down.

1.Install the Alexa tool bar - You’ve done this already right? It’s easy go to Alexa.com and follow the instructions. This should be the first thing you do.

2.Set up a WordPress blog - I’m biased on this one. One of the things that will help your Alexa score is fresh content. A WordPress blog makes it brain dead simple to add new content.

3.Post good relevant content regularly & consistently - Good regular, consistent content will bring visitors to your website. More visitors’ equals better ranking.

4.Post about Alexa - This is a good way to draw people with an Alexa toolbar to your site. They have the toolbar, and naturally are curious how to improve their score.

5.Claim your blog on Technorati - This will help build your authority, and funnel traffic to your site.

6.Comment on other blogs - Make sure you add your website so people reading your comments will click over to your site. Make sure your comments add to the value of the conversation.

7.Add website to your signature file - This one seems to be overlooked, but people will click on your signature to learn about you.

8.Write articles and link to your website - This one will give back links & drive traffic to your website

9.Social bookmark each article/post - The best way is to have others bookmark your site. You can bookmark your own, but make sure you follow etiquette and bookmark other sites.

Today I looked at the Alexa toolbar & saw that keithgoodrum.com broke the 200k mark. Woo-Hoo!

It’s one of the milestones I had set for this blog back in January. I thought it would take 4 or 5 months to hit this milestone, not 65 days. So, I’m thrilled to see it happen this fast.

Back in January Sam Carrara wrote a post titled Alexa Update, and mentioned he had seen a boost in his Alexa score. He then asked for people to take 3 easy steps, and post your results in the comments. As a bonus Sam generously offered to help the first 5 who commented with their Alexa ranking for 2 weeks.

The steps were easy, and almost took me 5 minutes to complete. I was the first to comment on Sam’s blog with my results. Of course it wasn’t hard to be 1st, because only one other person commented. Hard to believe that no one else took action.

Sam sent me a tip sheet, and emailed some suggestions. Nothing on the tip sheet, or any of the suggestions were difficult to complete. In fact a few of them I had already done, but I did pick up some valuable tips from Sam. He also featured this blog in one of his posts.

And how much did all of the cost me?

Nothing, it was free. Now, after the two weeks I continued to do the things I had learned. In addition I also sought out other resources to find ways to improve this blog’s Alexa score. But, most importantly I continued to take action.

Why did Sam do this? Have I ever met Sam before? Are we buddys? Neighbors? The answer is I’ve never met Sam, we’re not buddys, neighbors nor do we work together. We’ve emailed a couple times, and that’s it.

So, why did Sam do this? I can’t speak for Sam, but if I had to guess it… I’d say 3 reasons. First, Sam’s a great guy, and likes to help people. Second, he probably wanted to see if he could teach others how to improve their Alexa score. And third, I think he was having fun and enjoys what he does.

What were the rewards for Sam? Well, in the past 65 days I’ve linked back or written a post about Sam’s blog at least 4 times. I’ve added him to my blog roll. Plus I’m a regular reader of his blog, have stumbled his posts, and book marked them on social sites.

Why? Because Sam provides good content, which I enjoy reading. I’m also grateful to him for helping me learn how to improve my Alexa ranking.

Thanks, Sam.