Operations and history Alexa Internet was founded in 1996

New Post Public Reply Private Reply Replies (0) Message Board

May 31, 2012 at 11:35 PM

Operations and history Alexa Internet was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat.[3] The company's name was chosen in homage to the Library of Alexandria,[4] drawing a parallel between the largest repository of knowledge in the ancient world and the potential of the Internet to become a similar store of knowledge.
The company offered a toolbar that gave Internet users suggestions on where to go next, based on the traffic patterns of its user community. Alexa also offered context for each site visited: to whom it was registered, how many pages it had, how many other sites pointed to it, and how frequently it was updated.[5]
Alexa's operation includes archiving of webpages as they are crawled. This database served as the basis for the creation of the Internet Archive accessible through the Wayback Machine.[6] In 1998, the company donated a copy of the archive, two terabytes in size, to the Library of Congress.[4] Alexa continues to supply the Internet Archive with Web crawls.
In 1999, Alexa was acquired by Amazon.com for about US$250 million in Amazon stock[7] as the company moved away from its original vision of providing an "intelligent" search engine. Alexa began a partnership with Google in early 2002, and with the Open Directory Project in January 2003.[1] In May 2006, Amazon replaced Google with Live Search as a provider of search results.[8] In September 2006, they began using their own Search Platform[clarification needed] to serve results. In December 2006, they released Alexa Image Search. Built in-house, it is the first major application to be built on their Web Platform.
In December 2005, Alexa opened its extensive search index and Web-crawling facilities to third party programs through a comprehensive set of Web services and APIs. These could be used, for instance, to construct vertical search engines that could run on Alexa's own servers or elsewhere. In May 2007, Alexa changed their API to require comparisons be limited to three sites, reduced size embedded graphs be shown using Flash, and mandatory embedded BritePic ads.
In April 2007, the lawsuit Alexa v. Hornbaker was filed to stop trademark infringement by the Statsaholic service.[9] In the lawsuit, Alexa alleged that Hornbaker was stealing traffic graphs for profit, and that the primary purpose of his site was to display graphs that were generated by Alexa's servers.[10][11] Hornbaker removed the term Alexa from his service name on March 19, 2007.[12] Nevertheless, Alexa expressly grants permission to refer its data in third-party work subject to suitable credits.[13]
On November 27, 2008, Amazon announced that Alexa Web Search was no longer accepting new customers, and the service would be deprecated or discontinued for existing customers on January 26, 2009.[14]
Accuracy of ranking by the Alexa Toolbar
Main article: Alexa Toolbar
Alexa ranks sites based on tracking information of users of its Alexa Toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox and from their extension for Chrome.[15][16] Therefore, the webpages viewed are only ranked amongst users who have these sidebars installed, and may be biased if a specific audience subgroup is reluctant to do this. (Windows Defender has classified the sidebar as malware while it assigns it to Trojans). Also, the ranking is based on three-month data[17], and thus takes a long time to reflect changes in content that may happen after the domain has been sold. Furthermore, low rankings cannot be accurate, not merely due to the paucity of data but also because of statistical laws related to the long tail distribution.
There is some controversy over how representative Alexa's user base is of typical Internet behavior,[18] especially for less trafficked sites.[16] In 2007, Michael Arrington provided a few examples of relative Alexa ranking known to contradict data from comScore, including ranking YouTube ahead of Google.[19]
On April 16, 2008, many users reported dramatic shifts in their Alexa rankings. Alexa confirmed this later in the day with an announcement that they had released the new Alexa ranking system, claiming that they now take into account more data sources "beyond Alexa Toolbar users".[20]
Redesign and new statistics
On March 31, 2009, the Alexa Web site underwent a complete redesign with new metrics, including page views per each individual user, bounce rate, and user time on site.[21] In the following weeks they added new features, including demographics, clickstream and search traffic statistics.[22] These new features were introduced in order to compete with other services, such as Compete.com and Quantcast.[23]
Trackware/adware
Symantec classifies the Alexa toolbar as "trackware".[24] McAfee classifies it as adware, a "Potentially Unwanted Program."[25] McAfee Site Advisor rates the Alexa site as "green", finding "no significant problems" but warning of a "small fraction of downloads ... that some people consider adware or other potentially unwanted programs."[26]

Newer

Older

Scroll down for more posts ▼

Top 10 Most Recent News Articles

Wulcea Pioneers Safety in Smart Heated Apparel

Tech Behind the Warmth and Safety You ever turn on a heated jacket and wonder if it'll keep you safe as much as warm? That's the scene with Wulcea, a brand diving headfirst into the smart heated clothing market. People are waking up to what’s inside these technological coats, not just how they feel on a frosty walk. It’s the kind of scenario where safety meets...

ModelBest & OpenBMB Unveil Open-Source OCR Models

A New Frontier in Document Parsing Just when you thought document parsing couldn't get any more advanced, ModelBest and OpenBMB come along with a game-changing release: the MiniCPM-OCR series. This duo of dynamite models, MiniCPM-OCR 1.0 and Jev, is all about taking the efficiency and performance expectations for open-source OCR models up a couple of notches. If you're an...

Naviu's AI Travel Guide: Revolutionizing Japan Tours

A New Era of Touring Japan: Meet Naviu Alright, travelers, strap in—Naviu is about to flip your trip to Japan upside down. Launching November 1st, 2026, this AI-powered augmented reality travel companion is trying to make exploring Japan easier than ever. Behind this innovative gem is TANGLE Inc., working with technology so cutting-edge, it's practically slicing through...

OlloBot's Emotional AI Robots Connect Beyond Tasks

OlloBot Eyes Emotional Bonds, Not Just Robotics Power Is it just me, or is OlloBot onto something deep with their emotional AI companions? They've set a course that might just redefine how we perceive home robotics. At IFA Berlin 2026, they didn't just strut their technical stuff. Nope, they took it beyond gears and gadgets, turning heads with a robot that does more than...

GAC Dominates with 8 Awards in Cutting-Edge Tech

GAC's Moment in the Spotlight Wow, did ya hear about GAC grabbing eight shiny awards at the China-SAE Science and Technology gig? That ain't small potatoes, especially when you're bagging four first prizes. These fellas in Suzhou on October 28 sure showed they're not just playing in the sandbox but are ready to build the darn thing. There's power, and then there's GAC's...

Voting for Future Urban Icons Begins Globally

New Era for Urban Innovations Takes Center Stage Here's a twist folks didn't see coming: Future cities aren't just the stuff of sci-fi flicks anymore. We've got a global stage now—real, live, and buzzing with excitement from New Clark City in the Philippines. On October 31, 2026, they pulled back the curtain on 7wondersfc.com, flipping the switch on a worldwide voting...

UBCF & GGP Join Forces for Nationwide Pink Bag Drive

Caring Through Community: Pink Bag Events Unroll What do you get when compassion meets action? That's the story with the United Breast Cancer Foundation (UBCF) and GGP's Pink Bag Event. Here in 2026, these folks are doing something so damn important, you'd wonder why more don’t follow suit. For the fifth straight year, they're rolling out a campaign that bridges the gap...

NABEP's Strategic Push: 41 Rigs to Bolster Output

On The Ground: NABEP's Expanding Venezuelan Presence Think of oil production as a high-stakes poker game where each drill and rig is a well-placed bet. North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) is going all in on Venezuela, boosting their rig fleet and pushing production capacity to new heights. Set your sights on November when NABEP's in-country fleet will hit 41 rigs...

HK Boosts Oversight of Building Repairs Post-Blaze

Big Moves After a Tragic Fire Hong Kong's revamping its approach to building maintenance and oversight, clearly in reaction to the horrific Wang Fuk Court blaze last year. That fire didn't just leave scars; it blew open glaring gaps in the city's oversight of building repairs. The government's now jumping into action by launching a raft of measures aimed at preventing...

Yangtze River Culture Festival Spotlights Integration, Tradition

A Celebration of Culture and Integration Here's an event that flips the script on the typical festival circuit: the 2026 Yangtze River Culture Festival. It's as much about heritage as it is about economics, dovetailing culture with tourism in a way that makes wallets a little fatter and souls a little richer. Kicking off in Yonglian Village, Zhangjiagang, this festival...