Old habits die hard. Eventually, they do. Damn, that’s why Bruce Willis was making those sh*tty movies lately. It breaks your heart, man.
I don’t make movies. I write stories. And, I care about my “investment.” More than 70K of my words are stationed here, on HackerNoon. That’s a word count that almost matches “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.” I’m not bragging about it. I’m just trying to put my situation into the right perspective.
Alexa.com and I grew up together. I used to check how HackerNoon is doing on Alexa regularly and religiously. Those are my stories we’re talking about. HackerNoon moves up on Google, my stories follow. As simple as that.
And then, just the other day…
WTF?! When? How? Why?
Then, it struck me! Right here, on HackerNoon, a five-time “Noonies” award winner already wrote about it - in January!! He warned us, but I was like…
When 5K Used To Be Just A Start and OK
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I clearly remember the times when: Our approach to publishing has led Hacker Noon to become a top 5k site worldwide and top 2k site in the US.
That wasn’t the only, but it was one of the main reasons, HackerNoon hit the right independence road.
I celebrated when HackerNoon hit the top 4K as if it was New Year’s Eve. I cried my eyes out, but I couldn’t find the screenshot I took for that occasion. Luckily, the North remembers, and so does Michael Brooks on Twitter:
David Smooke was spot on in his reply:
Michael wrote a story, and that was it.
Alternatives. What Alternatives?
I’m respectful. I’m kind. I’m professional. But…
I’d never trash any business or service. But…
So, I did the only thing I could do. I Googled “alexa ranking alternative 2022.” SimilarWeb pops up first.
No f*cking way!
Is this a joke?! Maybe, if you cut one number at the end for both global and country rank. Otherwise, it’s BS, period.
But, here’s something interesting and disturbing at the same time. I checked Quora. I do care about my 2M+ all-time views there.
If my memory serves me right, and I believe it does, this is accurate, more or less. I also checked Reddit, but there’s no need for a screenshot. You can take my word for it.
For the “big guys” the results of SimilarWeb and Alexa.com (may it rest in World Wide Web peace) are almost identical. But, as you move away from the “safe zone” of the top 100 websites in the world, you get inaccurate and misleading ranking data.
I wanted to be fair, and give it a try to someone else that dares to fill in Alexa.com’s shoes.
Without any bias at all, I tried SpyFy and Ahrefs. It’s not what I need, including SemRush. I ain’t no SEO expert, and I have no desire to become one. I just want and need to type the name of a website, I’m interested in, get the current ranking, and be on my way to writing something new.
There Can Be Only One - Alexa!
OK, Jeff Bezos, have it your way, which is not right in every imaginable way: historically, financially, and morally.
I see through you, Jeff Bezos, through and through, and your Origin Blue, you-know-what-shaped rocket: