Products and technologies come and go. And with Amazon winding down their data analytics site Alexa.com, an era is coming to an end. Come May 1st, 2022, Amazon will wind down Alexa.com, sending the site off into the sunset. Fortunately, those who depend on Alexa for data insights have options.

Alexa is one of the oldest web companies, established back in 1996. The website provides a plethora of website analytics and traffic data. Amazon bought the analytics site for a quarter of a billion dollars in stocks in 1999, long before their popular Alexa voice assistant went from dream to reality. And Alexa.com has remained immensely popular ever since. Regardless, new data analytics websites have since entered the market, offering arguably better products and value, the most accurate one of them is a platform called Similarweb.

The Alexa data platform is perhaps most well known for its global website rankings. Head to the website, and you can see lists of the most popular websites in a given country or across the globe. For many years, media websites have cited Alexa when talking about the world's most popular sites.

Many other companies and individuals also depend on Alexa and its rankings. For better or worse, they'll now have to find an alternative, such as Similarweb to check the top websites ranking. Several other statistical data tools and platforms do exist (i.e Statista, Comscore), yet their datasets as well as analysis capabilities do not compare to the mentioned above.

Why Do People Use Alexa?

Data traffic is an important metric and one obtainable through Alexa. That said, the solution offered many other stats. For example, you could find what websites users were most frequently on before entering your website. You could also see geographic breakdowns and the number of backlinks pointing back to your website.

Data analytics, including website traffic, marketing campaign reports, big data, and other data sources/tools, allow companies to make informed, data-driven decisions. Often, experts, including data scientists and marketing folks, can use data to improve outcomes.

Ultimately, data might determine the difference between success and failure for a company. Those companies that leverage data may out-compete companies that fail to fully and properly utilize it.

For example, if you see a competitor with much higher traffic and a better ranking, you could study their website and marketing efforts to see if there's any way to emulate their success. And if you see specific keywords perform best for your company, you may focus more resources on said keywords.

Through data-informed decisions, it's possible to boost the bottom line and reduce wasted resources. Fortunately, while Alexa.com is winding down, merchants, marketing experts, and others can turn to tools like Similarweb.

Using Alexa Alternatives to Discover the Most Popular Websites on the Web

Alexa.com users have a few months to prepare for the post-Alexa era. Up until May 1st, 2022, users will still be able to access Alexa.com. Past that date and the system likely won't be up or at least not operating at full capacity.

Does this mean people will have to give up using traffic intelligence platforms? Of course not; many other tools offer data. As for replacing Alexa.com itself, users can utilize Similarweb, which offers many of the same features as Alexa.com as well as many additional capabilities within the platform.

Wikipedia has already switched to using Similarweb to list the most visited sites in the world. Head to Wikipedia, find the page for the "List of most visited sites," and you'll find the top 50 websites globally by Similarweb. Google.com, YouTube.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram take up the top spots. You can also find this information free of charge on their website for every category and country, and for apps as well.

By using a platform like Similarweb, you can prioritize opportunities, examine market channel performance, uncover critical demographic information, check any website's ranking and more. Add it all up, and with tools like Alexa.com shutting down is a great opportunity to give market intelligence tools and platforms that get you in a better position to make strategically sound moves.