25 March 2003. A legal professional asked about the reliability and accuracy of Web site traffic data from Alexa. Milt Shook, a paralegal and independent researcher, answers the question.

Milt Shook: I do trademark abuse research on the Web. Among the tools I use, is Alexa. It is NOT accurate when it comes to traffic rankings though. It's not a bad guideline, but that's all it is.

Alexa measures Web site use based on the traffic patterns of those who have installed and use the Alexa toolbar. Since probably 80-90% of Web surfers have probably never heard of Alexa, it's not something you can use as a marketing tool.

Also, the the Web site owner supplies the other information about a Web page -- except for the screen shot and the "pages that link to this site." This makes the information really tricky to use.

The best way to test a site's traffic rankings is to use a counter, because Alexa doesn't do it...