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In 2021, Amazon announced that it would be retiring Alexa.com after 25 years of service. Alexa.com was once a reliable and beloved web traffic analysis site. It provided users with rankings, traffic data, and other information for over 30 million websites.
Agencies, business owners, digital marketers, and SEOs (search engine optimizers) alike have come to rely on Alexa’s data to help them perform competitive analysis for the last two decades.
If you have found yourself looking for a reliable and smart Alexa.com alternative, you have come to the right place! Keep reading to learn more about how Semrush’s free tool, Top Websites, can help you get the data you need.
What Alexa’s Retirement Means
Don’t panic! It’s not that Alexa. Alexa.com is a separate entity (though both are owned by Amazon) from the voice assistant, Alexa. Alexa the helpful voice assistant isn’t going anywhere (that we are aware of). However, Alexa.com is no more.
It’s not entirely clear why Amazon chose to retire Alexa.com, but it might have something to do with a steady decrease in organic traffic to the tool in recent years.
Unfortunately, if you are reading this blog, Alexa.com has already been retired (as of May 1, 2022). Users who have Alex APIs will still have access until Dec. 25, 2022.
So, if you were using Alexa.com to perform competitive analysis on the web’s top sites, you’ll need to start testing out alternatives to find one that works for you and your business.
Alexa.com provided a unique amount of data that can be hard to come by, at least in one convenient location (and for an affordable price).
If you’re looking for a free solution that allows you to see rankings of top websites, keep reading.
Semrush’s Free Top Websites Tool
Top Websites is a free tool offered by Semrush. Using data pulled from the Traffic Analytics tool, Top Websites allows you to see:
- Top site rankings
- Number of monthly visits
- Number of pages per visit
- Bounce rate
You can also browse by website category to zoom in on a particular industry or niche.
All the Data You Need in One Platform
Top Websites is a great free tool for getting a 36,000-foot view of the web’s top-ranking sites. But, if you need deeper insight, check out .Trends.
.Trends is a set of tools that you can add onto a traditional paid Semrush account. This series of tools gives you an instant overview of the market and competitive digital insights that allow you to follow trends and uncover new opportunities before your competitors have a chance to pounce on them.
With .Trends you get full access to the Traffic Analytics tool (which is what drives the free Top Websites tool). This will allow you to get a more holistic look inside your competitors’ websites.
.Trends also grants you access to Market Explorer. With Market Explorer you can get market overviews and growth trends, uncover your competitors’ market share, and get competitive and market benchmarks.
Finally, .Trends includes our new tool (currently in Beta) EyeOn, which allows you to find any new content posted to a competitor’s site, and you can uncover any changes in your competitors’ ad campaigns.
Don’t Let Alexa’s Retirement Impede Your Growth
For digital marketers who use it, Alexa.com’s retirement could potentially mean big changes to your technical SEO strategy.
If you’re looking for a reliable, multi-faceted data source that gives you everything you need in one convenient platform, our tools will make post-Alexa.com life so much easier for digital marketers.
Check out our plans and pricing to see if we will be a good match!