Could simple trending be of value - not sure. If it is then we have kicked some wicked butt here *grins* In fact, maybe I’ll start believing Alexa if just for the ego boost *winks*

You are correct - stats for one site can vary. I have the proof in a recent audit. It’s so fraught with difficulties I can see why you blogged about it!

Please contact me by email if you want more details.

I don’t agree with the usual criticism that these services are “wildly inaccurate”. Tracking traffic to 10 million different websites is a much more difficult problem than determining the top TV shows last week.

Even numbers that stay within an order of magnitude of the actual traffic can have some value – especially if the demographic data is close.

It’s an interesting process to watch.

First and foremost, my understanding from speaking to someone who works for Hitwise is that it is an enterprise solution. This means if you are an SME, it is not as useful.

One site I work on is on the ragged edge of this demographic. Recently they were told gains had been made against their much larger rival who hash better market penetration and better brand awareness. I have trouble with this since I know their stats

But as a comparison, Alexa sais the smaller site had double the traffic of the larger one. Ouch - that seems wildly inaccurate.

I manage about 20 domains with traffic ranging from 500 to 1,000,000 unique US visitors per month. I’m pleasantly surprised at how accurate Quantcast is when compared to the numbers reported by Google Analytics. Even the demographic info is good. We have a few sites that we know draw high numbers from certain groups (Female or Africans-American audiences for eaxample), and their demo info is about right.

I’ve looked at the fee-based services like Hitwise, but for now I can’t justify spending the money over the free info from Quantcast.