Uh, Oh, Wait. Hold on. Hmmm...

Just a quick update on our data center move. The machines are in place, powered up and working... kind of. The network configuration is different, some would say better, and it has had some unanticipated consequences.

We started processing the traffic data and some you noticed that we began showing updated data for the 22nd and then the 23rd of January. But it was bad data. Bad, bad data. The reach and pageviews data was non-existent. So we are rolling back to the 21st, rewriting some code and starting again.

The rollback should be complete within the hour. Then new data updates should start rolling out later tonight. Hold tight.

Alexa Data Update Delayed

A lifetime ago I used to work at Charles Schwab in tech support for their revolutionary online trading program the Equalizer (revolutionary... see, I still speak the language of the kool-aid drinkers.) Anyway, Schwab had this group of users that we referred to as "quote junkies." The junkies would call all hours of the day getting stock quotes, jamming up the lines and probably drinking way too much caffeine. They had to have their quotes... now! Schwab actually closed some accounts and eventually put all customers on quote quotas. When a QJ exceeded his quota it was cold turkey time. No quotes. A bunch of customers went absolutely bonkers and began calling any Schwab number they could find to beg, borrow, bribe or steal a quote. Sometimes it felt like I was running a methadone clinic.

It seems funny to me that somehow I've moved into something similar here at Alexa. Except instead of quotes, these users folks need to see Alexa data updated every day. If Alexa stops updating we get e-mails and phone calls right away. Hey, its good to be needed.

Well, it is cold turkey time for Alexa. No data updates. We made the painful decision to stop updating the data while we picked up the computers and moved them across town into a shiny new colocation facility. The good news is that we are no longer cramped into an underpowered, dark and wet basement. The bad news is that servers sitting the back of a moving van aren't very useful until they are plugged back into the network.

Current estimates put the update at end of this week. I'll post here if I get any news on the timeline. In the meanwhile, thank you for your patience. Maybe you can use the time to get some stock quotes from Schwab.

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American Idol is Back

America's guilty pleasure is back, Dawg! American Idol's premiere episode on Tuesday drew in approximately 35 million viewers, a record number, ahead of last year's premiere by 10%.
The traffic to American Idol's companion Web site, idolonfox.com, was a similar 10% increase over last year's premier, with approximately .05% of all Alexa users visiting the site on Tuesday.

An impressive start, yes, but nothing compared to last year's finale when .17% of Alexa users visited the site.

It makes one wonder, how do television shows do in general on the Web? Do they drive a lot of traffic to companion Web sites? I did a little digging. It looks like (warning: leading armegeddon indicator follows) World Wrestling Entertainment is the king of Web tie-ins. Last year wwe.com peaked when it reached .3% of all Alexa users. Ouch.

I hope that last stat didn't cause you to lose all hope in the future of humankind. Let me try to make it up to you. Redcross.org reached .45% of all Alexa users during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. There is hope. Now they just need a TV show, preferably with Paula Abdul.

Hey! Where Did My Traffic Go?

We've been getting quite a few phone calls and support requests this week from people asking "Hey, where did my traffic go?" Every year or so we get another flood of them. A group of customers notice that their traffic history graphs suddenly show no history. Zip. Zero. Nada. Luckily it only happens to a relatively small number of sites.

What causes this phenomenon? "Flipping" the canons... here's where I dive into the deep end... When multiple sites hold the same content, we alias them to each other, effectively adding their traffic and site info together into a single record. Visit either one of the identical sites and you will see that Alexa shows identical data for them. They are aliased. Of those sites that are aliased together, the one that has the most traffic becomes the "canon." It is the primary site.

Let's give a real-world example. Take the case of trafalgar.com. They also have trafalgartours.com, which is an exact mirror of trafalgar.com. When you visit either one, Alexa will show identical site information because they are aliased together. And, because trafalgar.com gets the most traffic of the two, it is the canon.

Simple so far, right? Here's where it gets a bit dicey. Last year, trafalgartours.com used to get more traffic than trafalgar.com and it was the canon. This year, when we set about to create an updated canon file, we noticed that trafalgar.com should be the canon. So we "flipped" the canon. Previously, when you asked for data for one of the two sites Alexa was showing data for trafalgartours.com. Now, when you ask for data for one of them we are showing data for trafalgar.com. But unfortunately, according to our records, trafalgar.com has no traffic history... it is all under a different record, trafalgartours.com. So the traffic rank and traffic history graph hit the floor.

The net effect for the folks getting "flipped" is that their traffic disappears. Their rank hits the floor and the traffic history graph shows nothing. It is like day 1 on Alexa. On the upside, Alexa is showing data for the site that gets the most traffic now. This could be beneficial if a site has undergone a name change. Rather than show Alexa data for a brand that no longer exists, Alexa will show data for the site's new brand.

Next time we do a flip we will try to find a better way. There is no excuse for dumping a site's traffic history and destroying their rank just because they made a name change. Next time it will be better. In the mean while, for those of you who were flipped, we can only prescribe patience. Your daily and weekly data should have recovered already and your 3 month rank will recover over the next few months.

HGTV Tops the Movers List

Want to top the Alexa's Movers and Shakers list? Great. Here's all you need to do:

1. Buy a cable TV channel.
2. Build a massive custom home.
3. Run ads & TV Specials on your cable TV channel offering to give the home to a lucky winner.
4. Place the entry form for the home give away on your site.

Easy!