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I was wondering is there actually any point traffic and Alexa etc rank wise in terms of making an API available for a website? I am curious because i have come across a website which uses data from an API which actually ranks higher than the site offering the API.

Example of a site using data and ranking higher than the actual site with the API:

  • http://example.com (Alexa 118,821)
  • http://example2.com (Alexa 198,471) (Offers an API)

I am also now curious about Widgets and RSS data as well and starting to wonder if it's even worth the effort to make these.

Is there a trick to making an API and raising your rank when the API gets a curl? Perhaps by including Alexa, Google etc tracking/analytics scripts on the page where it generates the JSON etc data somehow would work?

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    Alexa is pure junk. You cannot count on the numbers they provide. It is statistically impossible for Alexa to provide any meaningful metric about any site. In fact, once you understand how impossible it is, you will wonder why the site exists at all and why people fall for the hype. webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/58602/… Oh yeah! Money. They make money off of you with so-called meaningful information. That is why the site exists.
    – closetnoc
    Commented Dec 1, 2015 at 0:26
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    Alexa rank is purely a measure of how many people they think visit a website. That's it. APIs and other things have zero direct affect on how you rank in Alexa. Which, as already stated, pure junk. The time and effort put into this question and these comments are more time than this topic deserve.
    – John Conde ♦
    Commented Dec 1, 2015 at 0:49
  • My question is also if it is worth the time to make APIs and widgets etc if other sites are just going to use them but you remain low in the ranks. In my opinion having a high Alexa is good because a lot of sites then take notice and you get backlinks which boost your Google rank too.
    – zeddex
    Commented Dec 1, 2015 at 10:38
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    Any Alexa number will not get you backlinks. I do not know of anyone who checks Alexa for anything. An API can be a good thing depending - assuming you are providing data. If you are providing content, then I would reconsider carefully. It could be seen as content marketing and would be, in effect, giving your content away for others to rank for. The caveat is if the content users provide a canonical link back to your original.
    – closetnoc
    Commented Dec 1, 2015 at 18:17

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