Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
523178 Journal of Informetrics 2013 13 Pages PDF
Abstract

•Found significant correlations between Web traffic and academic/business performance.•Alexa Internet is the best among the three Web traffic data sources examined.•Traffic data from the three sources are highly correlated.

Unlike Web hyperlink data, Web traffic data have not yet been the focus of considerable study in Webometrics research. The relationships between Web traffic data and academic/business performance measures have not been as firmly established as the relationships between Web hyperlink data and such performance measures. Although various traffic data sources exist, few studies have examined and compared their relative merits. We carried out a study that aimed to address this lack. We selected groups of universities and businesses from the U.S. and China and collected their Web traffic data from three sources: Alexa Internet, Google Trends for Websites, and Compete. We found significant correlations between Web traffic data and organizational performance measures, specifically academic quality for universities and financial variables for businesses. We also examined the characteristics of the three data sources and compared their usefulness. We found that Alexa Internet outperformed the others.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Computer Science Computer Science Applications
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