<s>
It	O
was	O
a	O
wholly-owned	O
subsidiary	O
of	O
Amazon	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alexa	O
was	O
founded	O
as	O
an	O
independent	O
company	O
in	O
1996	O
and	O
acquired	O
by	O
Amazon	B-Application
in	O
1999	O
for	O
$250	O
million	O
in	O
stock	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2021	O
,	O
Amazon	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
it	O
would	O
be	O
shutting	O
down	O
its	O
Alexa	O
Internet	O
subsidiary	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alexa	O
's	O
operations	O
grew	O
to	O
include	O
archiving	O
of	O
web	O
pages	O
as	O
they	O
are	O
"	B-Application
crawled	I-Application
"	I-Application
and	O
examined	O
by	O
an	O
automated	O
computer	O
program	O
(	O
nicknamed	O
a	O
"	O
bot	O
"	O
or	O
"	O
web	B-Application
crawler	I-Application
"	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1999	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
company	O
moved	O
away	O
from	O
its	O
original	O
vision	O
of	O
providing	O
an	O
"	O
intelligent	O
"	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
,	O
Alexa	O
was	O
acquired	O
by	O
Amazon.com	B-Application
for	O
approximately	O
US$250	O
million	O
in	O
Amazon	B-Application
stock	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alexa	O
began	O
a	O
partnership	O
with	O
Google	B-Application
in	O
early	O
2002	O
,	O
and	O
with	O
the	O
web	O
directory	O
DMOZ	B-Application
in	O
January	O
2003	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2005	O
,	O
Alexa	O
opened	O
its	O
extensive	O
search	O
index	O
and	O
Web-crawling	O
facilities	O
to	O
third-party	O
programs	O
through	O
a	O
comprehensive	O
set	O
of	O
Web	O
services	O
and	O
APIs	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
,	O
for	O
instance	O
,	O
to	O
construct	O
vertical	B-Application
search	I-Application
engines	I-Application
that	O
could	O
run	O
on	O
Alexa	O
's	O
servers	O
or	O
elsewhere	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
May	O
2006	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
was	O
replaced	O
with	O
Windows	O
Live	O
Search	O
as	O
a	O
provider	O
of	O
search	B-Application
results	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2006	O
,	O
Amazon	B-Application
released	O
Alexa	O
Image	O
Search	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
May	O
2007	O
,	O
Alexa	O
changed	O
their	O
API	B-Application
to	O
limit	O
comparisons	O
to	O
three	O
websites	O
,	O
reduce	O
the	O
size	O
of	O
embedded	O
graphs	O
in	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
add	O
mandatory	O
embedded	O
BritePic	O
advertisements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
November	O
27	O
,	O
2008	O
,	O
Amazon	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
Alexa	O
Web	B-Application
Search	I-Application
was	O
no	O
longer	O
accepting	O
new	O
customers	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
the	O
service	O
would	O
be	O
deprecated	O
or	O
discontinued	O
for	O
existing	O
customers	O
on	O
January	O
26	O
,	O
2009	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
redesigned	O
site	O
provided	O
new	O
web	O
traffic	O
metrics	O
—	O
including	O
average	O
page	O
views	O
per	O
individual	O
user	O
,	O
bounce	B-Protocol
rate	I-Protocol
(	O
the	O
rate	O
of	O
users	O
who	O
come	O
to	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
leave	O
a	O
webpage	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
user	O
time	O
on	O
website	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
following	O
weeks	O
,	O
Alexa	O
added	O
more	O
features	O
,	O
including	O
visitor	O
demographics	O
,	O
clickstream	O
and	O
web	B-Application
search	I-Application
traffic	O
statistics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
Wednesday	O
,	O
December	O
8	O
,	O
2021	O
,	O
Amazon	B-Application
announced	O
the	O
cessation	O
of	O
its	O
website	O
ranking	O
and	O
competitive	O
analysis	O
service	O
,	O
which	O
has	O
been	O
available	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
for	O
more	O
than	O
25	O
years	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
traffic	O
rank	O
used	O
to	O
be	O
determined	O
from	O
data	O
recollected	O
from	O
users	O
that	O
had	O
the	O
Alexa	B-Protocol
toolbar	I-Protocol
installed	O
on	O
their	O
browser	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
extensions	O
were	O
made	O
available	O
for	O
Google	B-Application
Chrome	I-Application
and	O
Firefox	B-Application
browsers	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alexa	O
used	O
to	O
rank	O
sites	O
based	O
primarily	O
on	O
tracking	O
a	O
sample	O
set	O
of	O
Internet	O
traffic	O
—	O
users	O
of	O
its	O
browser	B-Protocol
toolbar	I-Protocol
for	O
the	O
Internet	B-Application
Explorer	I-Application
,	O
Firefox	B-Application
and	O
Google	B-Application
Chrome	I-Application
web	O
browsers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Alexa	B-Protocol
Toolbar	I-Protocol
included	O
a	O
popup	O
blocker	O
(	O
which	O
stops	O
unwanted	O
ads	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
search	O
box	O
,	O
links	O
to	O
Amazon.com	B-Application
and	O
the	O
Alexa	O
homepage	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Alexa	O
ranking	O
of	O
the	O
website	O
that	O
the	O
user	O
is	O
visiting	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
,	O
web	O
pages	O
were	O
only	O
ranked	O
amongst	O
users	O
who	O
had	O
the	O
Alexa	B-Protocol
Toolbar	I-Protocol
installed	O
,	O
and	O
could	O
be	O
biased	O
if	O
a	O
specific	O
audience	O
subgroup	O
was	O
reluctant	O
to	O
take	O
part	O
in	O
the	O
rankings	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2007	O
,	O
Michael	O
Arrington	O
provided	O
examples	O
of	O
Alexa	O
rankings	O
known	O
to	O
contradict	O
data	O
from	O
the	O
comScore	O
web	O
analytics	O
service	O
,	O
including	O
ranking	O
YouTube	B-General_Concept
ahead	O
of	O
Google	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
In	O
2021	O
John	O
Mueller	O
from	O
Google	B-Application
confirmed	O
again	O
that	O
Google	B-Application
does	O
n't	O
use	O
Amazon	B-Application
Alexa	O
Rank	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Until	O
2007	O
,	O
a	O
third-party-supplied	O
Mozilla	O
plug-in	O
called	O
Search	O
Status	O
for	O
the	O
Firefox	B-Application
browser	I-Application
served	O
as	O
the	O
only	O
option	O
for	O
Firefox	B-Application
users	O
after	O
Amazon	B-Application
abandoned	O
its	O
A9	O
toolbar	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
July	O
16	O
,	O
2007	O
,	O
Alexa	O
released	O
an	O
official	O
toolbar	O
for	O
Firefox	B-Application
called	O
Sparky	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alexa	O
confirmed	O
this	O
later	O
in	O
the	O
day	O
with	O
an	O
announcement	O
that	O
they	O
had	O
released	O
an	O
updated	O
ranking	O
system	O
,	O
claiming	O
that	O
they	O
would	O
now	O
take	O
into	O
account	O
more	O
sources	O
of	O
data	O
"	O
beyond	O
Alexa	B-Protocol
Toolbar	I-Protocol
users	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Site	O
owners	O
input	O
JavaScript	B-Language
code	O
on	O
each	O
page	O
of	O
their	O
website	O
that	O
,	O
if	O
permitted	O
by	O
the	O
user	O
's	O
security	O
and	O
privacy	O
settings	O
,	O
ran	O
and	O
sent	O
traffic	O
data	O
to	O
Alexa	O
,	O
allowing	O
Alexa	O
to	O
display	O
—	O
or	O
not	O
display	O
,	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
owner	O
's	O
preference	O
—	O
more	O
accurate	O
statistics	O
such	O
as	O
total	O
page	O
views	O
and	O
unique	O
page	O
views	O
.	O
</s>
