China blog 'cheats' stats get wiped

Popular sites see position plummet from 35th to 300,000th in one day

A leading provider of global web traffic statistics temporarily removed two popular Chinese websites from its rankings, and then erased their public records following allegations of cheating, Chinese news sources say.

Chinese-language news site Sina.com reported yesterday that Alexa's ranking of BlogChina and HomeWay had plunged from approximately 35th place among all Chinese-language sites to below the 300,000th position. 

All historical statistics for the two sites were subsequently removed by Alexa, although it appears that the company has resumed counting visitors to the two sites.

Later reports on Sina.com have linked this to alleged illicit attempts to boost site rankings, noting that BlogChina's Alexa rankings had been reset once before, in January 2005.

US-based Alexa's internet traffic data counts visits to popular websites by users of the company's browser toolbar software, which is a popular download for Internet Explorer users.

In the absence of formally audited figures - a common state of affairs in developing markets like China - Alexa's statistics are often used by advertisers, investors and the media as a rough guide to the relative popularity of larger websites.

Alexa has made no public statement on the matter and did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Both BlogChina and HomeWay operate news and information portals, although BlogChina, better known as Bokee.com in China, has used its relative popularity as a blogging host to differentiate itself from competitors for investment funding.

BlogChina laid off 100 of its estimated 400 staff last month, citing uncertainty about the future of the blogging industry, according to Interfax. 

The company has reportedly received over $10m in foreign investment, and is aiming for 10 million registered users and a US initial public offering on Nasdaq this year. 

There were 33.3 million bloggers in China by the end of the third quarter last year, according to China-based research firm Analysys International. 

DoNews, a Chinese-language blogging and news site, published an interview last year with a Chinese self-described 'Alexa ranking expert', going by the online moniker of 'Alexa_Improve'. 

He claimed to be able to add up to 20,000 fake visitors a month to a website's Alexa statistics, and that local companies had paid him to boost their websites' Alexa rankings prior to their negotiations with advertisers.

The fake visits were generated with the assistance of a small group of helpers using an undisclosed software-based method, he said.