Alexa is being retired. It is indeed an Amazon Inc. product, but it’s not the virtual assistant that will stop answering to the “Hey Alexa” hot word. The online retail giant is winding down Alexa.com, a website that operated a subscription service for web analytics.
Before there was a “Hey Siri”, “Ok Google”, and “Hey Alexa”, there was Alexa.com. In fact, the web analytics company is even older than Google. But Amazon Inc. has decided to shutter the widely popular and regularly used subscription-based service.
“Twenty-five years ago, we founded Alexa Internet. After two decades of helping you find, reach, and convert your digital audience, we’ve made the difficult decision to retire Alexa.com on May 1, 2022. Thank you for making us your go-to resource for content research, competitive analysis, keyword research, and so much more.”
Amazon Inc. has already stopped accepting new subscriptions starting from December 8, 2021. Existing subscribers will have access to the platform and their data until May 1, 2022. However, the company is strongly urging existing customers to export their data from the service"s various tools if they wish. The service"s APIs will shut down in December 2022.
Amazon launched Alexa Internet in April 1996. Needless to mention, the platform’s most popular service has been the Alexa Traffic Rank (or Global Rank). By crunching the data, Alexa offered a simple to understand number for any given website. This number represented the website’s popularity.
Although Amazon Inc. hasn’t offered any specific reason, in a rather strange twist of irony, Alexa.com’s own popularity has been waning. Data from traffic and marketing analytics firm Semrush reportedly indicates the service"s own incoming traffic has been steadily declining over the years.