I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compare the site traffic rankings of what I believe to be the most popular English-language websites focused on Israel-related news.
I looked at the following sites: Ha’aretz, JPost, Times of Israel, Ynet, Arutz Sheva/INN, The Jewish Press, Honest Reporting and The Algemeiner.
I did not look at other sites which deal with Israel, but are not focused on it, such as The Blaze and Breitbart.
Here are the results based on Alexa.
#1: Jerusalem Post
Despite offering what I consider to be a poor website experience, the JPost is the top ranking of the websites of the bunch.
#2: Ha’aretz
They may have a paywall and have lost 2000 subscribers during this current crisis, but Ha’aretz is still in the mix. Somehow.
#3: Times of Israel
The relatively new kids on the block are not far behind, probably due in part to their superior user experience, clever use of social media, and democratized blogging platform (despite the pitfalls of that strategy). In my mind, they still need to figure out if they are a serious news site, or huge blog, judging by the irreverence of many of their news reports.
#4: Ynet
With it’s simple website design and at-times horrendous English, Yediot’s English version is a bit further behind.
#5: Israel National News/Arutz Sheva
With it’s unapologetically right-wing outlook, INN will always be preaching solely to the choir. My main issue with them is what I perceive to be a lack of journalistic standards at times.
#6: The Algemeiner
This site seems to have gained traction in recent times, and deservedly so. I have noticed they seem to scoop quite a bit.
#7: The Jewish Press
This outfit reminds me a lot of INN/Arutz Sheva in style and content. Not without their share of controversy, the Jewish Press has likely benefited from its association with the Facebook page of The Muqata, which has proven very popular during the current crisis with its constant updates.
#8: Honest Reporting
More a site pointing out media bias than a pure news site, Honest Reporting finds itself lagging way behind the other players (although its usefulness is undeniable)
And if you are curious where Israellycool stands..
That places us above Honest Reporting on the list. Not bad for a simple blog with no funding.
And if you are still curious..
So despite spending most of his days on this site, and pimping out links to his posts to all and sundry of the Israel-hating world, the DouchebloggerTM has way less traffic than us.
