In an effort to further improve the accuracy of measuring the rankings of the busiest websites comScore has announced they are planning on unveiling a new set of metrics for 2007. They believe that the number of page views does not reflect how much a site is used or valued by users.
In a statement comScore said, “The recent decline reported by comScore in Yahoo! Sites page views underscores another emerging issue in the Web metrics measurement industry. New technologies such as AJAX-which enable real-time site updates without needing to refresh a page-are impacting the relevance of page views as an accurate measure of the intensity of consumers’ Internet usage. Yahoo! in particular has begun implementing AJAX and other Web 2.0 technologies across their sites.”
Dr. Magid Abraham, President and CEO of comScore Networks said,” While page views will not altogether cease to be a relevant measure of a site’s value, it’s clear that there is an increasing need to consider page views alongside newer, more relevant measures. comScore is proud to continue carrying the torch as an industry innovator with the development of a new suite of metrics that will effectively address the Web 2.0 landscape by including enhanced measures of user engagement and advertising exposure. We will be introducing these new metrics to the industry in 2007.”
Other companies that rank websites include Alexa, HitWise and the new Compete. Comscore has not revealed what they will be introducing in 2007 regarding their new metrics. If they are successful with the metrics one could assume the others will follow with a similar method.
On the overall issue of accuracy a comment in a post from Chris said,” as for best services, I have been testing alot of them out – all are broken, all realize that, and all are working on getting better metrics. It’s the state of the market, though, and no one has set the flag in the ground and showing up as a leader. Each have their strengths and weaknesses, but that’s the market.”
Mike is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
