JICWEBS To Review ABCe Traffic Reporting

The Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards is to examine ways of increasing the transparency of data that goes towards Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic certificates, according to a report.

A spokesman for the committee told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the body had completed the first stage of a review into the use of analytical data used in ABCe audits.

The review was ordered after telegraph.co.uk added more than six million unique users in the two months leading up to its May traffic report (see Telegraph.co.uk Most Visited National Newspaper Site In April).

In a statement, JICWEBS said: “It is clear that many factors can play a role in how much traffic a website achieves. These include web management, marketing (including search engine optimisation and search engine marketing), seasonality and the news agenda.

“The members of JICWEBS agreed to continue to work together to ensure that best practice continues to prevail.”

According to the MediaGuardian report, one of the measures being considered is a change to the ABCe methodology so that all newspaper web domains that contribute recorded traffic to monthly audits would be included in the reported figures.

JICWEBS said that its internet technical group would review the practical implications of this measure and report back to the committee at its next meeting on November 5.

JICWEBS: www.jicwebs.org