According to a new study, Shell has the best corporate website, while eight of the top ten sites are those of European firms.
The Bowen Craggs FT Index has evaluated 75 corporate websites according to how well they serve the public, their investors, the media, and jobseekers.
Here are a few highlights from the study...
Here's the top ten:
Trends from the study:
US firms improving their websites
While European firms have been ahead in this area for the last few years, and still occupy the top slots, US firms are steadily improving and putting more resources into their web presence.
Big improvers are AT&T and Proctor & Gamble, which have both overhauled their sites in the last 12 months.
Social media
The study found that very few firms has incorporated social media into their websites, though two of the firms that are doing this have both stirred up some controversy recently.
Nestle, which found itself on the wrong side of customer anger after a recent Greenpeace campaign, does actually provide clear links to its Twitter account, Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Another example is chemical firm Chevron, which is the subject of a $27bn class action suit in Ecuador, and has been fighting its corner via its website and YouTube channel.
Apple, Google and Microsoft need to work on their websites
The report mentions that some of the 'worst constructed' websites are those from Google, Microsoft and Apple. The issue is that these firms 'let their decentralised philosophy roam free on their web estates, leading to dire dysfunctionality.'.
Of these sites, Apple is especially poor when it comes to the serving the media metric, one example being that it is impossible to get to the media section from the investor site.
Graham Charlton is Editor at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin or Google+.
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5:11PM on 26th April 2010
Interesting that the 3 UK companies all have major quality issues with their main corporate sites.
· Shell and BP have very basic Accessibility failures such as missing Alt Txt.
· BP have many broken links including links to old staging servers and a link that just takes you to a completely blank page.
· Astra Zeneca have performance issues.
Surely having a league table that puts these company websites in the top spots just leads senior, non-technical managers at those companies to think their websites are top notch when this is in fact far from the truth.