UKOLN LinkPopularity Analyses of the Shortlist for 2001 SPIN-SOCITM Website Awards


This page provides access to the LinkPopularity service which reports on the number of links to the Web sites.

This data was collected to support a paper on Automated Benchmarking Of Local Government Web Sites.

Table 1: Entry Point of Short-listed Web Sites

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland
L B Brent Dumfries & Galloway Council Cardiff CC Antrim BC
L B Camden Dundee City Council Ceredigion CC Armagh DC
L B Richmond East Renfrewshire Council Isle of Anglesey CC Belfast City Council
Tameside MBC Moray Council Wrexham CBC Newtownabbey BC
Wokingham Council West Lothian Council    

Summary

The initial findings were recorded on 30 July 2001. The survey was repated on 23 April 2002. The latest findings are shown in bold.

Table 2: LinkPopularity Analyses of Short-listed Web Sites
Site Analyse Nos. of Links
AltaVista		 Nos. of Links
Google		 Nos. of Links
HotBot
L B Brent Go 883
485
Go		 820
626
Go		  
> 100
Go
L B Camden Go 649
700
Go		 1,810
604
Go		 > 200
Go
LB Richmond Go 624
765
Go		 1,330
624
Go		 > 300
Go
Tameside MBC Go 581
443
Go		 1,340
148
Go		 > 200
Go
Wokingham Council Go 365
305
Go		 316
131
Go		 > 100
Go
Dumfries & Galloway Council Go 543
484
Go		 1,150
873
Go		 > 200
Go
Dundee City Council Go 867
896
Go		 500
241
Go		 > 500
Go
East Renfrewshire Council Go 290
267
Go		 454
111
Go		 > 100
Go
Moray Council Go 204
182
Go		 484
285
Go		 85
Go
West Lothian Council Go 232
268
Go		 244
132
Go		 > 200
Go
Cardiff CC Go 663
750
Go		 662
254
Go		 > 600
Go
Ceredigion CC Go 560
496
Go		 472
269
Go		 > 200
Go
Isle of Anglesey CC Go 315
314
Go		 316
145
Go		 > 100
Go
Wrexham CBC Go 250
255
Go		 238
117
Go		 > 100
Go
Antrim BC Go 284
355
Go		 266
135
Go		 > 100
Go
Armagh DC Go 202
207
Go		 420
188
Go		 > 100
Go
Belfast City Council Go 586
634
Go		 852
439
Go		 > 600
Go
Newtownabbey BC Go 100
88
Go		 360
53
Go		 80
Go

Why Is This Information Useful?

If a link is provided to your Web site, this active statement is likely to say something positive about your Web site.

Links to Web sites can help to drive traffic to your Web site.

Citation-based search engine such as Google will give a positive weighting to sites which have many links to them.

Companies make use of this type of information in their advertising.

How Can This Information Be Misinterpreted?

Links to your Web site will only be measured if the page containing the link has been indexed by a search engine. This means, for example, that links on Intranets, links on new Web sites which have not yet been indexed, etc. will not be included.

The results from the search engines can fluctuate for a number of reasons, such as load on the search engine.

Different results can be obtained depending on whether a trailing slash is added or not.

Different search engines can give very different results.

Review

Most Links

Of the 18 Web sites surveyed, the most linked-to site in the initial survey was Dundee City Council (896 links according to AltaVista) or L B Brent (626 links according to Google).

In the second survey the most linked-to site was Brent (883 links according to AltaVista) or Cambden (1,810 links according to Google).

Fewest Links

Of the 18 Web sites surveyed, the least linked-to site in the initial survey was Newtownabbey BC (88 links according to AltaVista and 53 links according to Google).

In the second survey the least linked-to site was Newtownabbey BC (100 links according to AltaVista) or Wrexham CBC (238 links according to Google).

Trends

According to AltaVista 9 sites had grown in popularity and 9 had decreased in popularity. According to Google 18 sites had grown in popularity and 0 had decreased in popularity.

What Other Link Popularity Tools Are Available?

The following Link Popularity tools are available:

Note that link popularity information can be obtained from many search engines using Advanced Search features.

Maintained by Brian Kelly, UKOLN
Last updated on 23-Apr-2002

Email comments to B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk