Survey to name top 30 sites

The popularity of UK-based Websites will be revealed by

a top 30 chart published by leading UK Website directory service Yell.

By measuring connections to other UK Websites made through its own UK directory, the Yell chart aims to provide a valuable snapshot of Britain’s most visited sites.

However, Kate Garrett, new product development manager at the Yellow Pages subsidiary, admits the top 30 chart will not give an absolute measure of the popularity of UK Websites.

The chart will measure traffic to sites routed through Yell, using rolling four-week totals of visits which will be updated weekly, to generate the top 30 rankings. The chart should go some way to countering the dearth of public information on usage of UK Websites, says Garrett.

She stresses the chart cannot measure visits to UK sites routed through popular US-based search systems such as Yahoo, or visits made by surfers to well-established UK sites such as the Electronic Telegraph using direct “bookmarked” access.

But it should provide a good insight into the popularity of recently introduced Web pages.

In trials conducted at the end of last month, “travel and leisure, jobs, and financial services are the areas which appear to be accessed most” says Garrett.

Top site is the AA Guide: Where to Stay and Eat, which has maintained its leading position over two weeks, while Thomas Cook, British Airways Global Check-In, Thomson Tour Operators and easyjet all make it into the top 30.

Halifax Property Services, Abbey National Direct, Halifax Building Society, and Direct Line Society all feature in the top ten, with Barclays and Alliance & Leicester lower down the charts.