trade unions
02 Jul 2013

Trade Union Website League Table 2013


It's been a year since I created the first trade union website league table, and so I've updated it below for 2013. I provide search engine optimisation services regularly to the private sector.

However, I also do a lot of consultancy work with unions and I feel search engine optimisation is an overlooked area where unions can win influence by being more visible online.

 I've written about my feeling on this before, and this table is an attempt to highlight the importance of search engine optimisation to unions. The league table reflects how important the websites are considered to be by search engines, and it's a good predictor of how well they will rank on services like Google.

I’ve estimated importance using a number of industry standard metrics, including Google page rank and something called Domain Authority. Domain Authority estimates how important a website is by the number and quality of links pointing to it on the internet.

One change I've made is I'm now using the Domain Mozrank as opposed to the home page Mozrank, as this more accurately reflects the whole website rather than the home page.

No Union Page Authority Domain Authority Mozrank Google Page Rank Average out of 100
1 (1) UNISON 80 76 5.93 7 71.325
2 (2) Unite 78 73 5.93 7 70.075
3 (4) Chartered Society of Physiotherapy 76 71 5.87 6 66.425
4 (3) BDA 74 68 5.8 6 65
5 (5) NUJ 75 69 5.53 6 64.825
6 (7) Musicians’ Union 72 68 5.75 6 64.375
7 (8) UCU 69 62 5.43 7 63.825
8 (6) Equity 70 69 5.59 6 63.725
9 (9) PCS 68 62 5.46 6 61.15
10 (12) BECTU 67 62 5.4 6 60.75
11 (18) GMB 69 65 5.74 5 60.35
12 (13) RMT 67 61 5.14 6 59.85
13 (15) The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain 67 59 5.09 6 59.225
14 (10) NUT 68 62 5.55 5 58.875
15 (17) CWU 67 60 5.29 5 57.475
16 (14) NASUWT 65 57 5.43 5 56.575
17 (11) Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists 68 62 5.59 4 56.475
18 (16) ATL 61 54 5.28 5 54.45
19 (21) Prospect 59 50 5.81 5 54.275
20 (19) Society of Radiographers 60 52 5.37 5 53.925
21 (20) FBU 60 52 5.12 5 53.3
22 (24) USDAW 58 49 5.16 5 52.15
23 (22) TSSA 58 49 5.01 5 51.775
24 (23) ASLEF 56 48 4.89 5 50.725
25 (26) BALPA 56 46 4.99 5 50.475
26 (25) EIS 55 46 4.97 5 50.175
27 (30) AEP 52 43 5.25 5 49.375
28 (27) Community 53 44 4.83 5 48.825
29 (32) BFAWU 53 45 4.72 5 48.8
30 (33) Nautilus 51 46 4.81 5 48.775
31 (28) UCATT 52 42 4.96 5 48.4
32 (29) NAPO 51 42 4.79 5 47.725
33 (34) NUM 50 41 4.56 5 46.65
34 (48) POA 50 41 4.56 5 46.65
35 (31) BOS TU 52 42 4.94 4 45.85
36 (36) HCSA 49 39 4.52 5 45.8
37 (35) FDA 46 36 4.72 5 44.8
38 (39) Accord 42 38 4.19 5 42.975
39 (40) NASS 45 34 4.27 5 42.925
40 (38) Unity 43 32 4.31 5 42.025
41 (41) URTU 42 31 3.95 5 40.625
42 (46) UCAC 33 30 4.25 5 38.875
43 (45) BACM-TEAM 44 38 3.28 4 38.7
44 (43) BSU 38 27 3.73 5 38.075
45 (37) Advance 41 29 4.2 4 38
46 (47) NACO 35 22 3.72 4 33.55
47 (42) NGSU 34 17 3.31 5 33.525
48 (49) SURGE 31 17 2.9 4 29.25
49 (50) Aegis 31 18 3.31 3 28.025
50 (51) NACODS 28 13 2.91 0 17.525

Source: moz.com and Google, June 2013

There is no movement at the very top of the table, with UNISON and Unite in first and second place again. However, there has been movement elsewhere.

One of the biggest movers is the GMB, who are now ranked 11th, a big improvement on 18th last year. Similarly the POA has moved up from 48th to 34th. Some unions have slipped down though.

Biggest risers

Union Positions moved up
POA 14
GMB 7
UCAC 4
AEP. BFAWU, Nautilus 3

Biggest falls

Union Positions moved down
Advance 8
Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists 6
NGSU 5
NUT, BOS TU 4

Search engines estimate how important a website is by analysing how many times they are linked to across the web, and where these links come from. For example, if a search engine sees a link to a union from the BBC website, then it will assume that the union website is important as the BBC website is very trusted.

If the search engine finds links to a union from a lesser known blog, then it will still see this as a vote of confidence in the union website, but to a lesser extent.

The value of search engine performance to unions should not be underestimated. By pushing the union’s message higher in search engine results, they are exerting greater influence and getting their message across to a larger audience. The web is the place where most people now go to for information, and so appearing at the top of their search results has never been more important.

Why has the ranking of unions changed over the last year? If a union has received lots of press coverage, published great content or added a really useful online tool during the last year, then we can expect the website to receive many more links, boosting its perceived authority.

Similarly, if the website has been engaging less people, or perhaps allowing links to break without redirecting them, then their ranking will fall.  


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