trade unions
10 Jun 2014

Trade Union Website League Table 2014


Every June I look at a number of key industry metrics to see how the TUC affiliated unions’ websites rank against each other.  The results are compiled in a trade union website league table, and the 2014 version is now complete.

The full league table can be seen below and last years' results are here: trade union website league table 2013. This league table isn't an attempt to judge the content, design or functionality of each site. Instead, it reflects how often a website is mentioned and linked to on other websites.

To do this, I use leading metrics such as Domain Authority and Google PageRank that reflects both the quantity and quality of back-links to a website.

These back-links are a key part of a website’s search engine optimisation efforts, as this (known as 'offsite optimisation'), combined with how well the website is built to send the right signals to search engines (known as 'onsite optimisation'), indicates how high a website will appear in search engine results. I've written before about how important search engine optimisation is for trade unions.

The higher the unions’ message appears in the results of search engines like Google, the more influence that union has online

I've used exactly the same metrics as last year, so a direct comparison can be made between the scores as well as position for each union.

No Union Page Authority Domain Authority Mozrank Google Page Rank Average out of 100
(2) Unite 79 74 6.10 7  71
(1) UNISON 76 71 5.96 6  66.65
3 (3) Chartered Society of Physiotherapy 75 70 5.97 6  66.175
4 (4) BDA 73 67 5.94 6  64.85
5 (5) NUJ 72 68 5.66 6  64.15
(8) Equity 69 68 5.79 6  63.725
(6) Musicians’ Union 70 64 5.66 6  62.65
(10) BECTU 67 61 5.53 6  60.825
(7) UCU 65 58 5.62 6  59.8
10 (14) NUT 68 61 5.69 5  58.975
10 (12) RMT 67 60 5.87 5  58.975
12 (17) Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists 67 61 5.69 5  58.725
13 (19) Prospect 60 52 5.97 6  57.925
14 (11) GMB 66 60 5.51 5  57.775
15 (13) The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain 62 54 5.31 6  57.275
16 (9) PCS 65 58 5.50 5  57
16 (16) NASUWT 65 57 5.60 5  57
18 (21) FBU 60 52 5.27 6  56.175
19 (15) CWU 62 54 5.41 5  55.025
20 (18) ATL 60 52 5.41 5  54.025
21 (20) Society of Radiographers 57 48 5.55 5  52.625
22 (23) TSSA 58 49 5.09 5  51.975
23 (25) BALPA 54 45 5.32 5  50.55
24 (22) USDAW 54 44 5.31 5  50.275
25 (27) AEP 52 42 5.51 5  49.775
26 (24) ASLEF 53 44 4.97 5  49.175
27 (26) EIS 52 43 5.15 5  49.125
28 (29) BFAWU 55 48 5.02 4  48.3
29 (28) Community 51 42 4.93 5  48.075
30 (32) NAPO 50 41 5.06 5  47.9
31 (35) British and Irish Orthoptic Society 50 40 5.07 5  47.675
32 (30) Nautilus 47 42 4.98 5  47.2
33 (31) UCATT 50 40 4.84 5  47.1
34 (33) NUM 48 38 4.73 5  45.825
35 (34) POA 47 38 4.70 5  45.5
36 (36) HCSA 47 37 4.69 5  45.225
37 (37) FDA 45 34 4.95 5  44.625
38 (39) NASS 43 32 4.60 5  42.75
39 (40) Unity 41 30 4.52 5  41.55
40 (38) Accord 38 34 4.31 5  41.275
41 (41) URTU 38 27 4.11 5  39.025
42 (42) UCAC 27 27 4.48 5  37.2
43 (44) BSU 36 24 3.87 5  37.175
44 (45) Advance 39 26 4.34 4  37.1
45 (43) BACM-TEAM 37 31 3.66 4  36.15
46 (47) NGSU 27 26 3.68 5  34.95
47 (49) Aegis 32 19 3.63 5  34.325
48 (46) NACO 32 19 3.68 4  31.95
49 (48) SURGE 30 16 3.23 4  29.575
49 (50) NACODS 30 16 3.23 4  29.575

Source: moz.com and Google, June 2014

This is the third year that I've carried out the analysis and for the first time the top union has changed. UNISON, previously first, has slipped to second place. Unite have now moved to the top. In third position is the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, followed by the British Dietetic Association and the NUJ.

The biggest riser is Prospect, who has moved up from 19th to 13th. I provided Prospect with advice on search engine optimisation, so I'm pleased to see them moving up.

The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists has increased five places to 12th while the NUT and the British and Irish Orthoptic Society both go up 4 places, to 10th and 31st respectively. The FBU also do well, moving up 3 places to 18th.

Biggest risers

Union Positions moved up
Prospect 6
Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists 5
NUT, British and Irish Orthoptic Society 4
FBU 3

PCS has the biggest fall, moving from 9th to 16th. The CWU has the second largest decline, going from 15th to 19th while another big union, GMB, falls back three places to 14th.

Biggest falls

Union Positions moved down
PCS 7
CWU 4
GMB 3

Why have some union’s scores increased and decreased over the year?

If the amount of links a union website gets online has changed, then this will impact on their score. For example, if a union is getting more mentions on news websites or has created a great resource people are linking to.

However, it is not the league table position but the metrics a union should really use to judge progress over the last year. If the metrics have gone up over the year, then the chances are that a page from the website is more likely to appear higher in any relevant search engine results.

Search engines like Google are the biggest source of visitors for most websites, and the higher the unions’ message appears in search engines results, the more influence that union has online.


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