Metrics - Website

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Metrics and Reporting

Activity on website(s) and/or app(s) in a given period.

Principles

1.Prior registration of Website/App activity claims is required

2. Activity must be human-initiated and the associated content intended to be seen by the user

3. You must report one of the mandatory Unique User metrics

4. Additional optional metrics may be reported

Requirements

1. Prior registration of Website/App activity claims is required

   1. You must notify us of your intention to claim Website/App activity as early as possible so that we can provide advice on whether your claim is capable of being properly recorded and checked.

   2. Our approach is to understand how the analytics tool you use measures and records your Website/App activity. We will review its configuration/implementation in order to establish that it will provide the relevant information in accordance with our Reporting Standards. This will require more audit work on our part if the claim, metrics or system used are more complex. If your claim includes information evidenced outside the analytics tool (for example a registration or payment database), then we will also need to review these processes/transactions.

      1. To achieve this you will need to:

         • Confirm the particular Websites/Apps to be registered, including how they are identified and managed in the analytics tool used.

           • You may include a number of different website(s) and/or Apps on the same certificate – for example the websites for multiple brands or your publishing company.

           • If traffic to Google AMP pages is reported, this will need to be identified and separately itemised on the certificate (unless it’s de-duplicated and reported together – see below).

           • If you are opting to report a single de-duplicated user figure across multiple websites, apps, Google AMP pages, you’ll need to be able to demonstrate how the users are identified and correctly reported.

         • Confirm you will provide us with appropriate information to confirm metric counts and configuration settings. This may include ongoing access to your analytics tool’s dashboard (on a review/read only basis) and if necessary for more complex claims, the underlying system data (e.g. logged records) or additional records such as user registration/payment records.

         • Provide us with access to paid websites/app on request in order to facilitate our testing.

2. Activity must be human-initiated and the associated content intended to be seen by the user

   1. To arrive at the best assessment of human-initiated activity, you will exclude robotic or simulated activity by applying appropriate filters, such as:

      1. The IAB/ABC International Spiders and Bots list.

      2. Your analytics tool’s in-built filter for robotic/non-human activity.

   2. You must apply appropriate filters to exclude internal traffic generated by users who maintain, develop or author the site.

   3. You may include traffic to syndicated content published on another website provided by a third party, as long as:

      1. The user has an opportunity to see, and interact with, that content

      2. The content is not simply a logo, search box or similar

3. You must report one of the mandatory Unique User metric
   You must report the average monthly Unique Users for each website and/or App using at least one of the following metrics:

   1. Unique Users

      1. A Unique User is defined as a unique and valid identifier, which has accessed the website/app during the declared period (being a calendar month for the mandatory metric). For example IP address +User-Agent and/or Cookie, Unique Device Identifier (UDID) for Apps.

   2. Unique Users (Registered)

      1. A Registered Unique User is defined as an account set up for a Unique User to request access to the website/app, which has accessed the website/app during the declared period (being a calendar month for the mandatory metric).

   3. Unique Users (Paid)

      1. A Paid Unique User is defined as an account set up for a Unique User upon payment by that user to request access to the website/app , which has accessed the website/app during the declared period (being a calendar month for the mandatory metric).

4. Additional optional metrics may be reported

   1. Other industry-agreed metrics.

      Please see our Website/App Traffic Metrics Appendix for details. If you wish to report any of these please discuss this with us, so we can review the additional evidence and audit work involved.

   2. Other optional analyses

      If you wish to report optional analyses please discuss this with us, so we can review the additional evidence and audit work involved. Examples are:

      1. Country. For example an analysis by UK/Rest of World, or country.

      2. Inventory sub-section

         • A sub-section is defined as a specific sub-domain; or set of sub-domains, or part of an app, with a common type of content. For example; you may analyse by brand, group of sub-domains, named parts of apps, or a content section - such as ‘jobs’ or ‘sport’.

         • The description of the sub-section must reasonably cover the content of the inventory grouped within it.

      3. User platform/device type

         Descriptions must reasonably reflect the devices grouped under each heading, and be based on the supporting data. For example: Computer, Tablet, smartphone etc.

      4. Other analyses derived from the metrics certified. For example: averages, ratios, figures per day/week/Reporting Period, figures per month etc.

Reporting

1. You must report Website/App activity for the relevant Reporting Period

   1. The Reporting Period must be a whole calendar month or any combination of consecutive calendar months (up to a maximum of 12).

   2. To remain registered you must report Website/App activity for certification at least once a year, as follows:

      1. Within 12 months of registering with ABC.

      2. Subsequent certificates must have Reporting Period end dates that are within 12 months of each other. For example: a certificate for a period ending 31st December 2021 must be followed by a certificate ending no later than 31st December 2022.

2. You must report one of the mandatory Unique User-metrics

   1. For each Website/App you must report:

      1. The website domain/URL or App name.

      2. At least one of the following mandatory metrics:

         • Unique Users (monthly average)

         • Unique Users (Registered monthly average)

         • Unique Users (Paid monthly average)

           Note:

           The above average monthly figures are arrived at by summing the reported figures for each calendar month in the Reporting Period, then dividing by the number of months.

   2. You may report two or more Websites/Apps on a single certificate (these can be from different brands), providing each is reported to the same Reporting Period. They will be listed individually with a figure for each. For example:
      
      

      Website/App	Average Monthly Unique Users
      xyzhealth.co.uk	14,000
      xyzbeauty.co.uk	8,000
      xyz app	8,000

       

      1. If you wish, and are technically able, you may opt to report a de-duplicated Unique User total across the reported Websites/Apps. For example:

         
         

         Website/App	Traffic Sources	Average Monthly Unique Users
         xyzhealth	xyzhealth.co.uk, jobs.xyzhealth.co.uk	20,000

   3. The registered name for the product must appropriately describe the Website(s)/App(s) included.

3. You may report optional metrics

   1. You may optionally report:

      1. Other industry-agreed metrics. Examples include Page Impressions, Visits, Visit Duration.

      2. Other analyses derived from the metrics certified. Examples include country, inventory sub-section, user platform/device type, averages, ratios, figures per day/week/reporting period etc.

         We reserve the right to require appropriate explanations/descriptions to be added to any such optional information.

4. You may optionally report a description of the product and its content

   1. This statement will be verified at audit. For example: ‘The websites and app are updated daily to provide readers with up-to-date content whether on the move or at home.’ Note: This statement is not to contain market comparisons or traffic claims.