One in seven consumer-facing web sites failed a simple link
integrity test, revealing one or more errors severe enough to cause
visitors to defect, according to a report based on a study of 239
well-known sites by Jupiter Research.
One in seven consumer-facing web sites failed a simple link integrity test, revealing one or more errors severe enough to cause visitors to defect, according to a report based on a study of 239 well-known sites by analysts at Jupiter Research.
The usability review, carried out this month, found that, of the home pages tested: 24 had broken links ("404" errors); 14 provoked server errors; five linked to sites with non-existent host names; and three pointed to servers that responded with server unavailable errors.
In all, Jupiter Research tested over 22,000 links, more than 50% of which were routed through manual "redirect" or tracking scripts, to measure consumer behaviour, a tactic especially prone to generating errors.
According to another recent Jupiter study, the number one challenge faced by web site operators is improving site usability (49% of respondents), a priority that outweighs the challenge of budget constraints (47% of respondents) or measuring ROI (40% of respondents).
Despite this priority, it found that web site quality remains poor for many web sites.
According to David Schatsky, Senior Vice President of Research at Jupiter Research:
"Despite the high priority of improving site usability, the basics of web site operations - having error free pages, consumer-friendly messaging and navigation that makes sense - require putting yourself in the visitor's shoes, a tact only indirectly served by traditional quality assurance."
The report counsels site operators to adopt visitor-centric site management tactics and technologies to ensure the highest possible site integrity.
