New Report Finds UK University Websites Need To Improve Website Accessibility

LONDON, Sept. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Monsido - powered by CivicPlus, a leading web governance platform, has published an industry benchmark report analysing the websites of the top 50 UK universities. The benchmark report found that the content quality and SEO of university websites improved compared to the 2020 report, whereas web accessibility continues to be a challenge.

The 2022 website benchmark scans were conducted in August 2022 using the Monsido Web Governance platform. The scans evaluated 500 pages of the leading UK university websites based on their website's accessibility, content quality (including broken links, misspellings, and content readability), SEO, and response time.

Monsido recommends organisations get an accessibility score over 70% to prove a path to compliance. The results from the benchmark revealed that website accessibility continues to be an area that needs more attention from universities, with 60 percent of university websites scoring below the threshold for compliance.

"It's great to see that universities in the UK are continuing to improve their websites, with the ultimate goal of an enhanced website experience for students, staff, and alumni. However, web accessibility is an area that still does seem to need improvement to ensure a more inclusive and accessible experience for all," said Alex Marshall, Sales Director for Europe at Monsido - powered by CivicPlus. "We congratulate the universities that excelled in the categories measured in this report, and encourage them to continue to set a shining example for their peers in the higher education sector."

With regards to content quality, the top 3 UK universities continue to maintain a high standard, with scores above 93%. However the average content quality score was 65%, leaving room for improvement. Similarly for SEO, the top 3 UK university websites had scores above 90%. The average SEO score across all 50 tested websites was 80.8%. Lastly, there was a significant improvement in website response time, with load times for the top 3 universities significantly faster than the top 2020 performers. However, an overwhelming 86% of universities still scored poorly.

The industry benchmark revealed that the Top 5 Websites Overall belonged to the University of Birmingham, University of York, The University of Sheffield, Royal Holloway University of London, and King's College London. Top performers in the other benchmarked categories are detailed in the report.

For more insights, see the full benchmark report and rankings on the Monsido website.

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