Selection procedure
For this election it has been decided to place the nominated websites in categories in order to cover a broad range of sites. The Website of the Year election has 19 categories. Given below are the definitions of each of the categories defined by the organisers. The organisation can modify the definitions at all times.
Websites of car brands and websites who sell (used) cars.
Websites of financial services providers, such as banks or investment banks. Insurance companies are excluded from this category; they belong in the Insurance category.
Websites who are providing information about job offers, websites of employment agencies or websites about education.
Websites of NGOs/nonprofit organizations.
Platforms for discussion and sharing knowledge, information and ideas. In order to actively participate, the user has to log in.
Comparing products and/or prices of different providers.
Websites of consumer electronics brands.
Websites of or about fast moving consumer goods.
Dating and meeting new people.
Information about health (care) or general well-being, or websites of medical institutions. Health insurance companies are excluded from this category; they belong in the Insurance category.
Websites of insurance companies.
Websites about recreational activities or day trips and websites about looking for and booking trips and accommodation.
Websites of media outlets or about media.
Websites that focus on news in general, or news and information about a certain topic.
Websites offering products or services online, either of their own, or advertised by users of the website.
Websites of sports clubs, sports associations or sports accommodations.
Websites offering telecom services, internet or television.
Websites of companies providing electrical, gas, solar, wind or other power providers.
Websites focusing on weather forecast, the current traffic situation or route planning.
Selection of the nominated websites
A maximum of 12 nominations are made for each category. Websites are nominated via the selection procedure set out below.
1. The winners of the previous edition (depending on the previous year, this will be 1 or 2 websites).
2. A maximum of 5 websites per category from the Top 100 list of Alexa. For each country the website must be available in the country’s language, and the organizers place the websites in the 19 categories. Websites that do not fit within
one of the categories are not nominated.
3. The 5 most frequently named websites are nominated by means of a panel survey among 400 respondents per country from the OpinionBar panel. For each country the website must be available in the country’s language, and the organizers
place the websites in the 19 categories. Websites that do not fit within one of the categories are not nominated.
4. Websites can register themselves in order be eligible for a wildcard using the following procedure:
- A maximum of 6 wildcards per category.
- A minimum of 2000 unique visitors a month is required to be eligible for a wildcard (supply data via the registration procedure).
- If there are more registrations than available places in a category, the number of unique visitors per month determines which website(s) will receive the wildcard. The website(s) with the highest number of unique visitors per month will receive the wildcard.
Only the main domain of each website is allowed to receive a nomination. It is not allowed to be nominated with multiple domain names or sub domain names of the same website.