This year’s Webranking, the annual survey of corporate websites led by digital corporate communications company Comprend, shows that UK companies scored lower than they did last year due to a lack of understanding, at the highest level, of the purpose and importance of a corporate website. This highlights that while stakeholders expect more, UK companies continue to deliver the same or less.

The Webranking reveals that many FTSE-listed companies have web content that hasn’t been updated in many years. Comprend attributed this to a lack of budget or available resources. This marks little change from previous years, where UK companies underperform on investor content, meaning they continue to miss out on communicating with a key stakeholder group.

"Your Webranking score is an annual health-check on the quality of the relationships your content is building with stakeholders. It's surprising that UK companies are not prioritising these relationships by addressing the communication gaps on their websites,” says James Handslip, managing director of Comprend.

On average, UK websites contain 21% of the most important investor relations content and 24% of the most important shareholder information compared to their European peers, which puts them collectively at the back of the pack. However, when comparing the user experience of the largest 20 UK companies by market cap to the largest companies in Europe, UK-listed companies outperform every other country on the list.

There are some UK performers worthy of mention, which embody a clear understanding of the importance of corporate reputation and the essential role website plays in shaping it. BP ascended from 3^rd last year to take the lead. Royal Dutch Shell’s and Coca Cola HBC’s UK investments sites took second and third place respectively.