OREANDA-NEWS  On 18 September was announced, that the results from the Russian edition of H&H Webranking was published in the Russian business magazine Expert. Lukoil managed to defend its title as the best Russian corporate website with a score of 54.25, followed by Novolipetsk Steel with 52.5 and Norilsk Nickel with 51.25. Vimpelcom achieved the biggest improvement, moving from the lowly position of fourteenth place last year up to fifth this year.

This year’s Russian H&H Webranking survey highlights that Russian corporate websites are in danger of falling further behind European best practice standard unless they embrace online communication and starts to invest in it.

Many Russian corporate websites are rich on information and one overall finding is that Russian corporate websites in general have improved their corporate governance sections. This development is positive since corporate governance information is becoming increasingly important, especially for international investors.

One area that still is a problem for Russian companies is information covering corporate calendar and events. Timely and constantly updated information about activities, projects, statements, results and financial reporting is fundamental in online corporate communication.

International approach

One major factor that is contributing to the weak performance of Russian corporate websites is their international approach, an approach that currently is not at the same level as many of the Western European corporate websites reviewed. A corporate website with rich information in English is today one of the single most important line of actions. This includes not only making the language clear and simple, but also providing understandable mechanisms for navigating within and between pages. Providing navigation tools and orientation information together with a clear labelling in pages will maximize accessibility and usability. This year’s Russian H&H Webranking survey reveals that some Russian companies tend to use a somewhat different labelling and navigation structure than what many users are used to, why some Russian corporate websites can be perceived as difficult to understand and hard to navigate.

Corporate Social Responsibility

An area that has gained more attention this year is CSR. The total score regarding CSR information in H&H Webranking have increased with 30% as an answer to the demand from the capital market. Russian companies score below the European average in their CSR communication. 

“Companies in sensitive sectors such as oil, tobacco and alcohol have been early adopters in communicating their CSR activities. We are looking forward to see how Russia’s many large companies within for instance the raw material sector will adapt to this development”, says Marcus Eriksson, Head of H&H Webranking.