Manchester City were crowned Premier League champions earlier this month after an exceptional season. With a total of more than 100 goals scored, the Blues captured the title with a fluid, attacking breed of football.
However, does the club’s website mirror their excellence on the pitch, or do their title rivals Liverpool and Chelsea have the upper hand online? We’ve done an investigation of the websites to find out just who is the winner of the 2013/14 Web Design League.
The analysis
Manchester City
The website has 107,000 pages in total and it covers all elements of the day-to-day running of the club. News articles are engaging and well-written with high-quality images, while each member of the team has their own dedicated web page.
There is a strong emphasis on video content on the Manchester City website. The online presence is integrated with the club’s CityTV channel and is regularly updated to cover the latest news from the blue side of the city. Match highlights, interviews and a host of other content are all included to capture the attention of visitors excellently. The large amount of content featured on the site makes it a must-see site for fans of the team and fans of great web design.
On Google, the website ranks well for a number of associated terms. In terms of design, it is also vastly superior to their arch-rivals, Manchester United. Excellent content and a stylish, interactive layout means the online presence is truly outstanding.
Chelsea
The Chelsea website has 49,400 pages, but the copy is less impressive than what is offered by their two rivals. The copy is well-written and optimised for SEO, though Chelsea leave much to be desired when it comes to presentation. Text and headlines are small and the layout looks clunky and congested.
Chelsea TV is incorporated into the website, but it is advertised via small links at the top of the home page. A login is required for the paid-for videos and there is a small selection of free clips. Considering that a variety of sports content is available through YouTube for free, it’s a shame there isn’t more here.
SEO is where the Chelsea website truly delivers. As well as being highly ranked for a number of associated terms, the London club’s website is the first result in Google for the term “football club”.
Liverpool FC
Liverpool lost out on the Premier League this season by one point and there’s a similarly small gap in quality between them and Manchester City on the website front.
The website has an enormous total of 190,000 pages. It is bursting with content and is updated several times a day with the latest news. All content is presented in a stylish, eye-catching way. It’s easy to see how supporters could spend hours on this site.
LFC TV is a prominent part of the website. A number of videos are free to watch and the layout is fantastically engaging with huge, high quality thumbnails of every clip.
In terms of SEO, the website does the club proud. It is the highest-ranking result for “Liverpool” and is second for the term “football club”.
The verdict: Manchester City are champions again!
Chelsea may be the SEO kings, but Manchester City have the best all-round website. Loaded with extraordinary content and presented in an engaging, stylish layout, they push Liverpool into second place. This time, the websites reflect the league table!
Image source: John Candy | Flickr |