In a move to better represent Web 2.0 properties, one of the world’s largest internet benchmarking companies, Nielsen/NetRatings, announced that as of today it will immediately begin using total time spent on a site instead of total pageviews as its primary traffic metric. ( computerworld article )

Many of the new technologies used on Web 2.0 sites, and most specifically the rise in Ajax, are meant to provide a more seamless user experience with less visible page changes in favor of updates to the information already present on your page. This, however, has meant that many Web 2.0 sites have not been able to reflect their popularity and traffic volume as highly as sites with high page changes, like Google Search or MySpace.

Pageviews will still be important in the overall ranking, but this change in policy will reward sites like YouTube for their high ’stickiness,’ or time spent on site.

From the article :

“For example, MySpace may have 10 to 11 times more page views than YouTube, but myspace.com users spend only three times more minutes on the site, Ross added. Therefore, measuring total time spent on a site will make it easier for advertisers to mold their ads to how users are actually accessing content”

I have had to make this decision with several properties that I have built, choosing not to use Ajax and other technologies simply because, in the beginning, these properties needed their pageviews to reflect their popularity. This has been a major issue for internet advertisers for several years and I’m glad to see this move. I use Google search and Wikipedia all day long for quick searches and information lookups. This results in high pageview counts. However, I also use Meebo for all of my instant messaging needs, and the Meebo window can stay open for 12 to 15 hours per day while only showing 1 single Ajax-happy page. This will surely be news for happy celebrations around the Meebo office.

-Ethan