The Interactive Advertising Bureau is developing new, more exacting standards for measuring traffic, an undertaking it calls the "nomenclature project" - and some online publishers may not like the changes - writes CNET. For one, traffic from content partners will have to meet more strict guidelines to be counted; the dominant branding will have to be that of the site that would have visitors counted as its own. At stake, of course, are ad dollars. The new guidelines are not yet finalized and are expected to go into effect in mid-2006.

"The measurement companies have had different hierarchies, and each partner site was able to roll up traffic in different ways, causing great consternation around the industry," said Leo Scullen, who is driving the initiative for the IAB.

IAB members are working on the project with audience measurement firms, including ComScore and Nielsen. The initiative is designed to make online advertising more accountable and easier for traditional advertisers to buy.