Google leads ranking of top web properties

comScore released a study of global Internet traffic for the month of May, revealing the latest worldwide rankings of top web properties from the comScore World Metrix service. There were 772 million people online worldwide in May (defined as those individuals age 15 or older who accessed the Internet from a home or work location in the last 30 days), an increase from 766 million in April, representing a 16 percent penetration of the worldwide population of individuals age 15 or older.

Google continues to lead as the most popular property, reaching almost 70 percent of Internet users. Both Google and the second-leading property, Microsoft, increased their number of unique visitors by two percent from April to May. The top three properties each boasted more than 20 average visits per visitor in May: Google with 27, Microsoft with 23, and Yahoo! with 22.

The fastest growing property in the top 10 most-visited sites was Apple Inc., which saw total worldwide visitation grow by five percent. This increase precedes the recent US release of the Apple iPhone. eBay and Amazon – ranked as the sixth and eight largest Internet properties respectively – both experienced gains of four percent from April to May.

Online retail sites also benefited from an upsurge in online shopping in May, brought about in large part by the occurrence of Mother’s Day and the onset of the summer holiday season. Price-comparison group Ciao Sites was the fastest growing property, increasing by 31 percent to 29.6 million visitors, while Priceline.com Incorporated grew 15 percent to 23.1 million visitors. Online cataloguing property Karstadt-Quelle grew its worldwide traffic by 15 percent.

Social networking site Facebook.com grew to become the largest of the Top 10 gaining properties in terms of monthly unique visitors. The site was the second fastest growing site in May, increasing total worldwide traffic by 22 percent. This growth is especially significant as the property garners at least five times more visits per visitor than any of the other top 10 fastest-growing sites.

Originally posted on July 13, 2007 @ 7:20 am