Could this be the beginning of the end for Google’s reign over the Web? According to a report published this week, Internet icon Yahoo! recently usurped Google as the top company in terms of Web traffic in America.
Analytics group comScore released their latest list of top Web
properties in the US on Wednesday, and long-time winner Google
wasn’t at the time for a change. Yahoo, the nearly 20-year-old
company that conquered the search engine market in the 1990s, is
listed by comScore as the company responsible for receiving the
most US Internet traffic.
For the month of July 2013, Yahoo! Sites attracted the most
traffic with 196,564,000 unique visitors. Not far behind in
second was Google at 192,251, followed by sites administered by
Microsoft, Facebook and AOL.
Google has held comScore’s number one spot every month since
April 2008 except for on two occasions. With the latest
information, though, Yahoo is once again at the top.
Yahoo last reigned in at number one for a brief stint in May
2011, according to the analytics group, and the reason behind the
unexpected surge more than two years later isn’t immediately
clear.
And although Yahoo recently acquired the popular blogging site
Tumblr in May of this year, comScore told reporters that it
wasn’t included in its parent company’s stats.
“Seems there are other factors at play,” comScore said in
a statement to MarketingLand.
Also absent from the list, however, is information pertaining to
mobile traffic. Even if Yahoo has maintained a strong presence on
the Web for nearly two decades, it failed to venture into mobile
media with the same success as its top competitor. Robert Hof, a
contributor for Forbes, said the absence of those numbers is
“potentially huge,” but added that Yahoo’s recent win
means something for the company’s recently hired chief executive
officer. News of the comScore report comes as perhaps the biggest
victory yet for Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who took over the
company only last year.
“Yahoo’s showing is an important symbol that Mayer can
rightfully point to as an indication that the company at least is
no longer losing ground,” Hof wrote. “Mayer herself noted
during Yahoo’s second-quarter conference call that its traffic
had risen in June from a year ago, which she said was
unprecedented for an established company that had been on the
decline.”
Speaking to analysts on a conference call last month, Mayer said
of her plan, “Hire and retain a great team; build inspiring
products that will attract users and increased traffic; that
traffic will increase advertiser interest and ultimately
translate to revenue.”
“People, then products, then traffic, then revenue,” she
said according to Bloomberg News
According to comScore, though, it could just be a fluke. In the
statement to MarketingLand reporter Greg Sterling, the comScore
said of the report, “[G]iven how close Yahoo Sites and Google
have been in recent months it can likely just be normal
seasonal/month-to-month fluctuations.”
A press release issued by comScore alongside its August 2013 list
declined to identify other analysis about how Yahoo Sites
garnered the most traffic this month, but the group did say that
there’s been a surge in recent weeks with regards to online
retail.
“Back-to-school shopping was top of mind for many Americans in
July, seen by a spike in traffic to Fashion and Accessories
sites, as well as Consumer Goods sites for school supplies.
Coupon sites also saw pickup as consumers went on the hunt for
savings,” the release reads.
Republished from: RT