According to some estimates, there are more than two billion
websites in existence in 2023, but estimates vary.
If all these websites were to be ranked according to the
traffic numbers they attract, a classic power law distribution would be seen. At
the low end, the vast majority of these websites would be inactive, receiving
little to no traffic. On the upper end of the ranking though, a handful of
websites receive the lion’s share of internet traffic.
The infographic uses data from SimilarWeb, looks at the 50
websites that currently sit at the top of the ranking.
Which Websites Tend to Get the Most Traffic?
On the top of the list of most-visited websites in the world
comes Google, of course! With over 3.5 billion searches per day, Google has paved
its position as the go-to source for information on the internet. But Google’s power
doesn’t stop there. This company also owns the second most popular website in
the world; YouTube. Together, Google and YouTube have more traffic than the
next 48 websites combined.
The influence of YouTube, in particular, is sometimes not completely
understood. This video platform is rated to be the second largest search engine
in the world after Google. As well, YouTube has the second highest
duration-of-visit numbers in this top 50 ranking. (First position is taken by
the Chinese video sharing website, Bilibili.)
It is important to notice that Google and YouTube are not
the only big players on the internet. Other websites in the top 50 ranking
include social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. In
particular, TikTok has seen a rush in popularity in recent years and is now one
of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
Below is the table that shows top 10 rankings along with the monthly traffic they get.
|
Rank |
Website |
Monthly Traffic |
Category |
Country |
|
1 |
google.com |
85.1B |
Search Engines |
U.S. |
|
2 |
youtube.com |
33.0B |
Streaming & Online TV |
U.S. |
|
3 |
facebook.com |
17.8B |
Social Media Networks |
U.S. |
|
4 |
twitter.com |
6.8B |
Social Media Networks |
U.S. |
|
5 |
instagram.com |
6.1B |
Social Media Networks |
U.S. |
|
6 |
baidu.com |
5.0B |
Search Engines |
China |
|
7 |
wikipedia.org |
4.8B |
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias |
U.S. |
|
8 |
yandex.ru |
3.4B |
Search Engines |
Russia |
|
9 |
yahoo.com |
3.3B |
News & Media Publishers |
U.S. |
|
10 |
whatsapp.com |
2.9B |
Social Media Networks |
U.S. |
The Geography of the 50 Most-Visited Websites:
The United States is still home base for many of the world’s
biggest websites, taking up 30 spots on this ranking. Out of these 30 websites,
half of them are operated by Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Amazon,
Alphabet, Meta, and Netflix.
Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea round out the top five
geography wise.
Things spice up in the “other” category, which includes six
websites. First two spots are taken up by Aaj Tak and Globo, which are large
media publications in India and Brazil, respectively.
The remaining four websites include XVideos, PornHub,
XHamster, and XNXX. These website focus on adult content, and are located in a
variety of countries. These are often referred to as “tube sites” since they
are built on the YouTube model.
Realsrv, is the only adult-oriented site in the top 50
located in the United States. It is interesting to dig into it as well, since
it is far from a household name. The website basically supports advertising
efforts by redirecting users away from the content they were viewing over to
another page (generally premium adult content). This is one of the strategies that
adult websites earn revenue through.
