Most analysts agree that there are at least two billion unique websites up and running with all things having been considered and taken into account. However, it bears mentioning that a huge chunk of these sites receive barely any traffic. Data from SimilarWeb and VisualCapitalist can help us to understand which sites end up getting the highest number of visitors.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google’s search engine ended up being at the top of the list. This should not come as a surprise, since Google has been the starting point for people’s internet access for quite a long while. Google receives over 85 billion hits per month, which gives it a comfortable lead over pretty much every other site.
Another thing to note here is that the second most visited site is also owned by Google, namely YouTube, which has received approximately 33 billion hits every month. Following that we finally break out of the Google ecosystem with Facebook coming in second place with 17.8 billion hits per month.
Twitter and Instagram follow up in fourth and fifth place respectively, and they have similar site traffic levels to with the former receiving 6.8 billion and the latter 6.1 billion site visits on a monthly basis. This shows that social media companies are still major players, although Instagram’s focus on its smartphone app may make these rather low numbers less concerning than might have been the case otherwise.
Moving on, once we exit the top five we finally start to see a website that does not belong to an American company. The Chinese search engine Baidu comes in sixth with 5 billion hits, although Wikipedia is close on its heels with 4.8 billion.
The Russian search engine Yandex ranked eighth on this list with 3.4 billion hits, followed closely by Yahoo with 3.3 billion hits. Rounding off the top ten is WhatsApp Web with just under 3 billion site visits or 2.9 billion to be precise.
Overall, the US has 30 sites in the top 50, Russia has 5, China has 4, Japan and South Korea have 3 and 2 respectively, and then Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France and India have 1 site in the top 50 apiece. This indicates the high level of dominance that American sites tend to see, and it reveals the enormous influence that these sites tend to have on the world wide web.
Interestingly, Walmart as well as PayPal found themselves knocked out of the top 50 for the first time. Samsung and the New York Times ended up replacing them, which also means that South Korea got its second entry into the top 50.
The control that American tech companies have on the internet does not look like it is going to abate anytime soon. Chances are that we will only see their influence continue to grow, since other countries are not really able to make sites that can compete with American ones. The Chinese social media platform TikTok is giving most social media sites a run for their money, but TikTok is primarily used via the app so its website does not receive that many hits.
Read next: Video Accounts For 65% Of All Internet Traffic, New Study Proves
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google’s search engine ended up being at the top of the list. This should not come as a surprise, since Google has been the starting point for people’s internet access for quite a long while. Google receives over 85 billion hits per month, which gives it a comfortable lead over pretty much every other site.
Another thing to note here is that the second most visited site is also owned by Google, namely YouTube, which has received approximately 33 billion hits every month. Following that we finally break out of the Google ecosystem with Facebook coming in second place with 17.8 billion hits per month.
Twitter and Instagram follow up in fourth and fifth place respectively, and they have similar site traffic levels to with the former receiving 6.8 billion and the latter 6.1 billion site visits on a monthly basis. This shows that social media companies are still major players, although Instagram’s focus on its smartphone app may make these rather low numbers less concerning than might have been the case otherwise.
Moving on, once we exit the top five we finally start to see a website that does not belong to an American company. The Chinese search engine Baidu comes in sixth with 5 billion hits, although Wikipedia is close on its heels with 4.8 billion.
The Russian search engine Yandex ranked eighth on this list with 3.4 billion hits, followed closely by Yahoo with 3.3 billion hits. Rounding off the top ten is WhatsApp Web with just under 3 billion site visits or 2.9 billion to be precise.
Overall, the US has 30 sites in the top 50, Russia has 5, China has 4, Japan and South Korea have 3 and 2 respectively, and then Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France and India have 1 site in the top 50 apiece. This indicates the high level of dominance that American sites tend to see, and it reveals the enormous influence that these sites tend to have on the world wide web.
Interestingly, Walmart as well as PayPal found themselves knocked out of the top 50 for the first time. Samsung and the New York Times ended up replacing them, which also means that South Korea got its second entry into the top 50.
The control that American tech companies have on the internet does not look like it is going to abate anytime soon. Chances are that we will only see their influence continue to grow, since other countries are not really able to make sites that can compete with American ones. The Chinese social media platform TikTok is giving most social media sites a run for their money, but TikTok is primarily used via the app so its website does not receive that many hits.
Read next: Video Accounts For 65% Of All Internet Traffic, New Study Proves
