Few technological advances have had a bigger impact on human civilization than the Internet. Although it was created in 1983, it gained global popularity in the 1990s, connecting humans around the world, and introducing them to a world of knowledge, socialization, and exploration. With the new digital landscape came a world of websites to explore. In the online world, web traffic is power. The more visitors to a website, the more investors will take interest in it, the more ads can be hosted, the more eyeballs on that site’s content. All of this leads to the ultimate success or failure of a website. That’s why the visualization made by the team at A2 Hosting is so enlightening. It gives a true snapshot of internet history by showing site traffic over time, year by year. We can watch the rise and fall of giants of the internet, compare to competitors, and maybe learn something about digital culture along the way.
• Number of unique visitors
• Number of page views
• Bounce rate
• Average time spent on a site
There are many different tools used to measure website traffic. Some of the most popular are Google Analytics, SEMRush, Similarweb, and Sitechecker. There are many more, but they’ll all give similar data on website traffic.
Other popular websites throughout the 90s offered similar services as AOL and Yahoo. Some of these honorable mentions include GeoCities, NetScape, Webcrawler, and Excite.
Once MSN arrived on the scene, it was an immediate competitor with Yahoo. It jumped from the #10 position in 1996 to #3 in 1997. MSN only had a year of victory over Yahoo as #2 in 1999 before steadily losing popularity until dropping off the charts in 2011. Yahoo suffered a similar fate, dropping out of the running in 2010, but what about the 90s icon, AOL? Sadly, AOL began to fade from popularity in 2007 until dropping steadily until falling off the Top 10 charts in 2007. The website still exists, it’s just far less popular.
The chart shows some possible reasons for the decline of these once top dog sites. In the 2000s, other heavy hitters entered the game, most notably, the social media platforms still popular today. The same year that MSN, AOL, and Myspace plummeted in popularity is the same year that Youtube and Facebook appeared on the top 10 charts at number 3 and 4 respectively.
The year was 2008, and the face of the Internet was changing. Today, Youtube boasts a staggering amount of content. Some estimate it would take over 17,000 years of consecutive watching to get through every video. There’s no denying the popularity of such a content powerhouse. As for Facebook, it completely changed the way many people connect and socialize. In more recent years, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come under government scrutiny for child safety concerns and contributions to the spread of misinformation. Some people believe Facebook is too powerful. The rise of these social media giants could very well have signaled the downfall of “outdated” platforms like AOL and Myspace.
Other sites have different standout journeys. Yahoo may have lost its #1 crown, but its popularity has allowed it to be the only site that has remained somewhere in the Top 10 ranking every year. The world-renowned search engine, Google has had the most meteoric rise in popularity. Given how widely used it is today, it may surprise some to learn that Google was only the 9th most popular site in 2001. It did make a massive leap to the #4 spot in 2002 as more people discovered the high quality of the search results. Google has consistently been the #1 most visited site since 2011.
Another fascinating jump to notice is Instagram’s trajectory. The site lingered at #8 for years, steadily climbed to #5 then plummeted again back to #9 in 2022. Could the drop have been caused by bad press for its parent company, Facebook? This may not be the case because in 2023 it skyrocketed back up to #4. Many people would attribute it to Instagram’s pivot to short videos called Reels. They resemble the content found on app sensation TikTok, which has unprecedented popularity.
As sites like Facebook and Twitter are questioned about their policies on misinformation, more people will question if the information they provide makes people unsafe, influences key political decisions, and the effect it has on society’s stability. These are important questions to ask if humans are going to be safe and socially responsible internet users. Examining traffic to certain sites, watching trends over time, and make correlations in data can help us answer these difficult questions.
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How and Why Site Traffic Gets Measured
Internet traffic measures how many visitors come to a site and how long they stay there. Measuring traffic is so important because it’s generally how the success of a site is judged. The most popular sites (like Google) make a huge impact on the world, hire thousands of workers, and can influence the information people have access to. Sites that don’t perform as well eventually shut down, usually because they cost more to host and maintain than the revenue they generate. A few factors are used to calculate site traffic. These factors are:• Number of unique visitors
• Number of page views
• Bounce rate
• Average time spent on a site
There are many different tools used to measure website traffic. Some of the most popular are Google Analytics, SEMRush, Similarweb, and Sitechecker. There are many more, but they’ll all give similar data on website traffic.
Exploring the Infographic’s Map of Internet Titans
The infographic’s timeline tracks site traffic from 1995 to 2023. Each website’s journey is charted with a corresponding color line. Numbers along the line indicate where the site ranked in popularity from 1 to 10. The timeline shows the rise and fall of popular sites. Few of them have stayed in the top 10 throughout the timeline with many of them dropping right off the chart after a few years or a decade. The graphic lists its traffic data sources in the bottom left corner.What are the World’s Most Popular Websites?
Everyone who used the internet in the 90s likely visited Yahoo, AOL, or both. Once upon a time, when someone heard the word, “internet” they probably pictured AOL which provided dial-up service and created game-changing themed chat rooms. These chat rooms could be considered one of the first social media experiences. People of all ages and interests met up in these rooms to text with people they knew in real life (that’s IRL) or made new friends that could live halfway around the world. AOL was the biggest thing online until the year 2000 when Yahoo bumped AOL down to the #2 position.Other popular websites throughout the 90s offered similar services as AOL and Yahoo. Some of these honorable mentions include GeoCities, NetScape, Webcrawler, and Excite.
Once MSN arrived on the scene, it was an immediate competitor with Yahoo. It jumped from the #10 position in 1996 to #3 in 1997. MSN only had a year of victory over Yahoo as #2 in 1999 before steadily losing popularity until dropping off the charts in 2011. Yahoo suffered a similar fate, dropping out of the running in 2010, but what about the 90s icon, AOL? Sadly, AOL began to fade from popularity in 2007 until dropping steadily until falling off the Top 10 charts in 2007. The website still exists, it’s just far less popular.
The chart shows some possible reasons for the decline of these once top dog sites. In the 2000s, other heavy hitters entered the game, most notably, the social media platforms still popular today. The same year that MSN, AOL, and Myspace plummeted in popularity is the same year that Youtube and Facebook appeared on the top 10 charts at number 3 and 4 respectively.
The year was 2008, and the face of the Internet was changing. Today, Youtube boasts a staggering amount of content. Some estimate it would take over 17,000 years of consecutive watching to get through every video. There’s no denying the popularity of such a content powerhouse. As for Facebook, it completely changed the way many people connect and socialize. In more recent years, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come under government scrutiny for child safety concerns and contributions to the spread of misinformation. Some people believe Facebook is too powerful. The rise of these social media giants could very well have signaled the downfall of “outdated” platforms like AOL and Myspace.
Other sites have different standout journeys. Yahoo may have lost its #1 crown, but its popularity has allowed it to be the only site that has remained somewhere in the Top 10 ranking every year. The world-renowned search engine, Google has had the most meteoric rise in popularity. Given how widely used it is today, it may surprise some to learn that Google was only the 9th most popular site in 2001. It did make a massive leap to the #4 spot in 2002 as more people discovered the high quality of the search results. Google has consistently been the #1 most visited site since 2011.
Another fascinating jump to notice is Instagram’s trajectory. The site lingered at #8 for years, steadily climbed to #5 then plummeted again back to #9 in 2022. Could the drop have been caused by bad press for its parent company, Facebook? This may not be the case because in 2023 it skyrocketed back up to #4. Many people would attribute it to Instagram’s pivot to short videos called Reels. They resemble the content found on app sensation TikTok, which has unprecedented popularity.
What We Can Learn from Site Traffic
Websites can have a major impact on how we live our lives and even affect current events. In 2020, a pandemic caused people around the world to shelter at home and remove themselves from their usual social lives. More and more people turned to the internet to get that needed connection to keep up their mental health and relationships. The internet and social media were popular before 2020, but we’ve truly seen their impact since then. The infographic is a strong visual representation of the rise and fall of these heavy-hitting websites. Many people can look at a website, see the year it rose or fell, and remember something from the news that might have had a direct impact on its popularity.As sites like Facebook and Twitter are questioned about their policies on misinformation, more people will question if the information they provide makes people unsafe, influences key political decisions, and the effect it has on society’s stability. These are important questions to ask if humans are going to be safe and socially responsible internet users. Examining traffic to certain sites, watching trends over time, and make correlations in data can help us answer these difficult questions.
Read next: The Highest Paying Daily Side Hustles, According To Data For Top Freelancer Platform
