Facebook Visited More Than Google In 2010, Traffic Analyst Firm Says

To be "bigger than Google" in the tech world is a pretty big feat. But for Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, it's something that he can officially mark off of his "to-do" list, if he's got one. According to Hitwise, a traffic analyst firm, the social networking site has officially surpassed the search giant as the most visited website in 2010, and by a pretty significant margin, no less. These numbers, though, reflect traffic based in the United States only, though.

Hitwise has reported that Facebook accounted for a total of 8.93 percent of all Web visits in the United States, between the months of January and November. Google on the other hand, which is still ranked high on the chart at number 2, obviously, managed to nab "only" 7.19 percent of the US' total Web visits between the same period. There's a few honorable mentions to go around, though.

For one, Yahoo! took two spots on the rankings, with Yahoo! Mail grabbing the number three spot. Yahoo!'s main search engine snatch the fourth spot. And finally, happy to have a spot in the top 10 (we're sure), is Microsoft's decision engine, Bing. After winning Person of the Year, and now this, Zuckerberg certainly has quite a bit to celebrate going into 2011.

You can read the full press release below for more information, including more details about most searched-about products and people.

Press Release

New York, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2010 – Experian® Hitwise®, a part of Experian Marketing Services, has analyzed the top 1000 search terms for 20101 and Facebook was the top-searched term overall. This is the second year that the social networking website has been the top search term overall, accounting for 2.11 percent of all searches.1 Four variations of the term "facebook" were among the top 10 terms and accounted for 3.48 percent of searches overall.

The term "facebook login" moved up from the 9th spot in 2009 to the second spot in 2010. YouTube was the third most-searched term in 2010, followed by craigslist, myspace and facebook.com. Analysis of the search terms revealed that social networking-related terms dominated the results, accounting for 4.18 percent of the top 50 searches.

When combined, common search terms – e.g., facebook and facebook.com – for Facebook accounted for 3.48 percent of all searches in the US among the top 50 terms, which represents a 207 percent increase versus 2009. YouTube terms accounted for 1.12 percent, representing a 106 percent increase versus 2009. Aol search terms accounted for 0.34 percent of searches in 2010, but grew 22 percent versus 2009. Google terms accounted for 0.63 percent, and Craigslist terms accounted for 0.62 percent.

New terms that entered into the top 50 search terms for 2010 included – netflix, verizon wireless, espn, chase, pogo, tagged, wells fargo, yellow pages, poptropica, games and hulu.

Top-visited Websites in 2010

Facebook was the top-visited Website for the first time and accounted for 8.93 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010. Google.com ranked second with 7.19 percent of visits, followed by Yahoo! Mail (3.52 percent), Yahoo! (3.30 percent) and YouTube (2.65 percent).

The combination of Google properties accounted for 9.85 percent of all U.S. visits. Facebook properties accounted for 8.93 percent, and Yahoo! properties accounted for 8.12 percent. The top 10 Websites accounted for 33 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010, an increase of 12 percent versus 2009.

Other top searches from various categories include:

Personality – top 5 people searches

1. Kim Kardashian

2. Oprah

3. Rush Limbaugh

4. Miley Cyrus

5. Glenn Beck

Movie Titles – top 5 searches from within Movies category:

1. Star Wars

2. Paranormal Activity 2

3. Avatar

4. Transformers 3

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow

Music – top 5 searched for artists/bands:

1. Lady Gaga

2. Justin Beiber

3. Eminem

4. Taylor Swift

5. Michael Jackson

Branded Destinations top 5 search terms:

1. Disney World

2. Disneyland

3. Six Flags

4. Universal Studios Orlando

5. Great Wolf Lodg

Top TV show searches from Television category

1. Dancing with the Stars

2. American Idol

3. Young and the Restless

The top generic search term was "hulu" within Television category

Sports – the top searched for athlete was Tiger Woods and the top sports team was the Dallas Cowboys from within the Sports category.

News and Media – the top searched for person was Bret Michaels followed by Tiger Woods and Sandra Bullock within the News and Media category in 2010.