The Most Visited Websites in the World, by Category [Infographic]

In January 2023 alone, Google dominated the internet as the most visited website in the world, racking up a mind-blowing 102.2 billion visits in just 31 days.

The team at Nominus put together an insightful infographic breaking down the world’s most visited websites for that month, using data from Semrush.com to rank them. But they didn’t stop there—they also categorized the top five websites across different sectors, from social media and news to sports, retail, and fashion.

Here are the leaders of the pack:

• 1. Google (Search Engine) – 102.2 Billion Visits

  • Category: Search Engine
  • Purpose: Google is the world’s most widely used search engine, helping users find information, websites, images, videos, and more. Whether you’re searching for breaking news, looking up a restaurant, or troubleshooting a tech issue, Google is the go-to resource.

  2. YouTube (Video Streaming) – 86.8 Billion Visits

  • Category: Entertainment / Video Streaming
  • Purpose: YouTube is the ultimate platform for watching and sharing videos. From educational content and music videos to vlogs and tutorials, YouTube offers endless content for users worldwide. It’s also the second-largest search engine after Google!

  3. Facebook (Social Media) – 12.7 Billion Visits

  • Category: Social Media
  • Purpose: Facebook connects people through posts, messaging, and groups. Users share updates, engage with friends and family, and businesses use it for marketing and customer engagement. It remains one of the most widely used social networks globally.

  4. Twitter (Social Media / News) – 8.9 Billion Visits

  • Category: Social Media / News
  • Purpose: Twitter is known for real-time conversations, trending topics, and breaking news. Journalists, celebrities, politicians, and brands use it to share updates, opinions, and news stories in short-form tweets.

  5. Wikipedia (Information / Education) – 7.7 Billion Visits

  • Category: Reference / Education
  • Purpose: Wikipedia is an open-source encyclopedia with millions of articles written and edited by volunteers worldwide. It’s often the first stop for people looking to quickly understand a topic, from historical events to pop culture.

Here’s an overview of the specified websites, including their primary audience demographics, country of origin, and a brief description of their services:

• Taboola.com

  • Primary Audience: Predominantly visited by users from the United States, accounting for approximately 17.5% of its traffic.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A leading content discovery and native advertising platform that recommends editorial and sponsored content across many online publications.

• Swedbank.lv

  • Primary Audience: Primarily serves users in Latvia, with the majority of its traffic originating domestically.
  • Country of Origin: Latvia
  • Description: A major Latvian bank offering a range of financial services, including personal banking, loans, and investment products.

• Ryanair.com

  • Primary Audience: Attracts users mainly from the United Kingdom and Italy, each contributing about 10% to its traffic.
  • Country of Origin: Ireland
  • Description: Europe’s largest low-cost airline, providing budget-friendly flights across Europe and North Africa.

• Zerodha.com

  • Primary Audience: Predominantly accessed by users in India, reflecting its domestic focus.
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Description: A leading Indian financial services company offering retail and institutional broking, currencies and commodities trading, and mutual funds.

• Caixa.gov.br

  • Primary Audience: Serves mainly Brazilian users, with the vast majority of traffic from Brazil.
  • Country of Origin: Brazil
  • Description: A prominent Brazilian bank providing a wide array of financial services, including savings accounts, loans, and social welfare services.

• Indeed.com

  • Primary Audience: Heavily visited by users in the United States, contributing to a significant portion of its traffic.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A global employment website offering job listings, company reviews, and career resources for job seekers.

• Fragrantica.com

  • Primary Audience: Attracts a diverse international audience, with significant traffic from the United States and Russia.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: An online encyclopedia of perfumes, featuring fragrance reviews, news, and user discussions.

• Qualtrics.com

  • Primary Audience: Primarily visited by users from the United States, accounting for a large share of its traffic.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A platform specializing in experience management, offering tools for conducting surveys and research to gather customer and employee insights.

• Blog.jp

  • Primary Audience: Mainly accessed by users in Japan, reflecting its local focus.
  • Country of Origin: Japan
  • Description: A Japanese blogging platform that allows users to create and share personal blogs on various topics.

• Spotify.com

  • Primary Audience: Has a global user base, with significant traffic from the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
  • Country of Origin: Sweden
  • Description: A leading music streaming service offering a vast library of songs, podcasts, and playlists to users worldwide.

• Stackoverflow.com

  • Primary Audience: Visited by users globally, with notable traffic from the United States and India.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A question-and-answer site for professional and enthusiast programmers, providing solutions to coding and development queries.

• AliExpress.com

  • Primary Audience: Attracts international users, with significant traffic from Brazil, Russia, and the United States.
  • Country of Origin: China
  • Description: An online retail service offering a wide range of products at competitive prices, connecting consumers directly with Chinese manufacturers and suppliers.

• Zillow.com

  • Primary Audience: Predominantly used by individuals in the United States, aligning with its market focus.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A real estate marketplace providing information on homes for sale, rent, and property value estimates in the U.S.

Google.com has been the most visited website in the world for well over a decade. However, before Google dominated the internet, the title of the most visited website belonged to Yahoo.com in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

• Bing.com
  • Primary Audience: Mainly accessed by users in the United States, with additional traffic from India and China.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A web search engine developed by Microsoft, offering internet search services and related features.
• DoorDash.com
  • Primary Audience: Primarily serves users in the United States, with the majority of its traffic originating domestically.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A food delivery service connecting customers with local restaurants and eateries for doorstep delivery.
• Shein.com
  • Primary Audience: Attracts a global audience, with significant traffic from the United States, France, and Spain.
  • Country of Origin: China
  • Description: An online fast-fashion retailer offering a wide range of affordable clothing and accessories.
• ScienceDirect.com
  • Primary Audience: Predominantly visited by users from the United States (20.19%), India (7.93%), China (7.85%), Australia (6.66%), and the United Kingdom (5.34%).
  • Country of Origin: Netherlands
  • Description: A leading full-text scientific database offering journal articles and book chapters covering various disciplines.
• Yahoo.com
  • Primary Audience: Attracts a global audience, with significant traffic from the United States, Japan, and Taiwan.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A web services provider offering a web portal, search engine, email, news, and various online services.

Google officially overtook Yahoo as the most visited website around 2006-2008, depending on the source. Since then, no website has been able to challenge its position at the top.

• Marca.com
  • Primary Audience: Mainly accessed by users in Spain (75.19%), with additional traffic from the United States (4.63%), Mexico (2.77%), Colombia (2.02%), and Venezuela (1.33%).
  • Country of Origin: Spain
  • Description: A leading Spanish sports newspaper website providing the latest sports news, live scores, and commentary.
• Samsung.com
  • Primary Audience: Visited by users worldwide, with notable traffic from the United States, India, and South Korea.
  • Country of Origin: South Korea
  • Description: The official website of Samsung, offers information on their wide range of electronics, home appliances, and mobile devices.
• Bet365.com
  • Primary Audience: Attracts users primarily from the United Kingdom, with additional traffic from countries where online gambling is permitted.
  • Country of Origin: United Kingdom
  • Description: An online gambling company offering sports betting, poker, casinos, games, and bingo.
• USPS.com
  • Primary Audience: Predominantly used by individuals in the United States, aligning with its service area.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: The official website of the United States Postal Service, provides mailing and shipping services, tracking, and postal information.
• Twitch.tv
  • Primary Audience: A global user base, with significant traffic from the United States, Germany, and South Korea.
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A live streaming platform primarily focused on video game streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, creative content, and more.
• Healthline.com
  • Primary Audience: Dominated by users from the United States (49.5%), with additional traffic from India (14.4%), the United Kingdom (8.5%), Canada (4.8%), and the Philippines (4.2%).
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Description: A comprehensive online resource offering information and articles on various health topics, medical conditions, treatments, nutrition, and fitness.
• OLX.pl
  • Primary Audience: Primarily serves users in Poland, with the majority of its traffic originating domestically.
  • Country of Origin: Poland
  • Description: A Polish online classifieds platform where users can buy and sell goods and services across various categories.

Note: Traffic percentages and country data are based on available statistics as of August 2024.

Are you surprised who you see in some categories?

Well, I am surprised to see a Brazilian Banking provider CAIXA.gov.br as the world leader in internet traffic ahead of all, also it is a Government page. Also, I can see that there is a lot of traffic originating from Japan in multiple categories, blog.jp and japanpost.jp.

I would have expected to see Apple in some categories, however, they don’t appear. UberEats does surprise me to show up in Restaurants if we all know they don’t have any. Yahoo, known actually as a search engine appears in Finance, seems like it found the market for itself. Also to see Bing as a leader in Entertainment is something I did not expect.

Even through the turbulent times with Elon Musk, Twitter seems like it has still momentum in 2024.

It’s fascinating to see how much time we collectively spend on certain platforms! What about you—what are your go-to websites when you’re online? The infographic was put together by Nominus.