Google tops Microsoft as most visited

For the first time ever, Google has topped Microsoft’s web properties as the most visited in Canada.
In January, Google websites, including Google.ca and YouTube, reached 22.44 million unique visitors, slightly more than Microsoft sites, which had 22.42 million unique visitors, according to data from comScore Media Metrix released yesterday.
Google has been gaining on Microsoft’s sites, which include MSN and Hotmail, in recent years. Yahoo ranked third behind Google and Microsoft with 16.5 million unique Canadian visitors, followed by Facebook (15.3 million) and eBay (13.8 million). Rounding out the top 10 were: Wikipedia sites (11.7 million), AOL LLC (10.7 million), Yellow Pages Group (9.7 million), Amazon (9.5 million), Apple (8.7 million) and Canoe Network (8.6 million).
As of January, the total Internet audience in Canada was 23.8 million.
ComScore data also showed that Softvoyage.com, a travel industry site, was the fastest gaining web property, with a 53% jump in unique visitors in January compared to December 2007. It had 2.7 million visitors during January. It was followed by Workopolis.com and Monster Worldwide, which saw their visitors jump 49% and 41% respectively.
As for the most popular web categories, it seemed that after the Christmas break, reality started to set in for most Canadians. Sites devoted to taxes were tops, with a 44% increase in January over December. Number two was retail-health care (34%), followed by hotels/resorts (32%).