Travel and a new job might well have featured on many Americans’ New Year’s resolutions, at least if online traffic trends can be used as a barometer. According to the latest data [download page] from the comScore Media Metrix, travel sites represented 3 of the top 10 fastest-growing site categories in January, as did career services & development sites. Still, tax season loomed largest, with tax sites experiencing an enormous 279% month-over-month change in unique visitors, the second consecutive month as the fastest-growing category.
Returning to travel and careers, the following categories made the top 10 fastest-growing list in January:
- Travel – Transactions (up 27% to 5.1 million unique visitors);
- Travel – Ground/Cruise (up 25% to 15.6 million);
- Career Services & Development – Job Search (up 24% to 28 million);
- Career Services & Development – Training and Education (up 16% to 14.4 million);
- Career Services & Development – Career Resources (up 15% to 59.7 million); and
- Travel – Online Travel Agents (up 13% to 37.5 million).
In other findings, Google Sites, as usual, ranked #1 among the leading web properties in January with 190.8 million unique visitors. The rest of the top 5 properties ”“ Yahoo! Sites, Microsoft Sites, Facebook, and Amazon ”“ all retained their rankings from December. LinkedIn and Pinterest both had good months, each rising 4 positions, to 22 and 38, respectively.
Looking at the ad focus rankings, ShareThis kept its top ranking among Ad Focus entities, reaching 95.1% of Americans online, relatively flat from December’s 95.2%. Among ad networks and buy-side networks, Google Ad Network was first again with 93.8% reach, while among DSPs, SSPs and ad exchanges, Rubicon Project REVV Platform reached 97.2% of Americans online.
