Google Still Tops, But Apple Cracks Top 10

New Web site rankings from comScore list Google as the top online property for May 2007...but Apple was the fastest-growing property for the month.

Maybe it was anticipation for the much-hyped iPhone, maybe it was the lure of DRM-free music from on the way from EMI, but new figures from market analysis firm comScore show Apple as the fastest-growing online property during May 2007, and the interest was enough to put the electronics company into the top ten Web properties for the month. According to comScore, the number of unique visitors to Apple’s online properties increased by 5 percent from April to May, climbing to a total of over 120 million visitors and potentially reaching over 15 percent of all Internet users.

However, Apple’s figures pale in comparison to top-ranked property Google, which comScore says saw more than 536 million users during May 2007, an overall gain of 0.8 percent from the previous month. However, the strength of Google’s audience is emphasized by other figures: comScore estimates that Google essentially reaches 70 percent of the online population. Moreover, comScore estimates Google gets over 27 visits per user—in comparison, Apple managed just 1.4 visits per user.

Microsoft properties like MSN and Windows Live services occupied the number two slot, attracting over 528 million visitors and averaging 23 visits per user, while Yahoo properties took the number three spot with almost 470 million users and 21.5 visits per user. Time Warner properties (including AOL) came in fourth with over 266 million users, while eBay rounded out the top 5 with over 258 million visitors. Another interesting entry in the top ten: Wikipedia, which saw over 217 million visitors in the month, but only 4 average visits per user.

comScore’s reports also highlight the strength of online retailers during the month, with strong performances from price-comparison operator Caio sites (growing to 29.6 million visitors), and eBay and Amazon.com both increasing their traffic during May. comScore’s numbers also highlight the rapidly growing popularity of social networking site Facebook, which saw a nearly 22 percent increase in traffic during May and, perhaps more significantly, the highest average number of visits from any fast-growing property, with over 20 visits per user on average during the month.