Yahoo Gains Lead Over Google in U.S. Market for First Time Since 2011
Score one for Yahoo! as it surpasses Google in US web traffic for the first time in years
America's cyber-space witnessed a change in the hierarchy as Yahoo! emerged victorious in the web traffic battle against Google, according to the latest stats by comScore.
Last month, Yahoo! welcomed a whopping 197 million unique visitors, marking a 21% surge from the previous year. Google, on the other hand, struggled to match Yahoo!'s momentum, recording only a 1% increase with 192.3 million unique visitors.
This victory marks the first time Yahoo! has outperformed Google since May 2011. Microsoft and Facebook occupied third and fourth place with 179.5 million and 142.2 million unique hits respectively.
It's a triumphant sign for Marissa Mayer, the ex-Google exec who took the reigns at Yahoo! a year ago. The upward trend reflects her plans to divert Yahoo!'s offerings away from search and social media - territories dominated by Google and Facebook - towards services that revolve around internet users' daily habits.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television earlier this year, Mayer hinted at moving Yahoo back to its roots, with a renewed focus on news, sports, finance, and email. "Whenever you're dealing with a daily habit and providing a lot of value around it, there's an opportunity not only to provide a lot of value to the end user but to also create a great business," she said.
Mayer has also spearheaded several acquisitions, such as buying blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion in May. However, Tumblr's stats are not included in Nielsen's data.
Now, as Yahoo forges ahead, its strategies are likely to involve tapping into its core strengths in content and user engagement to consolidate its position in the market.
Yahoo's increased web traffic statistical victory over Google indicates a strategic shift in the business world, particularly in the tech sector, given Yahoo's focus on services revolving around internet users' daily habits such as finance, news, sports, and email.
This triumph in the US web traffic scene, driven by Yahoo's re-emphasis on its traditional areas of strength like content and user engagement, suggests potential growth and revenue opportunities in the finance and technology sectors.
