Google Passes Yahoo!

Based on long-term trends it was inevitable... Google.com was going to pass Yahoo.com to become the number one site on the Web. It was just a matter of time. Now it is official:

Google is the #1 Alexa Ranked site on the web.

Google will need to keep it up if it is going to surpass Yahoo in the 3 month average rankings, which is the official ranking number shown in our lists.

Here's how it went down:

• October 2007 - Unique Visitors to Google surpasses Yahoo. Yahoo still has the larger number of pageviews by a healthy but shrinking margin.
• January 5, 2009 - Alexa Daily Rank for Google is #1 for the first time.
  

For the last few weeks Yahoo snuck (sneaked?) back into the #1 position on Saturdays (the 10th and 17th) only to lose it again on Mondays (the 12th and 19th.) This appears to be caused by the drop in unique visitors to Google on weekends. Google has remained the number #1 site since January 19th.

It kind of makes you want to root for the new underdog, Yahoo!. I, for one, welcome our new Google overlords.

National Day of Service

With the recent celebration of Martin Luther King Day, designated by congress in 1994 to be a national day of service in honor of the late American hero, many Americans took advantage of the national holiday in order to volunteer in their communities. President Barack Obama, in the enthusiastic weeks leading to his election, emphasized to all Americans the importance of service.

It has since been reported that hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country turned out to share the spirit of volunteerism. I decided to look at the traffic to various sites related to this endeavor to observe how the web reflects this. I first looked at USA Service, the website created by then President-elect Obama to promote this cause. This website is particularly useful in that it outlines the event and provides resources for those inspired to get on board. I also consulted a similar social-entrepreneurship website with which I'm familiar, Change.org. Not surprisingly, USA Service was immediately popular and continues to document the success of the national event. Similarly, Change.org saw a nice increase in traffic in the weeks leading up to the big event.


I also noted increased traffic to other volunteer-oriented websites such as Volunteer Match and Idealist.org. Not surprisingly, these sites showed and increase in traffic alongside visits to the official site for MLK Day. Such sites took advantage of the publicity, with Volunteer Match launching a Google Earth widget to identify volunteer opportunities in a specific area, and Idealist.org announcing the largest turnout ever for Martin Luther King Day of Service.

Did you participate in a service project on MLK Day? Does the spirit that lingers inspire you to do so in the future, and if so, which online resources do you find helpful?

Haiku Winner

Thank you to everybody who participated in the Alexa Haiku contest. There were a lot of great entries and I had a tough time choosing. I have to admit that I may not be the best judge of quality haikus. Never the less, the winner is Ken Evoy whose Site Built It Haiku seemed to hit all the right notes. Here it is:

I fail round the clock
Winter, spring, summer and fall
Until Site Build It!.

Ken, I don't think I have your contact info. Get in touch with me via our advertising contact form to get your Ad set up. You have a million free impressions on Alexa.

I'd also like to extend Kudos to Jon of woodmarvels.com for submitting two great haikus.

Happy New Year everybody.

New Year's Resolutions

What's your new year's resolution? Will you quit smoking? Exercise? Go on a diet?

While I was home for the holidays, I saw a lot of commercials for fitness clubs and diets. Lots of them. And it occurred to me that the close of the year is likely a big time for companies in the business of getting people fit to advertise. There you are, having packed on the holiday pounds, watching television and worried about your personal finances, then along comes a commercial that tempts you to make a change in honor of the new year.




I decided to compare traffic, year over year, to sites having to do with fitness centers or dieting plans. I just picked a few of the better known ones at random to examine their traffic now versus a year ago. Based on what I found, it seems some people might have read this study concluding that diet is a better way to stay trim than exercise.

While the traffic between the two years seems fairly level to sites dealing with health clubs like Bally's, 24 Hour Fitness, and Crunch, there's a good bit more traffic going to the dieting sites like Nutrisystem and Weight Watchers.

Is a health club membership too costly in terms of time or money to be as popular among Americans looking to trim down this year? Does dieting seem the best way to make a positive change to one's health? Or is it the commercials? Feel free to weigh in with a comment.