U.S. Internet Properties in 2007

Political candidates began campaigning a year ahead of the 2008 elections, and the Internet population followed the activities on the Web. Politics tied as the top-gaining category with a 35 percent change in unique visitors; community sites for women also experienced a 35 percent increase in unique visitors, though it has a larger audience base. Women-focused properties Glam Media and iVillage appeared as top-gaining properties, aiding to the rise in the category.

Core search engines Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, and Ask.com collectively increased 15 percent in December 2007, compared to a year earlier, serving 9.6 billion searches in December. During that month, Google served 5.6 billion searches; Yahoo, 2.2 billion; Microsoft, 940 million; Time Warner's AOL, 442 million; and Ask.com, 415 million.

The data show more than 113 billion searches were conducted using the core engines in the U.S. during the 2007 calendar year. Google represents a 56 percent share of the market, capturing close to 64 billion searches over the year.

ComScore data are based on an opt-in global panel of over two million consumers. The panel is observed for browsing and transactional behavior and participates in survey research to capture attitudes.