April 25 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. passed Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. to become the owner of the world's most-visited group of Web sites for the first time, a research firm said.
Google's sites had 528 million visitors worldwide in March, a 13 percent gain from the same month a year ago, ComScore Inc. said today. Microsoft had 527 million, while Yahoo had 476.3 million, the researcher said.
The popularity of searching the Web and new sites such as YouTube helped Google grow faster than both its biggest rivals. Products such as the Gmail e-mail service, an online calendar and an online payments system are drawing users even though they aren't nearly as popular as Google's search engine.
``There are some people that like Google, and if Google puts anything out, they're going to use it,'' said Danny Sullivan, who tracks the search industry and contributes to Search Engine Land, a blog owned by Redding, Connecticut-based Third Door Media Inc.
Visitors to Microsoft's sites rose 4 percent from a year ago, while Yahoo's sites had a 1 percent gain, according to Reston, Virginia-based ComScore.
Google already is the most-popular Internet search engine, drawing 48 percent of U.S. queries in March, according to ComScore. Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo was the most-visited U.S. Web site in February and also had the most repeat visits of any Web site.
Shares of Mountain View, California-based Google advanced 46 cents to $477.99 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Microsoft shares rose 20 cents to $28.99, while shares of Yahoo rose 4 cents to $28.06.
User Experience
``Our goal has always been to provide the best online experience for our users,'' Google said in an e-mailed statement. ``We build products based on user needs and input.''
Yahoo didn't have an immediate comment, and Microsoft spokeswoman Whitney Burk declined to comment.
Sites owned by Time Warner Inc. came in fourth with 272 million visitors, a 21 percent gain from a year earlier, ComScore said. EBay Inc. had 256.3 million visitors, little changed from a year ago, while visitors to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia rose 82 percent to 212.2 million, the research firm said.
ComScore's data is based on a survey of 2 million people who use the Web at home or work and are at least 15 years old.
Google's growth may slow if the company gets too big and can't keep up with smaller and nimbler rivals, Sullivan said. Google bought YouTube even though it already had a video sharing site, illustrating how the company has tapped outside sources for growth, he said.
``Google will reach a tipping people at which they've grown too large,'' he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Thaw in San Francisco at jthaw@bloomberg.net
