October 13th, 1999

[2:00 PM] Apple Gains 4 Spots In September Web Rankings (With No PC Manufacturers To Be Seen)

Apple gained 4 spots in the September web rankings released by PC Data today. Apple went from being the #88 ranked web site to being the #84 ranked site based on visits. No other computer manufacturer made the Top 100 list, though software manufacturer Microsoft made the #5 spot and its online service portal, msn.com, made the #2 spot. Apple's traffic rose some 8.1% as with 3,331,000 visitors. That's compared to 3,082,000 visitors in August. According to PC Data (including the full Top 100 list):

Top Internet web sites held their ground on September's list of Top 100 Web Sites, while weather and sports sites responded to the season to substantially gain user traffic.

"Although yahoo.com retained its No. 1 position in September, competitor msn.com rose two notches to reclaim the No. 2 spot with a 38 percent increase in its user base," said PC Data Internet analyst Sean Wargo. "Otherwise, seasonal curves like hurricanes and football brought new activity lower on the list to an otherwise stable month."

Wargo said the hype around the hurricanes last month sparked Internet users to the top weather site, weather.com, boosting its climb to the No. 38 slot from its previous No. 62 slot. The site noted a 53.1 percent increase in unique users during September.

Likewise, on the advent of the new football season, espn.com rose 23 spots with a 43 percent increase in traffic. Two other sport sites — CBS's sportsline.com and nfl.com -- broke into the Top 100 for the first time in the 80 and 88 spots. Sportline.com registered a 51.5 increase in unique users, and nfl.com a 92.7 percent increase.

The list of Top 100 Web Sites is released monthly by PC Data, a leading Internet research firm specializing in web commerce measurement. It bases the list on a proprietary sample that tracks visitors and buyers on each web site.

Information for the Top 100 is gathered through PC Data's Online proprietary software tool that tracks "unique visitors" and "unique buyers" on each web site. Every visitor is counted once, regardless of how many times the individual visits a site or buys from a site. This sample includes 67,000 home Internet users. Home Internet users are estimated at approximately 63 million, including AOL users, which PC Data Online began tracking in August.

September Top 100 Web Sites

Sept Rank
Aug

Rank

Web Site
Sept Unique Users

(000)

Aug Unique Users (000)
% Growth
1
1
yahoo.com
36,254
31,497
15.1%
2
4
msn.com
32,574
23,610
38.0%
3
2
aol.com
28,794
25,789
11.7%
4
3
geocities.com
25,400
24,903
2.0%
5
9
microsoft.com
22,417
17,063
31.4%
6
5
passport.com
19,987
18,883
5.8%
7
6
netscape.com
19,031
18,641
2.1%
8
11
angelfire.com
17,039
16,369
4.1%
9
10
lycos.com
16,565
16,555
0.1%
10
12
tripod.com
16,034
15,748
1.8%
11
13
excite.com
15,538
15,065
3.1%
12
18
ebay.com
13,527
10,695
26.5%
13
16
amazon.com
12,256
11,162
9.8%
14
8
AOLWelcome.aol
12,066
17,078
-29.3%
15
19
altavista.com
11,811
10,663
10.8%
16
14
xoom.com
11,753
11,972
-1.8%
17
15
about.com
11,724
11,186
4.8%
18
20
real.com
11,228
10,610
5.8%
19
*
AOLWriteMail.aol
10,767
*
*
20
21
icq.com
10,452
9,667
8.1%
21
30
alladvantage.com
9,836
7,354
33.7%
22
28
hotmail.com
9,748
7,624
27.9%
23
23
zdnet.com
9,560
9,160
4.4%
24
22
snap.com
9,494
9,642
-1.5%
25
25
looksmart.com
9,087
8,590
5.8%
26
24
infoseek.com
8,723
8,766
-0.5%
27
26
hotbot.com
8,556
8,011
6.8%
28
27
mypoints.com
8,370
7,667
9.2%
29
37
bluemountain.com
7,836
6,428
21.9%
30
33
msnbc.com
7,411
6,622
11.9%
31
31
goto.com
7,272
6,678
8.9%
32
35
download.com
6,842
6,469
5.8%
33
36
infospace.com
6,611
6,429
2.8%
34
41
cdnow.com
6,545
5,389
21.5%
35
32
fortunecity.com
6,518
6,660
-2.1%
36
40
go.com
6,490
5,521
17.6%
37
45
cnet.com
6,228
5,025
23.9%
38
62
weather.com
6,103
3,986
53.1%
39
42
freeshop.com
5,977
5,211
14.7%
40
38
simplenet.com
5,918
6,213
-4.8%
41
46
askjeeves.com
5,692
4,986
14.2%
42
47
come.to
5,580
4,940
13.0%
43
76
drkoop.com
5,539
3,474
59.4%
44
50
preferences.com
5,478
4,815
13.8%
45
34
uproar.com
5,476
6,533
-16.2%
46
48
hypermart.net
5,156
4,925
4.7%
47
49
go2net.com
5,144
4,889
5.2%
48
43
porncity.net
5,134
5,203
-1.3%
49
61
pathfinder.com
5,067
3,990
27.0%
50
51
earthlink.net
5,039
4,807
4.8%
51
44
disney.com
5,027
5,041
-0.3%
52
75
espn.com
4,992
3,491
43.0%
53
56
harrispollonline.com
4,795
4,373
9.6%
54
*
AOLToday.aol
4,613
*
*
55
39
treeloot.com
4,401
5,525
-20.3%
56
57
mtv.com
4,301
4,309
-0.2%
57
65
barnesandnoble.com
4,298
3,871
11.0%
58
52
cybererotica.com
4,297
4,576
-6.1%
59
68
homestead.com
4,156
3,783
9.9%
60
79
mapquest.com
4,081
3,364
21.3%
61
77
broadcast.com
4,031
3,450
16.9%
62
101
doubleclick.com
4,002
2,701
48.2%
63
53
gotoworld.com
3,984
4,549
-12.4%
64
69
intergal.com
3,972
3,698
7.4%
65
59
karasxxx.com
3,914
4,107
-4.7%
66
203
npdor.com
3,907
1,640
138.3%
67
85
cnn.com
3,883
3,251
19.4%
68
82
cotac.com
3,869
3,321
16.5%
69
60
sony.com
3,860
4,063
-5.0%
70
58
theglobe.com
3,842
4,163
-7.7%
71
54
bonzi.com
3,739
4,441
-15.8%
72
70
talkcity.com
3,657
3,684
-0.7%
73
66
ubid.com
3,648
3,838
-4.9%
74
94
webstakes.com
3,625
2,923
24.0%
75
67
mp3.com
3,593
3,821
-6.0%
76
80
cybergold.com
3,584
3,344
7.2%
77
63
freeyellow.com
3,579
3,967
-9.8%
78
78
greenfieldonline.com
3,517
3,367
4.5%
79
64
att.net
3,516
3,956
-11.1%
80
130
sportsline.com
3,488
2,302
51.5%
81
115
gamesville.com
3,432
2,480
38.4%
82
87
coolsavings.com
3,371
3,232
4.3%
83
111
shockwave.com
3,354
2,519
33.2%
84
88
apple.com
3,331
3,082
8.1%
85
81
webcrawler.com
3,301
3,330
-0.9%
86
128
abcnews.com
3,288
2,331
41.1%
87
104
digitalcity.com
3,281
2,593
26.6%
88
191
nfl.com
3,275
1,699
92.7%
89
83
mcafee.com
3,264
3,301
-1.1%
90
90
webring.org
3,239
3,051
6.2%
91
72
macromedia.com
3,203
3,609
-11.3%
92
95
valupage.com
3,126
2,891
8.1%
93
235
smartbotpro.net
3,042
1,498
103.1%
94
86
webjump.com
3,037
3,238
-6.2%
95
157
prizecentral.com
3,008
2,020
48.9%
96
166
gator.com
2,957
1,952
51.5%
97
105
dogpile.com
2,949
2,592
13.8%
98
360
enews.com
2,947
1,130
160.8%
99
125
switchboard.com
2,915
2,383
22.4%
100
71
zone.com
2,840
3,669
-22.6%
Average Growth
15.1%

*PC Data Online began to track AOL channels within AOL beginning September1, 1999. Thus rankings on these channels prior to this report were not included.

The Mac Observer Spin: WooooHoooooo!!! Go Apple! 8.1% growth may not be as high as the overall growth of the Top 100 which came in at 15.1%, but consider that the average was skewed by the hurricane and sports nuts streaming onto the web like salmon on their way to spawning grounds. Apple's web raking is even more impressive when one considers the fact that online superstars like Dell which is among the top web sites in terms of dollars, does not even show up in the Top 100 in terms of visitors.

Our spin on this is that Dell customers couldn't give two hoots or a holler about how Dell is doing or what is going on at the company. Apple customers belie that concept and visit Apple regularly to see what is going on. Add to that the release of several new products during the last few weeks (iBook, PowerMac G4, and the new iMac), and you have the makings of a visitation Super Star.

PC Data - Apple