The arrival of spring had online Americans going green in March 2011, according to comScore Media Metrix data. The community-green category drew nearly 20 million visitors during the month, up 11% from February to rank as the top gaining category.
Planet Green Sites Draws 3M
Planet Green Sites topped the green category with nearly 2.9 million visitors, representing a 24% increase from the prior month. Care2.com came in second with 1.9 million visitors, followed by Shine Green with 1.7 million and Mother Nature Network with 1.5 million (up 3%). Matter Network grew 37% to 985,000 visitors, while EnergyGuide.com saw 870,000 and EPA.gov reached 833,000 (up 17%).
Travel Sites Spring into Action
Americans frequented travel sites in March, putting several of the travel subcategories among the top gainers. Travel information sites attracted more than 61.4 million visitors, up 10% from the prior month. TravelAdNetwork took the top spot with 19.9 million visitors (up 8%), followed by Yahoo Travel with 12.6 million (up 22%), Tripadvisor Sites with 10 million (up 14%) and AOL Travel with 6.5 million (up 63%).
Car rental sites grew 9% to 6 million unique visitors in March, with Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company taking the #1 spot with 3.3 million visitors (up 9%) and Avis Budget Group with 1.8 million (up 4%). Hertz came in third with 979,000 visitors, followed by Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. with 968,000 (up 19%) and CarRentals.com with 934,000 (up 31%).
Traffic Builds at Home Improvement Sites
Many Americans also browsed home improvement sites in March. More than 49 million people visited the category during the month (up 10% month-over-month), with eHow Home and Garden taking the top spot with 8.8 million visitors. iVillage Home and Garden drew 6.8 million visitors (up 32%), followed by HGTV with 6.1 million (up 13%) and Shelterpop with 3 million (up 46%).
Yahoo Peerless among Top 50 Properties
Yahoo sites ranked as the #1 property in March with 179.5 million visitors, followed by Google sites with 176.8 million and Microsoft sites with 176.4 million. Sites new to the top 50 in March included FoxNews.com (#41), Time Warner (#49) and BuzzMedia (#50).
Google Ad Network Reaches 9 in 10 Online Americans
Google Ad Network led the March Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 91.7% of Americans online, followed by Yahoo sites (84.4%), Yahoo Network Plus (83.9%) and AOL Advertising (83.8%).
Taxes, Flowers Reign in Feb.
The top two online site categories for US internet users in February 2011 were taxes and flowers/gifts/greetings, according to previous Media Metrix data from comScore. Likely spurred by Valentine’s Day (along with flowers/gifts/greetings), e-cards also made a strong fourth-place showing, following automotive manufacturers.
Yahoo sites ranked as the #1 web property in February with 177.5 million visitors, followed by Google sites with 175.2 million and Microsoft sites with 168.8 million. Sites new to the top 50 in February included Expedia Inc (#43), The Washington Post Company (#48) and Twitter.com (#49).
Google Ad Network led the February Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 92.3% of Americans online, followed by AOL Advertising (84.6% reach), Yahoo sites (84.6%) and Yahoo Network Plus (84.1%).
