For the first time, Google sites ranked as the most visited internet properties in Canada last month, new figures suggest.According to research released by comScore, the search engine provider "vaulted into the top position" in January, seeing a total of 22.44 million visitors over the month.
Meanwhile, software and internet giant Microsoft came a close second place, experiencing visits from more than 22.42 million people.
In third position, Yahoo! sites saw 16.48 million visitors, while Facebook and eBay rounded off the top five internet properties in the country, seeing hits from 15.35 million and 13.85 million people respectively.
The top gaining internet properties during January were led by travel service firm Softvoyage.com, which saw an increase in visitors of 53 per cent over the month compared to December and was viewed by around 2.67 million Canadians.
This was followed by jobs sites Workopolis.com, Monster Worldwide and JobBank.gc.ca, which saw increases of 49 per cent, 41 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.
Commenting on the findings, Brent Bernie, president of comScore Canada, stated: "Several job sites such as Monster, Workopolis, and JobBank achieved significant gains in January as many Canadians resolved to improve their careers in 2008."
He added: "[Also] the extreme cold weather and record breaking snow levels in Canada have driven [Canadians] to travel entities on the web in hopes of finding warmer destinations."
