>Google Maps is part of the most-viewed web brand of 2011, according to Nielsen. Image: Bytemarks/Flickr/CC BY
The Nielsen Media Research company has released its 2011 list of the most-viewed web brands for the year. Not many will be surprised to learn that Google topped the list, with Facebook coming close behind it.
The search engine giant Google had an average of 153.4 million unique visitors a month between January and October of 2011, Nielesen said in its report Wednesday.
According to an unrelated report from Experian Hitwise, 61.7 percent of all Internet searches are done through Google.
Social networking giant Facebook came in number two on the list with an average of 137.6 million unique visitors monthly. Facebook also had the distinction of being the most-searched term of 2011, according to Experian Hitwise.
In a separate rating category, Nielsen said that Facebook “held its lead among social networks and blogs.”
A web brand is an Internet umbrella that may include many branded sites. Google, for instance, as used by Nielsen, includes Gmail and Google Maps. It does not, however, include YouTube, even though that site is owned by the same company.
Nielsen’s Matthew Hurst, in an email to the Huffington Post, said that the targeting of web brand labels is “meant to reflect how consumers experience the web.”
The next most-viewed web brands of 2011 were, in descending order, Yahoo!, MSN/Windows Live/Bing, YouTube, Microsoft, AOL Media Network, Wikipedia, Apple and the Ask Search Network.
Nielsen Media Research is a U.S.-based marketing firm that measures the audience for various kinds of media. Nielsen is best known for keeping its finger on the pulse of television viewership. The firm’s reports have traditionally been instrumental in determining which network television shows will be renewed or cancelled each season. The company also monitors radio, theatrical films, newspapers, websites and other types of media.
