{"id":11004,"date":"2026-03-25T06:03:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/?p=11004"},"modified":"2026-03-25T06:03:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:03:24","slug":"new-research-influence-happens-everywhere-an-analysis-of-the-5000-most-visited-sites-on-the-mobile-and-desktop-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/new-research-influence-happens-everywhere-an-analysis-of-the-5000-most-visited-sites-on-the-mobile-and-desktop-web\/","title":{"rendered":"New Research: Influence Happens Everywhere, an analysis of the 5,000 most-visited sites on the mobile and desktop web"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Several weeks ago, I published some important research about <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/new-research-search-happens-everywhere-an-analysis-of-41-websites-with-significant-search-activity\/\">where search happens on the web<\/a>. Spoiler: everywhere, but ~73% is still Google. This data, fascinating as it is, begets another question \u2013 where does influence happen? What do people read, watch, listen-to, browse, and surf on the web *before* they search?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For answers, I turned to our longtime friends at <a href=\"https:\/\/similarweb.com\">Similarweb<\/a>, whose mobile and desktop clickstream panel can help answer exactly that. <a href=\"https:\/\/support.similarweb.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/360001631538-Similarweb-Data-Methodology\">Similarweb\u2019s data methodology<\/a> builds trustworthy estimates of the entire world\u2019s web browsing experience (I\u2019ve verified their accuracy <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/which-3rd-party-traffic-estimate-best-matches-google-analytics\/\">before<\/a>, and come away impressed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My questions this time were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Which websites are most popular on the mobile+desktop web?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What categories of behavior do these sites fall into?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What\u2019s the distribution of where people spend time online? How many visits go to, for example, search vs. social vs. news vs. commerce?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thankfully, the Similarweb data, when combined with a bit of manual categorization and some AI classification elegantly got the job done. I hand-sorted the top 200 websites into 15 top-level categories, then used <a href=\"https:\/\/gptforwork.com\/\">GPT for Sheets<\/a> to classify the remaining 4,800 sites. I then hand-reviewed the classification of 4 random samples of a few hundred domains at each tier of visitation, and, satisfied that the accuracy exceeded 99%, summed the visits for each category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That process revealed where influence happens on the mobile and desktop web:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0e08e2dbaa&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"69e0e08e2dbaa\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bar-Chart-Share-of-Visits-Top5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11009\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bar-Chart-Share-of-Visits-Top5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bar-Chart-Share-of-Visits-Top5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bar-Chart-Share-of-Visits-Top5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bar-Chart-Share-of-Visits-Top5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Above, we can see a bar chart of what the world visited in their browsers in January of 2026. Search and social are giant categories, comprising nearly half of all visits to the top 5,000 domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below is the same data, visualized (for those who still love them) in pie chart format:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0e08e2e162&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"69e0e08e2e162\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Share-of-Visits-Top-5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11013\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Share-of-Visits-Top-5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Share-of-Visits-Top-5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Share-of-Visits-Top-5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Share-of-Visits-Top-5K-SimilarWeb-SparkToro.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Before I get to takeaways, there are some important limitations to this analysis I want to highlight:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mobile usage was extremely important to me in this process, which is why we turned to Similarweb. Unfortunately, we\u2019re still <strong><em>excluding mobile apps<\/em><\/strong>, a frustrating blind spot in clickstream methodology (thought Similarweb *does* have mobile app data, and we\u2019re talking about ways to compare these apples and oranges in a future report). If these were included, social would almost certainly be the largest category, ahead of search. Email, entertainment, and messaging would be significantly larger as well.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI tools will probably get a lot of attention in this report (given the hype), but this analysis probably overstates their share of visits. Because mobile apps are excluded \u2014 and AI usage is&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/ai-desktop-mobile-divide-ai-search-traffic-ignores-mobile-strategy\/549122\/\">heavily desktop-skewed<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brightedge.com\/resources\/research-reports\/open-frontier-mobile-ai-search\"> (about 94% desktop vs. 6% mobile<\/a>) \u2014 AI appears larger here than it would in a full snapshot of digital behavior.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visits to Gmail, the top email provider, redirect to Google.com, further biasing the categorization and undercounting email visits.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Malware visits, while interesting, are likely not particularly influential from a marketing perspective. I considered removing these entirely from the analysis, but reasoned transparency mattered more than precision given the study\u2019s other limitations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Another fascinating view of this data came from segmenting the 5,000 sites into similarly-sized buckets of traffic. Here\u2019s what that looks like:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0e08e2e805&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"69e0e08e2e805\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Five-Groups-of-Sites-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11012\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Five-Groups-of-Sites-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Five-Groups-of-Sites-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Five-Groups-of-Sites-SimilarWeb-SparkToro-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Five-Groups-of-Sites-SimilarWeb-SparkToro.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>For those wondering just how big Google is, this chart really drives that point home. The search giant isn\u2019t just big on the web, it\u2019s as big as the next 13 largest sites by traffic combined. Anyone who tells you search is dying, Google\u2019s losing, or that they don\u2019t deserve to be classified as a monopoly ought to re-examine their priors. When Earth\u2019s residents use a web browser, mobile or desktop, they visit Google a lot more than they do anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, Google (and search more broadly) are less than a quarter of all visitation to the top 5K. Despite Alphabet\u2019s best efforts to keep us from leaving their engine, we still spend time on websites of all kinds. But this explains a fundamental problem with attribution: search gets over-credited because it captures demand in a highly concentrated environment, while the far more fragmented parts of the web get under-credited even though they created demand in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marketers\u2019 big challenge with this is what happens after influence is created through use of email, news media, content, social, entertainment, productivity, etc. \u2013 we consume content in these places, then go to Google to search. We even do this after AI gives us an answer (proof: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/blog\/google-usage-after-chatgpt-adoption\/\">ChatGPT is Expanding Search<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalinformationworld.com\/2025\/09\/google-stays-default-for-chatgpt-users.html\">Google Stays the Default for ChatGPT Users<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0e08e2ecf3&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"69e0e08e2ecf3\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Who-Gets-Credit-in-Analytics-SparkToro-SimilarWeb-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11015\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Who-Gets-Credit-in-Analytics-SparkToro-SimilarWeb-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Who-Gets-Credit-in-Analytics-SparkToro-SimilarWeb-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Who-Gets-Credit-in-Analytics-SparkToro-SimilarWeb-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/images.sparktoro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Who-Gets-Credit-in-Analytics-SparkToro-SimilarWeb.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re looking at where your traffic comes from and using that to determine your marketing budget, you\u2019re gonna have a bad time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Influence happens everywhere<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Search, while it&#8217;s the largest category, is merely a *response* to influence created in other channels. It rarely creates demand, rather, Search converts interest into answers, navigation, and clicks. Search is the Internet\u2019s middleman.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social media and news are (IMO) the most-overlooked channels. Your audience is present in those places, they\u2019re being influenced by what they consume there, and if you\u2019re not present, you\u2019ll lose to competitors who are. Yes, even B2B.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI is growing, it\u2019s hot, but the share of visits to AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Deepseek, and Gemini is 1\/1,000th the size of the breathless press coverage it receives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The place AI has the greatest influence on discoverability and marketing is\u2026 Google! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/barryadams_ai-overviews-are-increasingly-dominating-activity-7439676463085215744-p3ii\/\">More than one-third of US search results<\/a> now show an AI overview. Google is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/tech\/896490\/google-replace-news-headlines-in-search-canary-coal-mine-experiment\">rewriting press headlines with AI<\/a>. Gmail just started <a href=\"https:\/\/shellypalmer.com\/2026\/01\/gmails-ai-is-on-by-default\/\">using AI by default<\/a> (and it\u2019s a pain to turn off). If you\u2019re worried about your AI discoverability, that shouldn\u2019t be because of ChatGPT or Claude, it should be because of Google.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Stay tuned for more research between SparkToro <a href=\"https:\/\/similarweb.com\">Similarweb<\/a>; we\u2019re working on an updated analysis of Zero-Click Searches, using their mobile + desktop panel data, in the next few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several weeks ago, I published some important research about where search happens on the web. Spoiler: everywhere, but ~73% is still Google. This data, fascinating as it is, begets another question \u2013 where does influence happen? What do people read, watch, listen-to, browse, and surf on the web *before* they search? For answers, I turned<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,68,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data","category-research","category-zero-click"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Research: Influence Happens Everywhere, an analysis of the 5,000 most-visited sites on the mobile and desktop web - SparkToro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Several weeks ago, I published some important research about where search happens on the web. Spoiler: everywhere, but ~73% is still Google. This data,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/new-research-influence-happens-everywhere-an-analysis-of-the-5000-most-visited-sites-on-the-mobile-and-desktop-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Research: Influence Happens Everywhere, an analysis of the 5,000 most-visited sites on the mobile and desktop web - SparkToro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several weeks ago, I published some important research about where search happens on the web. Spoiler: everywhere, but ~73% is still Google. 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