Yahoo overtakes Google in US web traffic

Yahoo websites attracted more US visitors than Google in July, according to the most recent internet traffic numbers.
Confounding analysts’ predictions, Yahoo sites attracted 196.6 million unique visitors last month, giving it the biggest audience of any US-based web property and overtaking Google for the first time since May 2011, according to analytic company comScore.
Yahoo’s unique visitors were up 21 per cent compared to July of last year, when it came in third behind Google and Microsoft. During the same period, Google sites, (including YouTube), attracted 192.3 million unique visitors, up less than 1 per cent.
Microsoft made third place in July, with 179.6 million unique visitors, followed by Facebook with 142.3 million and AOL with 117.4 million.
Although this is largely symbolic achievement for Yahoo, the news will be welcomed by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who joined in July 2012 and recently laid out the company’s plans to remodel itself in the image of Google.
In an earnings call last month, which revealed mixed results, Mayer noted that page views were rising after more than a year of declines, citing recently refreshed versions of Yahoo mail, weather, sports, news and Tumbler, both on desktop and mobile.