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60% of the Top 25 Domains Are Controlled By an Elite Six
Download the complete spreadsheet here:
CSV EXCEL PDF NUMBERS
You would think that if someone didn’t know what they were searching for, they would stop looking. Yet everyday, I talk to people who aimlessly spend their time and energy looking for some far away holy grail.
As a SEO my quest for success is a little better defined. I want to work on websites that drive immense traffic, be at the top of competitive SERPs, and most of all, I want to help people. I think many SEOs feel the same way. We have the advantage of knowing what we are searching for. Yet, we still have one huge problem. Where are we supposed to search to learn how to achieve the results we want? I have spent the last week trying to solve this problem.
I have compiled a list of what I believe to be the top 100 domains based on estimated monthly visits. These are the companies that have found the success that most SEOs are striving for. To identify them, I downloaded lists of the most popular (US) websites from Alexa, Quantcast, and Compete. Since none of those sources are entirely accurate individually, I used all three sources so I could compare and contrast results. I then researched each company individually to find out what it did, who owned it, and how many visitors it likely received last month. Now that I have my list, I know exactly what I want to do with it. I am going to steal as many great ideas from each company on the list as I can.
In fact, the very idea of stealing ideas was stolen from one of the companies on the list
Studying the companies individually was useful, but studying them collectively was extremely useful. Below are some of the more interesting findings that helped me understand the online playing field. These graphs and statistics won't necessarily unlock any secrets, but they will help you understand conventional online success.
The Big Guys Rule
60% of the top 25 domains are controlled by an elite six. These super internet companies dominate internet usage.
This trend is continued when viewed on a larger scale. 43% of the top 100 domains are controlled by an elite dozen. This leads me to think that the surest way to conventional success is to be bought out.
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Together this elite dozen drives more than 1.3 billion monthly unique visits. This is ignoring the billions of page views made from these web giants' ad platforms.
The internet seems to have unlimited avenues to success. In reality, there are only 14 likely paths.
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Location, Location, Location
The most popular focus of websites in the top 100 is retail (21%). Of these, 64% do all of their business online.
When It Comes To Choosing a URL, Your Choices Are Limited
Web 2.0 names may be trendy, but the proven path to internet stardom is convention. 92% of the websites in the top 100 use .com as their primary top level domain name.
Content Format Is King
While websites like YouTube and Pandora receive a lot of press for being different, the proven path to the top is by focusing on text.
Who Really Owns You
The vast majority of the websites in the top 100 are publicly owned. This is more likely a symptom of success rather than a cause, but it does hint conventional wisdom.
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As a bonus, this graph looks like a diseased Pacman eating a piece of delicious blueberry pie
I am posting this data here with the hope that other people can glean valuable information from my research. My only request is that you share insights you gather from the spreadsheet with the public. I think every internet marketer is looking for the same thing. Maybe by pooling our resources, one of us will find it.
If you have any other advice that you think is worth sharing, feel free to post it in the comments. This post is very much a work in progress. As always, feel free to e-mail me or send me a private message if you have any suggestions on how I can make my posts more useful. All of my contact information is available on my profile: Danny Thanks!
Danny that is most usefl information I have seen collected to date on the net.
I cannot believe the level of dedication and work you have put in this. Every one of your posts has been worthy of a read and so diverse!
One word "WOW". Keep them coming.
You're like some kind of super-intern over there Danny Dover.
I even noticed the other day that you have the most popular SEOmoz blog post of all time. As in ever - congrats.
And that 3 of your posts are on that list!
Has Rand offered you a full-time gig yet?
And if not - when are you available for hire?
Nice work.
I think as far as the part about text being the primary information format - that's for a variety of reasons - but it would be interesting to see how much this changes over the next few years.
Also - it would be interesting to see how many new sites appear on this list every year? Do the big just keeping getting bigger?
You should plan a follow-up for the next few years and we'll call it the Dover Index or the Dover 100 or something like that.
And I think the real value for potential wealth opportunities on the Internet would be to study sites 101 through 200 (if such information is available).
Do the these trends continue once you're out of the top 100? Or do things get all jumbled up with new industries, ownerships, etc?
I especially liked this analysis:
The internet seems to have unlimited avenues to success. In reality, there are only 14 likely paths.
You could end a lot of cocktail party conversations about future Internet start-ups with that one little gem.
I'm going to download the CSV and analyze.
I'm wondering why as an SEO you didn't correlate this information with things like domain age, page rank, back links, dmoz listings, etc.?
Again - very good stuff here!
You should plan a follow-up for the next few years and we'll call it the Dover Index or the Dover 100 or something like that.
I second that idea. Awesome thought Vin.
Wow, Danny, another great post. I really enjoyed this because it takes something too big for the human mind to fathom (the internet) and sort of breaks it down into something I can wrap my mind around.
It reminds me of the fact that even offline, the products and services we buy are usually controlled and manufactured by a handful of giant mega-companies. It's easy to forget that fact.
What I do like is that there is a enough internet traffic for all of us, if we find the right way to use it. If you can offer something (a different product, better service) than any of these huge companies, people will find you.
And I love that SEO levels the playing field in so many ways - small companies can actually have a chance to dominate the SERPs if they really work at it.
On your "Primary Purpose of Top 100 Websites" chart, you may want to put the %'s in parentheses next to the function since you've used the same colors several times and it's hard to discern one form the other.
In any case - another solid post.
I am working on it. I actually used different colors for each (Just the shading is a little bit different.) Unfortunately my graphing software is not as flexible as I would like.
Thanks
I agree about the colours ..... I first thought the problem was in my eyes :) ..... well.... partly probably it is :)
Thanks!
I have been following the SEOmoz blog for awhile now but have yet to comment on anything... but I just wanted to give props to Danny for doing such an excellent job.
Danny, your work has been simply amazing. Each post has been packed with valuable information and I'm blown away at the level you have reached at such a young age.
Rand, you better put this kid on the payroll pronto before someone else does ;)
I really appreciate it. It makes it worth my time to write these posts when I get such great feedback.
Thanks
I'm going to Stumble this post.
Once the facts are brought out into the open you realize that all of the cr*p that other people are blogging about and trying their hardest to sound as if they are experts, is worthless.
Thanks for the post and the information.
Agree with all - a great post.
I was doing a similar study myself to determine the top websites and what format they were.
The next question, I'm attempting is how to valuate a potential super site.
Keep up the good work!
This is a great argument. I liked how you used a lot of great information in your argument to back up your opinion. I always find that this blog is nicely written and your opinions are very thought provoking.
Really nice job man.
Triumph of the Nerds was one of the best documentaries ever.
"In this industry [computers], you can work any 80 hours per week you like."
Danny, Awesome read.
Like many people in the industry I try and follow many feeds all the time. Posts like this DEFIANTLY worth the entire read.
Interesting post.
Good useage of graphs can always get points across in a cogent way.
Indeed, I wanted to redistribute the article it to company colleagues who I would consider non-internet literate even from the big picture perspective, yes those outside of the bubble of the web, let alone "search". Two finger keyboard pushers who "gotta have a 26 inch monitor+gold mouse" - In this case the company owner, yes the one who pays the bills, and who i have to convince to set the marketing budget. The guy infact who indeed does not talk english, sound business man oh yes, but kinda scratching his head about the internet, "...its all spam,porn and music piracy no ?- when are going to explain this internet thing to me properly you get so hot under the collar about?"
Like, where do you start?
The whole www things is a a great promise for breaking down language barriers uh and conveying information? Here´s a great primer that wont get the luddite confused, me thinks. Alas no.
I pushed the URL through google translate to machine reformat the whole text into Spanish (not Cervantes quality but acceptable), comments included and prepared to fire off a the URL, (hey even write it down on a postick and shove it on his monitor) - however the real practical limitation is that machine translation cannot process images to convey information - as you say or illustrate in your post, if you are going to triumph online, use text over other formats, or should we say machine readable information (did i say semantic?) and therefore it got me thinking.....
Why not use the brilliant google charts api or similar to convey such information? So its a bit more janky (as wordpress say) to use, yes you will have fiddle with parameters and bend urls etc, but dont you end up with information that is more open and ultimately more distributable, even findable?? Isn´t online graphing the way to go?
...meanwhile mr Company Boss still waiting for that "explanation".
Very interesting article. Great to know.
I am curious what .gov domains do that companies own.
Great info Danny - the fact that 88% of the top 100 are text-based is something to add to the arsenal of 'why you need SEO'.
I would have imagined that adult was more than 5%... I guess they do 'market' themselves more aggressively though.
Actually, this gem i not true because this is a study based on site traffic and not revenue. It's possible to have high traffic and low revenue (wikipedia) and low traffic and high revenue (subscription-market reports). So, maybe the internet does have unlimited avenues to success. :)
Another great post Danny, well done. What software did you use for the graphs?
That's the same question I had :)
Very thorough post.
I am using Apple's Numbers. It is Apples version of Excel. It follows the Apple stereotype exactly. It makes great shiny graphs and makes all of the data in the spreadsheet look good but it forces users to do tasks the Steve Jobs way. Even still, I plan on using it again and I would recommend it to anyone with a mac.
Just an FYI on CNET if you weren't aware-- it was purchased by CBS last Thursday for $1.8 billion. Deal should be finalized in the 3rd qtr.
Great article! Any chance that the Primary Purpose data could be added to the spreadsheet? As others have said, it is hard to decipher that pie chart, especially the 20% "yellow" slice" -- is that the "brown" dot marked ISP? I cannot find a brown pie slice, so I am making this assumption.
Sorry about the confusion. I had a lot of trouble trying to get all of the data in a reabable format. I think I fixed it. What do you think?
Haha. Great idea. Being bought out. I saw a video about the '.com' buzz and certain companies being bought out, for millions/billions of dollars. It was actually humorous but true.
Thanks for the research and the graphs. I like graphs. :) I'm a visual learner.
I stumbled across this post and it was surprisingly awesome. (Despite my nasty grammar..lol)
Interesting post, Danny.
Great research Danny, it gives me ideas on researching for the different Industries I am working with right now. Thanks.
Another awesome post with some great information. You must have done some pretty intense research to get all of that information. How many hours did you put into all of that?
I like how you made the massive internet look just a little smaller, so that everyone could understand.
It is not a surprise to me that the majority of the internet is run by only a couple domains. In every large industry this is how business is run. For example, we have Alan Jackson's song "Little Man". I know that we are not talking about the "little man" here, but in his song he discusses how the "big money" runs everything now. The best example of this "big money" is Walmart. There is a lot of controversy that comes with Walmart, but the fact of the matter is that if you get a deal or contract with Walmart you just scored a lot of money. And this was what your post was all about, focusing on those large, high trafficked domains that will generate more success for you as an SEO. You are not going to go to the "Mom and Pop" domains, you want the Walmarts.
Thanks for all of the research it was great.
One question comes to mind.....Is it possible for there ever to be a domain monopoly, duopoly, or oligopoly?
It took me a week. I would guess I put between 15 to 20 hours into this. Compete.com does not release it's top 100 list so I had to manually figure it out. Eventually I realized I could google site:compete.com "(rank #1" I also had to learn the graphing software. I really like how everything turned out though so I am glad i did it.
Hello,
I work in the " Téléchargement mp3 " industry and I have to thank you for your research and these figures. They are very useful to us to know who our competitors are (amazon, daylimotion...) . Even if the post is one year old, it is still substantial for us to have this kind of simple but complete data.
Thank you again,
Pierre
the color combos you used in some of those graphs are really hard to understand. the "primary purpose" graph in particular is impossible for me to read. i don't think i'm color blind, either.
sob i should have read comments first. sorry mang.
They would all be fine if the order of them was the same on every graph . . . maybe you should start there. You know, biggest pie peice = top left key, smallest pie piece = bottom right key.
Very good info though, thanks!
Great story. One thing I thought was interesting is the Steve Jobs video and no actual mention of Apple. Of course, the Itunes store isn't precisely a website, but it is an ecommerce vehicle that couldn't exist without the web.
Wow, that put's it almost in a class by itself and a strange example of being successful going against the trend towards making everything browser based.
Any clue how to get some figures to show where itunes fits in this picture, besides being the #1 music retailer in the world?
I think that is one of the best descriptions of Apple I have ever heard. And by the way Apple did make the list at #26. ;-)
Great stuff.
Love the graphs what did you use to create them?
Topher Kohan
I am using Apple's Numbers. It is easy to use and has a lot of great predefined themes but is not as flexible as I would like.
I like this guys writing style - can we get some more from this new guy?
One thing - Six Apart does not own Wordpress, Automattic does.
Really cool article though, I'll be poking through this data for a while.
Thanks!
Good catch. I updated the spreadsheet. Thanks
Thanks for the research! :)
To be honest, I am surprised that Gambling takes only 1% (Primary Purpose of Top 100 Sites).
Oh, also, what are the Reference sites? PPC sites?
Cheers
Great data. Thanks for sharing!
Another great Blog entry. Only thing is my head is killing me from the colors. btw I like the graphs.....ooo...pretty.
:)
Very good info i like this list, thanks!! Best regards Parisian!
- Casey Removed Link
Wow... just... WOW! What a post!
And the stats are visible while surfing the web if you really think about it. I mean, how many times do we all land on one of these properties every day? I know I do MANY times per day.
Hello
I'd like to hire you
I currently have 10,000 unique hits a day. Can you double that? If so, name your price. Also, I'll probably never look at this website again (unless I hire you), so you'll need to email me. [email protected]
I appreciate it but I already got a great job. Check out the SEO Marketplace to find other people who might be able to help.
Dude, you could have at least emailed him or privately messaged him. Pretty ballsy to try and poach our employee right in front of us.