Google Jumps to No. 4 in Popularity

Search engine Google took a big jump up in popularity last month. Reston, Va.-based ComScore Media Metrix reported that Google (www.google.com) was the fourth-most popular Web destination among Internet users in the United States in July, with an estimated 37.5 million visitors from home and work.

Google climbed two spots from its June ranking, bumping aside the Web networks of media conglomerates Primedia Inc. (its best-known site is About.com) and Terra Lycos, the previous No. 5 and No. 4 in ComScore’s list. But the long-standing top three Web properties--those of AOL Time Warner Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.--remained far above Google, with audiences of 98 million, 89.8 million and 83.4 million, respectively, in July.

Google doesn’t have AOL, MSN or Yahoo’s advantage of being the default home page for Internet providers and Web browsers, nor does it offer their breadth of services. And yet “it’s essentially become a household brand,” said ComScore senior manager Max Kalehoff. ComScore’s rankings are based on a sampling of Internet users who agree to install its monitoring software on their computers.