Before answering the question, keep in mind that there are literally billions of websites out there. Only a small percentage rank high in an online search. Nevertheless, they are all online, somewhere! Websites have become part of everyday life, and an essential tool for generating business. In today’s ultra-competitive world of the Internet, many sites have fallen into obscurity over the years. Many of today’s websites are ingrained in public life. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon are names almost everyone knows, and have likely used the services they offer.
There are others not so well-known in the West but firmly established in the East. Baidu, Tencent, VK, and Yandex are huge in China, Russia and Belarus. Websites in counties such as these along with India and Brazil, count towards the global scheme due to their massive populations. Let’s have a look at a few high ranking websites that are among the top ten in the world. Finally, the undisputed number one website in the world will be revealed!
LinkedIn started out as a networking tool for industry experts, job candidates, and business partners. The website has become a premier source of high-value information, contacts and a hub for job candidates and employers. It ranks highly at number 6 worldwide in 2019 and has become a vital business tool.
Everyone has heard of Twitter, particularly in North America, and Europe. The social networking site allows micro-blogs with links and photos attached. Twitter has had a profound effect on politics and helped change the world we live in. Twitter was central to the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa allowing a springboard and outside link for protesters and refugees. Twitter is a powerful tool of communication that is used by presidents, politicians, and famous celebrities along with the general public.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has slowly but surely confined the traditional encyclopaedia to the history books. A multilingual collaboratively edited internet encyclopaedia, Wikipedia is essentially a non-profit foundation, with 30 million original articles available in 287 languages with more than 4.3 million written in English. The free encyclopaedia is built using wiki software and was started in 2001. Users can log on to the site, edit and update content, and even add their own.
Taobao Marketplace
You are forgiven if you don’t recognise Taobao.com as it is primarily famous in China catering to prospective online buyers who value product choice and price competitiveness. Launched in 2003, Taobao is essentially the Chinese version of Amazon. The site lists over 760 million products and Taobao Marketplace is one of the most visited online web-stores in the world, and Taobao Marketplace is part of the Alibaba group of companies.
Tencent QQ
Tencent QQ is another Chinese website that ranks within the top ten worldwide. Operating out of Mainland China, Tencent offers IM services, mail and also a search engine. It is a dating site and online store simultaneously effectively a one-stop online shop. Current active total users number over six hundred million. Tencent QQ’s social networking and microblogging service utilises fast, instant messaging has SMS capability and a fast loading web interface. Founder in 1998, Tencent aims its operations towards a strategic goal of providing all users with a convenient “one-stop online life service”.
Baidu Com
The third Chinese website on the top ten most visited in the world is Baidu.Com. Frequently described as the Google of China, the leading Chinese language website is a search engine providing straightforward and precise results for searching queries serving up a reliable search engine experience. The multi-media content includes MP3 music and movies. Baidu was also a pioneer in its fiend, and the very first to offer PDA-based mobile search capabilities and WAP in China. Baidu provides over 50 other services on the site as well.
Yahoo
Remember Yahoo? The once leading email provider is still high on this list, coming in at 4th most visited website in the world. Yahoo offers almost every conceivable service imaginable and is continually growing and expanding its array of services. Yahoo is a prominent internet portal and service provider, also offering customisable content search results, various chatrooms, a free email service, clubs, and even antiquated pager!
Facebook comes in at a high second place and hardly needs any introduction these days. Everyone seems to be using Facebook and is the most popular social networking site on the planet. Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook in his college dormitory room while at Harvard University in 2004. Ever since then, Facebook has amassed over a billion worldwide users. You can message, upload pictures and videos, and just about anything you care to share. Facebook has helped to organise and assemble people for demonstrations and protest, and there are no limits to the heights Facebook can achieve.
YouTube
YouTube has revolutionised how we watch movies and music. It is the most popular website that allows designing and sharing videos online. Purchased by Google for a world record sum of over a billion US dollars, YouTube is a route to getting your videos viewed by the masses. You can upload, tag people in your videos and share them to an international audience. Created in 2005 by two ex PayPal employees, since 2006 it has been part of the Google empire.
Google comes in as the undisputed number one most visited website in the world, West and East. The search engine is the most used in the world, and other notable services take in Gmail, Blogger and YouTube, which is a trio of popular sites in their own right. Google stands out with its unique features like enabling its users to search the world for information, which includes all the online web pages, images, and exclusive videos. The search technology is second to none, and Google also provides specialised search capabilities using blogs, catalogues, uploaded videos, worldwide news items and a lot more. Google also offers Internet services whereby you can virtually craft and create your own personal blogs, send/receive email, and even publish your own individual web pages. There are social media networking features, tools to organise almost everything, and services for mobile devices. You can even buy Google-branded merchandise!