Top Website Statistics And Trends

Forbes Staff,  Editor

Updated: Feb 23, 2024, 12:43pm

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The Internet never fails to amaze us with its evolution and rapid growth. There are more than 5.16 billion internet users in the world. According to the Digital 2023 data report, India has over 692.0 million internet users, when internet penetration stood at 48.7% with an active 1.10 billion cellular mobile connections in the country. 

Websites and online presence are equally important as any other traditional marketing for both business and personal use. It is essential to be aware of the latest trends and statistics to have a better understanding of the Internet world. 

The Forbes Advisor India team has researched and gathered the top website statistics for 2023. This article will give you a clear vision of what’s happening in the industry and what you can expect in the coming year. If you wish to be a digital marketer, web developer or simply interested in online trends, these valuable insights can give you a glance into the internet’s future. 

General Website Statistics

There are 1.13 billion websites in the world as of February 2023 of which 82% were deactivated, which means around 200 million websites are active. In India, we have 5,708,965 websites. The most visited websites in the world are Google and YouTube with 97 billion and 80.05 billion respectively. Below are the statistics of the most used websites and online services based on the type in India as per Statista.

TypesPercentage
Search Engines98%
Online Stores66%
Social Media Websites and Applications66%
Video Websites and Applications (Example: YouTube)65%
Company Websites and Applications48%
News Websites and Applications44%
Blogs32%
Newsletters25%

Every three seconds a new website is built. The average reading speed can range between 200 to 250 words per minute. Assuming you can read up to 300 words per minute then by the time you finish reading this article about 240 websites can be created. 

General Business Website Statistics

It is very important to make an online presence for your business and follow the latest trends and attract more customers. The ease of online transactions has made businesses shift to online presence as a mode of communication, sales and convenience. 

Globally, 71% of businesses have a website in 2023. More than 28% of businesses conduct their online activities and more than 43% of small businesses are planning to invest in their website performance. 

According to GoDaddy Data Observatory India 2023, it shows that 55% of small businesses have been launched in the last five years and 62% of Indian small businesses have a website, e-commerce platform or an online store as their main source of sales channel to grow their business. 

In the past five years, 83% of small businesses started selling online and 65% of small businesses make up to 50% of revenue from online sales. Mobile phones are still 46% of the relevant mode for most people in India.  

Based on the GoDaddy data, below are the sales channel mostly used by small businesses in India:

Sales ChannelPercentage
Business Website/ Own Online Store/ E-commerce62%
Social Media55%
Phone46%
Business Website (non-e-commerce)41%
Physical Location41%
Own Online Store/ E-commerce37%
Online Marketplace34%

The top selling modes are business websites and social media platforms with 62% and 55% respectively for small businesses in India.

General Users’ Opinions on Website Statistics 

Around 10,500 websites are created hourly and the user takes 0.05 seconds to form an opinion of a website. The first impression formed of a website is around 94% design related. It is given that the website should be designed in a certain way that will hook the customers in for a longer period because around 88% of the users or customers are less likely to visit the website after a poor experience. 

The website should be well-designed according to a desktop and should equally be mobile-friendly. Around 57% of users will not recommend a website that is poorly designed on mobile.

Around 38% of people will stop engaging with a website that has unattractive content and layout. Website loading is as important as your website design. Around 39% of people can lose interest if images take time to load on your website. Overall a website should engage the user long enough and have the potential of turning the user into a customer.

Website Traffic Statistics

Google’s website drives 93% of the global traffic making it the top search engine in the world. With its advanced interface and algorithms, Google is a go-to site for billions of people searching for products, information and services online which makes Google the top most visited website in the world with 85.1 billion visitors. 

This shows the popularity and reliability of services provided by Google like email, search and online advertising, among users. For businesses, it highlights the importance of having a powerful presence online through Google to help reach a wide range of people.

YouTube is the second most popular and visited website with over 33 billion visitors. Its video-sharing and user-generated content have gained YouTube popularity and made it a valuable resource for both individuals and business ideas. Having a strong presence on the website can help increase traffic, awareness and a wider reach. 

Below is the data by Semrush on the most visited website in India as of May 2023

WebsiteVisitors
google.com12,052,396,104
youtube.com11,109,895,978
xhamster20.desi2,252,100,365
facebook.com1,471,981,611
instagram.com802,076,055
asurascans.com792,234,003
amazon.in617,671,251
twitter.com568,590,872
cricbuzz.com537,055,415
9animetv.to533,789,386

As you can see, Google tops the table with around 12 billion visitors followed by YouTube with around 11 billion visitors.

Website User Experience Statistics

Users don’t really wait around for a website to load; it takes them two seconds to exit the website and move to another. 47% of users do not wait more than two seconds. This causes the website owners to lose customers within seconds. They should ensure that their website loads quickly in order to convert visitors into customers.

Users spend an average of 5.59 seconds looking at the written content and an average of 6.44 seconds focusing on the navigation menu. It is important to have well-written content on your website, this reflects that the company is well effective in communicating its message. The well-navigated menu impresses the users as it becomes easy for them to find what they are looking for. 

Users on average spent 54 seconds on a page. These 54 seconds are considered important for any business and website owner as this duration is the deciding factor whether you’re able to engage the target audience or not. It overall concerns the web design, layout, content creation and other strategies that make an amazing impact on the user experience.

Adding a video to your website can turn out to be the best thing as it increases the user’s time spent on the site. Having a video results in an 88% increase in the average time spent on a website’s page. Also, 88% of the users won’t look back at your website if they have a negative experience with it. 

The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors on a website who exit the site after visiting only one page of it. The average bounce rate ranges from 41% to 55%. This can be caused due to lack of attractive content, trouble in navigation or other factors that lead to poor user experience. 

Mobile Website Traffic Statistics

In India, 82.2% of web traffic comes from mobile phones and 74% of users come back to a website that is mobile-friendly. It is very important for a web designer to design a mobile-friendly website that is more user-friendly, attractive and engaging. 

The user should have a positive response for your website after visiting it, it should be a responsive mobile website with a fast loading time. If it takes time to load it leaves the user irritated and bothered. Around 73% of users report that they have experienced a slow-loading mobile website. Mobile website users generally expect a website to load under three seconds. 

Below is the table based on the Statista mobile data traffic per device in India:

YearGigabytes per month
202325.35
202430.15
202535.73
202642.48
202749.61

The Indian mobile data traffic in 2023 is estimated to be 25.35 gigabytes per month. The Forecast suggests that by 2027 there will be an estimated increase of gigabytes that can be around 49.61 per month. Mobile data traffic has shown rapid growth by the adoption of the 4G network and also the need to work from home during the pandemic. 

Web Design Statistics

Web design refers to the website’s design on the internet. A web designer is a designer that designs the appearance, layout and at times the content displayed on the website. The average cost of designing a website in India ranges from INR 50,000 to INR 2,50,000.

  • A basic website can cost you between INR 50,000 to INR 1 lakh
  • A small business website can cost you between INR 80,000 to INR 1,50,000
  • An E-commerce website can cost you between INR 1,50,000 to INR 4 lakh
  • A custom-based website with unique features can cost you between INR 2 lakh to INR 6 lakh

Design is the primary thing on a website that attracts visitors. The design has around 75% influence on a website’s credibility. Call to action (CTA) is a marketing term and an important factor as it allows the customer to take action like buying a product or signing up for a newsletter. 

If the website is not fitted well for CTA the user might leave the website without any action. Seven out of ten small business websites lack proper CTA features. 

People constantly keep scrolling through their social media accounts on their phone and social media often attracts them to visit a certain website or rather redirect them directly to the website. 

So, you need to have a mobile-friendly website to gain their attention further and have provoking content that will later lead them to buy your products or services. Around 67% of users are more likely to purchase if your website is mobile-friendly. 

Users spend most of their time on the upper half of a website’s landing page known as, “above the fold”. Around 57% of users’ time is spent above the fold and 57% of users don’t recommend an awfully designed website. 

Layout equally holds the same importance as a bad layout can lead the users to exit the website without much thought. It also creates a bad image of the business. 38% of the users do not engage with a website that has a poor and unattractive layout. 

A website should be well designed, have a great layout and proper call to action feature as it engages the user and also set a good reputation for the business. 

Around 48% of small businesses have a mobile application as it adds more weightage of easy accessibility and has a higher chance of sale as more online purchases are made through a mobile app. 

WordPress is the most desired and popular content management system (CMS) among users. According to the data, it powers over 42.4% of the internet’s websites and is the popular choice among users and web developers. 

As you can see a web designer is very important to make your business look attractive in front of the users. According to the AmbitionBox, the average salary of a web designer ranges from INR 1 lakh to INR 5.5 lakh with an average salary of INR 2.4 lakh per annum. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the click-through rate (CTR) and how is it calculated?

CTR is the percentage of individuals who visit the website and click on an advertisement that appears on the website’s page and it is calculated as:

The number of clicks your advertisement receives is divided by the number of times the advertisement is shown.

What is the average click-through rate across all industries?

The average click-through rate across all industries is 4.23%.

How much time does it take to design a website?

It can take on an average of three months to design a simple website with basic features. The time varies depending on the complexity, features and availability of the design team.

What is the average conversion rate for e-commerce websites?

The average conversion rate for e-commerce websites is between 1.18% to 3.71%.

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