Visits to the world’s top million websites were lower in the third quarter of 2026 than at their early 2022 peak (a decline of 12.2%), based on the data from Similarweb shared by SparkToro. The proportion of visits that go to websites that are not among the top 100 stayed relatively consistent over this time. That means while the total number of visits was down, that proportion still added up to less traffic for non-top-100 sites.
Rand Fishkin, SparkToro’s co-founder and CEO, wrote that the project began with his theory that the biggest sites, largely Big Tech properties, were taking more of the web’s traffic.
The post also reports a 29.2% drop in visits per internet user. This calculation uses user estimates that were revised partway through the period.
What The Visit Totals Show
Fishkin asked Similarweb for total visits to the top million sites from its worldwide desktop and mobile web panel, along with a breakdown by site rank.
In the post’s figures, total visits peaked in Q1 2022 at 2.243 trillion. At the low point in Q1 2026, the total was 1.914 trillion, down 14.7% from the peak. The latest quarter, Q3 2026, came in at 1.970 trillion, 12.2% below the peak.
The totals on the post’s chart stay roughly level through 2023, then dip in early 2024 and fall again in the first half of 2025.
The Split By Site Rank Barely Moved
Similarweb categorized the top million websites from the number 1-10 to the 100,001st to 1 millionth website by five levels of ranking.
The share chart shows roughly a combined 33% and 36% of visits for the #1-10 (top) and #11-100 (next 90) sites during Q4 2021 and Q3 2026 respectively. The percentages for each band below the top 100 were a little lower at the end of the period compared to the beginning.
Fishkin described growth in the share for the top 100 as small, writing that “stagnation is a more accurate description of the trend.”
Visits Per User Depend On Revised Estimates
SparkToro’s per-user number is found by dividing Similarweb’s total visits by DataReportal’s estimated quarterly internet users globally. The table included in the blog post reports 4.95 billion internet users in Q4 2021 and 6.15 billion for Q3 2026. This represents an increase of around 24% during that time. The blog post reports the decline in visits per user at 29.2%.
The user series jumped from 5.65 billion to 6.04 billion in one quarter (Q3) of 2025. According to DataReportal in their October 2025 report, this jump in the number of users online was “largely attributable to significant revisions” in the rate of internet use that were officially reported by India and China. They also warned the reader to avoid interpreting this change as if hundreds of millions of new people came online in 90 days.
The SparkToro post did not include information regarding the change in reporting. Their estimate of 24% user growth compared data prior to and subsequent to the reporting change.
About The Data
Similarweb’s panel tracks browser visits on desktop and mobile, but not app use. Fishkin wrote that consolidation by Big Tech is likely much more common in apps.
The data is also worldwide, and he wrote that it’s plausible traffic to U.S., U.K. and EU sites declined while regions with growing internet access, such as Asia and Africa, grew. The post doesn’t break out regions or state the panel’s size.
He did not provide reasons for the decline in visits. Fishkin’s list of possible factors includes app-only use, reliance on search engine results, AI tool utilization, social media platforms and the user behavior changes after the COVID-19 pandemic.
After initial publication SparkToro updated their article. On Nov. 10, Fishkin said on X that the prior version of his post “had an incorrect graph/data.” That version’s headline put the decline at 24%, which the URL still shows.
SparkToro sells audience research software, and Fishkin co-authored the book “Zero Click Marketing.”
Why This Matters
SparkToro has provided an international benchmark for when a multi-year traffic decline shows up in your reports. The percentage of visits based upon the ranking of the website held close to steady in Similarweb’s browser-based metrics, although the actual number of visits decreased. The headline statistic in the report without reliance on changes in user estimates is the 12.2 percent decline in overall visits.
This report measures the number of browser visits to the top million websites regardless of where they came from, whereas the zero-click data I reported on back in June measured clicks per U.S. Google search.
Looking Ahead
Until a regional breakdown is available, SparkToro’s figures are best viewed as global context for traffic conversations, rather than as a benchmark for any single market. Fishkin also wrote that he plans to compare the findings with other sources and revisit the numbers every year or two.
Featured Image: Tetiana Yurchenko/Shutterstock
