Google reaches new heights in US

Google expanded upon its dominance of the US search market last month by becoming the top web property for the first time ever.

That is according to recent figures from the comScore Media Metrix service, which revealed that in April the search engine continued its seduction of American internet users, receiving over 141 million visitors.

Yahoo! and Microsoft came second and third in the rankings, attracting 140,613 and 121,213 visitors respectively.

Much of this traffic was driven to tax-related websites, with IRS.gov finding itself amongst the top-gaining properties in April.

Jack Flanagan, comScore Media Metrix´s executive vice president, commented: "The significant traffic growth at tax sites, which began in January, reached a crescendo by the tax filing deadline on April 15th as taxpayers sought information, forms, and online filing facilities.

"The return of the network television programs after the writers strike sent fans to a variety of sites to get information on their favorite shows, catch up on episodes they may have missed, get refreshed on plotlines, and to stream new episodes."