Traffic review of the year
Posted by Huw,
If figures and statistics bore you then look away now, but if you're as fascinated by website statistics as I am, read on for my annual review of Brickset traffic.
2016 has once again seen growth in page views, visits and visitor numbers. It's the first year that the site has served in excess of 100 million pages: that's an average of over 3 a second.
We've also seen significant growth in our social media followers and referrals to the website from social media platforms.
The headlines are:
- Page views up by 6.8%, visits up by 8.6%, visitors up by 2.6%
- Alexa rank 18,453
- Quantcast US rank 7,180
- 27,000 new members
Here's how this year compares with the last six:
| 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | |
| Page views | 101,385,839 | 94,879,418 | 85,658,634 | 78,595,421 | 58,871,313 | 49,404,168 | 40,447,000 |
| Visits | 26,414,965 | 24,309,642 | 20,761,051 | 19,810,668 | 15,656,887 | 11,408,177 | 7,926,000 |
| Visitors | 7,431,089 | 7,242,884 | 6,624,114 | 6,187,944 | 4,980,424 | 3,895,394 | 2,719,000 |
The graph show a fairly linear growth of all figures:
The following chart shows the most visited LEGO-related sites on the Internet, as ranked by Alexa. It's currently showing that Brickset is the third most visited site. LEGO.com is ranked ~2,200, BrickLink ~15,000 and Brickset ~18,500.
It's interesting to note that visits to all LEGO-related sites seem to have declined recently, relative to all Internet sites: LEGO.com was ranked ~1,000 this time last year and Brickset was just over 10,000. Given that our traffic is growing this presumably indicates that it's not growing as much as other non LEGO sites.
Here's where our visitors come from (figures show number of visits over the year)
| 1 | United States | 8,617,787 (32.62%) |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 3,929,012 (14.87%) |
| 3 | Canada | 1,365,866 (5.17%) |
| 4 | Germany | 1,325,194 (5.02%) |
| 5 | Australia | 1,071,725 (4.06%) |
| 6 | Netherlands | 890,883 (3.37%) |
| 7 | France | 826,780 (3.13%) |
| 8 | Italy | 603,329 (2.28%) |
| 9 | Poland | 570,842 (2.16%) |
| 10 | Hong Kong | 429,798 (1.63%) |
| 11 | Singapore | 370,554 (1.40%) |
| 12 | Denmark | 369,711 (1.40%) |
| 13 | Spain | 334,836 (1.27%) |
| 14 | Belgium | 327,935 (1.24%) |
| 15 | Sweden | 300,728 (1.14%) |
| 16 | Hungary | 295,699 (1.12%) |
| 17 | Taiwan | 284,578 (1.08%) |
| 18 | China | 274,074 (1.04%) |
| 19 | Malaysia | 265,830 (1.01%) |
| 20 | Russia | 233,415 (0.88%) |
Users using a mobile device to view the site continue to increase. Desktop users account for 53%, tablets 15% and phones 31%, compared to 58%, 17% and 25% respectively last year. So, a lot of people are switching from their tablets and PCs to their phones.
However, Windows remains the dominant operating system with 43% of visitors using it. Next is iOS at 28%, followed by Android 16% and Mac 9%.
In February we ramped up our social media presence with the appointment of a social media manager. It appears to be paying dividends: compared to 2015 the number of people visiting from Facebook is up 64% to 910,000, and Twitter referrals are up 103% to 419,000. The number of likes on our Facebook page has more than doubled from under 10,000 to just under 22,000. On Twitter, we are picking up around 500 new followers a month and now have 19,400 of them. We established our presence on Instagram earlier this year and so far have attracted some 5,750 followers.
On the website, member numbers are rising rapidly, up from 125,000 to 152,000, an increase of over 20%. That's an average of 500 new members a week. The forum now has 17,500 members.
So, thank you all for visiting and making Brickset the success it is. I hope we can continue to meet your LEGO-information needs and if you have any suggestions as to what you'd like us to do differently, we are always open to hearing them, either in the comments below or via the contact form at the bottom of the page.
One last thing: If you're an owner of a website you probably often wonder what it's worth. There are a number of sites that purport to value them and I find it fascinating to see what they come up with.
Clearly the figures claimed have no basis in fact because they are so wildly different. The figures for Brickset range from $69,000 (YourWebsiteValue), $357,000 (SitePrice) to $2 million! (WorthofWeb.com). I think we can conclude that a website, like anything, is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. Don't worry, I'm not thinking of selling up yet...
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34 comments on this article
Mmmmmmm .... nummmberrrrrsssss.
I may be in the minority but I actually *like* these statistical reports! Thanks for the info.
(Note to self: Must do more to get NZ onto the league table of visitors.)
Congrats to the whole team and especially Huw! The rise in numbers is totally unsurprising and wholly deserved given the quality and usability of the site. Why TLG didn't commission their website redesign to Huw and his team is beyond me ;-)
I guarantee you at least half of those page visits were from me.
As one of the people who did join this year, I just wish I'd known about Brickset sooner :P
Interesting... I´m a bit surprised NZ didn´t make the list though...
It would be interesting to divide the number of visits by the number of inhabitants from a country.
I'm pretty sure UK would be first, US and Canada would drop a few places while The Netherlands and Belgium would get higher.
^ yes it would... I'll have a go later!
Sorted by per Capita views:
11 Singapore 370,554 5399000 0.068633821
12 Denmark 369,711 5614000 0.065855183
2 United Kingdom 3,929,012 64100000 0.061295039
10 Hong Kong 429,798 7188000 0.059793823
6 Netherlands 890,883 16800000 0.05302875
5 Australia 1,071,725 23130000 0.046334847
3 Canada 1,365,866 35160000 0.038847156
15 Sweden 300,728 9593000 0.031348692
16 Hungary 295,699 9897000 0.02987764
14 Belgium 327,935 11200000 0.029279911
1 United States 8,617,787 318900000 0.027023478
4 Germany 1,325,194 80620000 0.016437534
9 Poland 570,842 38530000 0.01481552
7 France 826,780 66030000 0.012521278
17 Taiwan 284,578 23520000 0.012099405
8 Italy 603,329 59830000 0.010084055
19 Malaysia 265,830 29720000 0.008944482
13 Spain 334,836 46770000 0.007159205
20 Russia 233,415 143500000 0.001626585
18 China 274,074 1357000000 0.000201971
Brilliant. Keep up the great site / work!
^^ Very interesting, thank you!
^^^Very interesting indeed. And if we then knew the sales numbers per market it would be even more interesting.
Somewhat surprised by Singapore ranking 1.
Thank you Huw! Not just for the awesome site known as brickset.com but also for sharing this information. This type of article (and surveys) go a long way to making this site feel like a community. That's a rare thing. The value of this site is tremendous for Lego lovers and for that I whole heartedly thank you and your team.
I wonder if the Lego-related sites fell overall because of so much web traffic surrounding the US election this year.
Were there any large spikes in traffic? I always find that kind of analysis interesting. I'm sure there must have been a spike last year after the Channel 4 "Secret World of Lego" doc.
Congratulation for the great job you are doing. I like Brickset for the user friendly navigation, the quality of information available in a single set page and that everything is linked to everything... I just love it!
Statistics are showing that Lego passion is greater day after day. Looking forward to grow together. CIAO
Thank you all for your comments.
^^ Yes, that did cause a spike, but the most noticeable ones occur when we are on the front page of the LEGO subreddit.
Awesome! I'm glad I found Brickset eons ago. It is where I always go first for set information as Huw posts very fast about new releases coming up, excellent reviews, and always the most up-to-date info, and I'm on here almost daily, sometimes a few times a day. I love these statistical analysis tables. I always look at the simple stats at the bottom of the page about how many new members have signed up, how many have been on per day, number of sets owned, worth, etc. Please keep up the great work here, it is the one and only Lego resource for me!
This is probably my favorite LEGO site to visit on mobile. A lot of the other ones load really slowly or have clunky bits that don't transmit to well to mobile, but Brickset works just fine. :)
As much as I love to see Rebrickable ranking 4th, you're not including Eurobricks which is usually a tad in front of me according to my stats :)
Huw, Thanks for the excellent site. Brickset is my top resource.
I'd like to know where NZ ranked on raw visits and then how that rank compared when adjusted per-capita.
NZ comes in at 22nd: 207,834 (0.78%)
@nthom, at the moment you are just ahead of EB: http://www.alexa.com/comparison/brickset.com?sites=bricklink.com&sites=brickpicker.com&sites=brothers-brick.com&sites=rebrickable.com&sites=lego.com&sites=eurobricks.com
207834 4471000 0.046484903, ahead of Australia, just!
I'm just surprised more people don't use this site, I mean, why isn't *everyone* here? :-)
Apart from the great articles and the sense of community that this site engenders, I find the database to be an amazing asset.
^^ Then all is good and right in the world. :-)
Thanks for sharing Huw! I love these statistics. Keep up the good work.
Singapore's position as Number One in the country-whose-citizens-are-most-attracted-by-Brickset chart does not surprise me. I've visited a few times. There were lots of independent Lego shops dealing in both new sets and used, as well as stocking individual elements. All this without an official LEGO Brand store. The fact that the country is both affluent and English speaking also helps. The recent handout of 2000446 Building My SG to all school pupils (paid for by the government) to mark the country's 50th anniversary can't have done any harm either. So to everyone NOT from Singapore - petitition your government to hand out free Lego to all students too.
But more importantly, congratulations to Huw and the team. You go from strength to strength.
^True
Mexico is 34th, 108,544 (0.41%). Las year, it was also 34th, 102,476 (0.42%)
Congratulations!
hey @Huw, if someone offers you $2 million - take it ;-) I don't want you to go anywhere of course, but man, you couldn't pass that up.
2015-2016 That would be me. I came back to the site after being away. Now I check in a lot.
How can I know how many visitor are from Colombia and all the stats from Colombia?
Thanks ;)!
2016 isn't over yet. So will these number be finalized in a few weeks?