Website traffic review of the year
Posted by Huw,
Every year before Christmas I like to delve into Google Analytics and share the figures with you.
2021 has not turned out the way many of us hoped it would, but it has been another successful year for LEGO, with many people engaging with the toy during lockdowns and periods of uncertainty. This has had a knock-on effect on Brickset and this year we saw more visitors than ever before.
The headlines are:
- Number of visitors up by 5% to a record high of 8.65 million, page views down 2% to 92.7 million
- Social media followers up by around 10% to 152,000
- 30,763 new members joined in 2021 (2020: 32,000)
- 88,963 members logged in during 2021 (2020: 85,000)
- 4,777 members posted 68,134 comments on our home page articles (2020: 4,700/58,000)
- 403 members contributed 1,294 user reviews (2020: 555/1,959)
Website traffic
Here's how this year compares with the previous six:
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Page views | 92,767,612 | 95,294,684 | 81,046,193 | 84,910,676 | 92,611,909 | 101,385,839 | 94,879,418 |
| Visits | 26,247,296 | 26,156,168 | 22,775,321 | 23,334,774 | 25,174,751 | 26,414,965 | 24,309,642 |
| Visitors | 8,659,361 | 8,287,450 | 6,781,522 | 6,446,014 | 7,268,174 | 7,431,089 | 7,242,884 |
92.7 million page views over the year equates to an average of abut 7.7 million a month, 250,000 pages a day, and 3 pages per second.
There's been a 2% decrease in the number of page views overall, but the number of visits is almost identical to last year, and more people than ever are viewing the site, which is encouraging.
The reason that the number of pages views has dropped since its peak in 2016 us likely to be because we had to introduce more advertising in 2017 to compensate for a drop in affiliate revenue resulting from eBay and Amazon changing their payout structures.
This year's traffic
Traffic levels fluctuate with the seasons, as you'd expect for a site about an indoor hobby, and also this year the lockdowns influenced the website traffic, as they did in 2020.
It's interesting to go back and work out what caused the spikes in traffic. I think they were:
- Early January: excitement around new sets and the reveal of Ninjago City Gardens
- May-June: summer sets revealed, 40516 Everyone is Awesome revealed and reviewed
- Early December: our article about issues disassembling the AT-AT and 2022 sets being revealed caused the massive spike at the end of the graph
During the first weekend of December the site saw more concurrent users than at any time in its history, just under 2,000, and the database was processing around 200 transactions per second. Normally in December it's around 600 users and 60 transactions per second.
Traffic compared to last year
The peaks in traffic during this year and last roughly correspond to the pandemic lockdown periods but overall page views and visitors have remained roughly the same. Our AT-AT article drew in a large number of visitors, many of whom viewed the site for the first time.
Page views:
Visitors:
Member numbers
Around 30,700 people joined the site this year, which is slightly fewer than in 2020 but still far more than before the pandemic.
Of the 32,000 that joined in 2020, 14,100 continued to use the site this year, and overall about 89,000 members logged in during the year.
This graph shows how many people joined each year since we started recording join dates in 2010.
Social media
Our social media followers have increased again this year: Facebook up 9% to 41,100 (2020: 39,000), Twitter up 12% to 42,400 (2020: 37,700) and Instagram up 13% to 69,100 (2020: 61,000), so once again the picture-sharing platform achieved the highest growth.
Our Facebook Brickset members group now has 15,600 members.
Compared to other LEGO sites
The only free way to compare our traffic levels with those of other sites is by using Alexa rankings, and it appears that this will be the last year we'll be able to do so because the service is being retired next May.
The figures show that Brickset continues to be the most visited LEGO-related website not owned by the LEGO company.
| Site | Global Alexa ranking |
|---|---|
| LEGO.com | 2099 |
| Bricklink | 10214 |
| Brickset | 32259 |
| Rebrickable | 65042 |
| Brickowl | 86858 |
| Eurobricks | 93657 |
| Brick Fanatics | 106852 |
| Brothers Brick | 156376 |
Conclusions
Unfortunately, 2021 was another atypical year, but it did have a positive effect on our hobby and consequently traffic levels here at Brickset.
LEGO produced an unprecedented number of products designed to attract more adults to the hobby this year and that too is likely to have had an effect on our visitor numbers. While that will undoubtedly continue in 2022 we can but hope that some sort of normality returns to the world next year, allowing us to enjoy our other hobbies and pursuits in addition to the brick.
Anyway, thank you all for visiting and making the site 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 our suggestions page.
Happy Holidays to you all, and stay safe!
Thanks to Dan Ko at dhsign.eu for the lead graphic.
165 likes
50 comments on this article
I’m a 2020 member who stayed (I am here perhaps too often!)
Why was the site so popular in 2016?
Thank you for this great website! It’s a very enjoyable part of my routine. :)
I'm not sure we need another fandom news cycle devoted to the manufactured scandal that a massive FAN SITE made compromises in the name of CLICKS that will never affect 99% of CLICKERS.
:o)
been a member here since 2012 and have always loved this site and how it continues to grow and evolve to meet the needs of the community. Keep up the great work everyone!
@Collector_Nonas said:
"I’m a 2020 member who stayed (I am here perhaps too often!)
Why was the site so popular in 2016?"
Good question. I would like to know the answer to that myself.
I think the growth from 2014-16 was attributable to the aftermath of LEGO Movie. Then, when we started showing more ads in 2017 non-logged-in users started viewing fewer pages.
Thank you to all those involved in this wonderful website. There isn't a day that I won't pay a visit. Keep up the exemplary work and my thanks again.
This is bar none my most visited site, checking multiple times a day for news and reference. I love the staff and community here!
Way too many of those page visits are mine. Thank you Brickset team for your great site, articles, reviews and everything you bring to the hobby!
@Huw, Would it be possible to add a feature to each user’s profile showing how many visits and page views they had in x period of time (last 7 days, 30 days, 365 days, all time total)?
For sure The Lego Movie was huge for Lego sales and site traffic. It tis surprising to me that fans weren’t around at that time to experience/witness the buzz around the hobby. (But I realize new fans come at different times so it shouldn’t be surprising)
I typically check the site once or twice a day unless there happen to be a lot of new things going on then I may check back more frequently as time allows to read articles or comments or whatever.
@Zander said:
" @Huw, Would it be possible to add a feature to each user’s profile showing how many visits and page views they had in x period of time (last 7 days, 30 days, 365 days, all time total)?"
If that is an option please don’t make it public for my wife or coworkers! They already think I am obsessed.
@Zander said:
" @Huw, Would it be possible to add a feature to each user’s profile showing how many visits and page views they had in x period of time (last 7 days, 30 days, 365 days, all time total)?"
That might be a bit scary. There would need to be links to addiction counsellors too!
Fantastic stats! Great to see Brickset doing well. Personally would like to say a huge thank you to everyone behind the scenes as this site really offers a nice respite and distraction from the more serious matters in the world.
If only everything else can be as organised as LEGO can be!
@legoapprentice said:
"Way too many of those page visits are mine. Thank you Brickset team for your great site, articles, reviews and everything you bring to the hobby!"
I totally agree! Thank you guys (Huw and the team as well as members) for everything.
This always makes for interesting reading, thanks for taking the time to put it together, Huw.
And congrats on being the No.1 unofficial site again.
My takeaway is I need to do more reviews.
@Lego_Mouse said:
"If only everything else can be as organised as LEGO can be!"
You clearly haven't seem my shambolic collection!
@Huw said:
"I think the growth from 2014-16 was attributable to the aftermath of LEGO Movie. Then, when we started showing more ads in 2017 non-logged-in users started viewing fewer pages."
I can imagine; for far too long I used Brickset on my smartphone without being logged in. And to be frank: the advertising makes navigating the pages quite unbearable.
(I also didn't realise that logging in solved this issue, so this was the only webpage that I opened in a browser app with installed ad blocker. Sorry!)
I have a permanently opened browser page which I'm always logged into Brickset since May 2015 :)
The only time I'm NOT on the site is when I have to reboot for OS updates (which then I'm immediately back on the site after reloading all my apps and browser pages).
@Huw It would be interesting to see Eurobricks Alexa ranking.
Keep safe, keep creating and building. And have all happy Christmas festivities with your families and / or friends. And my annual sincere thank you to Huw, MeganL, Cap'n and all Brickset administrators and members for what you do for our beloved hobby. Passion.
I like the user reviews, find them more accurate than sponsored (free sets given by lego) ones by site owners/admins
The multiple-times-per-day routine of opening Chrome and immediately checking Brickset will never get old. Another great year of content, as always.
@oldtodd33 said:
" @Huw It would be interesting to see Eurobricks Alexa ranking. "
Added, 93,600.
Call me uncultured, but I only come here for my LEGO news.
Thanks Huw and everyone involved. Brickset is an amazing source of LEGO information that keeps bringing me back. Can't wait for 2022
That stats, as always, are appreciated. It's good to know that on the back end, things are healthy, since the site is so useful.
One thing I would ask, and it's probably out of your control, but the gravitec thing- every now and again it asks again if it can do it's thing, even when I've said no 10x before. It's no real bother to say no again,(though it is funny how the options are "no thanks" versus a passive "accept"), but if it could just properly take no for an answer that'd be great.
I joined Brickset on the last day of 2011 and visit, on average, 2 - 3 times a day. I find the news & reviews invaluable. Great work Huw, et al. Long may you prosper.
Brickset is easily one of the best fan-type websites I've ever used. It's major drawback is not having a really good discussion forum but the news, reviews, database, and collection tracking are outstanding.
As many of you have said- multiple visits here per day is my normal routine. Great authors, commenters, top notch but ever improving functionality and profound database of lego sets. Long live Huw and the whole Brickset team!
That lead graphic is brilliant! And the numbers are downright impressive. Congrats Brickset on the consistently solid results year after year.
I definitely started visiting Brickset more often when I started blocking news sites during the pandemic. I found set numbers better for my mental health than case numbers.
Between us we own 31,736,015 sets worth at least US$997,667,005 and containing 10,007,818,375 pieces.
Not necessarily a website statistic but we just surpassed 10 billion pieces and, probably shortly after Jan 1 we will surpass a billion dollars of LEGO.
Its just a great website, it brings me solace in the middle of my dark age that may still last another 5 or 10 years. Congratz and keep up the good work.
Great to see the growth this year! I love this site!
@rvnlord said:
"Its just a great website, it brings me solace in the middle of my dark age that may still last another 5 or 10 years. Congratz and keep up the good work."
If you REALISE you are in the middle of your Dark Ages can’t you ….. ummm…. Just like …. Get out of it??
I think the whole point of a Dark Age means you (we) weren’t really aware of what we were missing out on (or how amazing LEGO is!), so if you already visit here regularly & read about the new releases and some of the reviews, you aren’t actually IN any Dark Age right now!
@Glacier_Phoenix said:
"Between us we own 31,736,015 sets worth at least US$997,667,005 and containing 10,007,818,375 pieces.
Not necessarily a website statistic but we just surpassed 10 billion pieces and, probably shortly after Jan 1 we will surpass a billion dollars of LEGO. "
That means the average LEGO set recorded here has an average of around 320 pieces only!
I’m sure my average is much higher than that - MANY sets over 1,000 or even 2,500 pieces!
This stat actually concerns me:
“ Of the 32,000 that joined in 2020, 14,100 continued to use the site this year, and overall about 89,000 members logged in during the year.”
So, of the new members last year, 56% didn’t use the site this year!!
How can more than half the new members to this wonderful site not return to use it?!
So sad.
I suspect it might have to do with those annoying pop-up adverts which completely ruin the experience if you aren’t logged-in to Brickset.com at all times….
@lemish34 said:
" @rvnlord said:
"Its just a great website, it brings me solace in the middle of my dark age that may still last another 5 or 10 years. Congratz and keep up the good work."
If you REALISE you are in the middle of your Dark Ages can’t you ….. ummm…. Just like …. Get out of it??
I think the whole point of a Dark Age means you (we) weren’t really aware of what we were missing out on (or how amazing LEGO is!), so if you already visit here regularly & read about the new releases and some of the reviews, you aren’t actually IN any Dark Age right now!
"
Absolutely. I neither read nor took any notice of Lego during my 45 year dark age. It was Tower Bridge and the Mini Cooper that caught my eye and got me hooked again.
Then I found the invaluable Brickset database, and suddenly there were constant eBay deliveries of all the sets I used to have... closely followed by all the sets I'd missed. Thanks @Huw you've cost me a fortune!!
@Zander said:
" @Huw, Would it be possible to add a feature to each user’s profile showing how many visits and page views they had in x period of time (last 7 days, 30 days, 365 days, all time total)?"
While you’re at it @Huw just go ahead and sum up the retail prices of the sets I own and email it to my wife. (Sweating face emoji)
I think the decrease in traffic after 2016 might not necessarily be due to the volume of ads themselves, but the way they're coded into the site is a bit buggy.
Whenever I hop onto a device I'm not logged into, more often than not I'll get hit with a number of glitchy ads that not only cover up content (including the login buttons I'm trying to get to), but sometimes outright make the entire page un-clickable, including the little "close ad" x button. The only way around it is to refresh the page, sometimes a few times, until I get lucky and not have an ad like that. If I'm on a slow connection, this basically makes the site unusable.
This isn't on some archaic device either, I get these issues even on my iPhone 12. I've never been on another website on my mobile that has ads as glitchy as this.
I'll point out that I have absolutely NO ISSUE whatsoever with the volume of ads. Brickset needs revenue to keep running and I totally understand that. I'd even welcome an option to enable ads along the sidebar while I'm logged in on my desktop (assuming they aren't as glitchy as the mobile ads are atm :P).
All I'm saying is it might be worth looking into cleaning up the ad coding a bit, just so they don't outright block site functionality like they sometimes do now.
We have no control over the ads or their placement, unfortunately: that's all handled by the ad network, PlayWire.
@Huw Some nice numbers there! Keep up the good work in 2022 and happy holidays!
Ah yes, these ads. To be honest: they completely ruin the experience on iPhone if you don't have adblocker. Constantly videos loading, pop-ups interfering, ... I hate it so much I only visit Brickset on pc these days.
@AdriaanDB said:
"Ah yes, these ads. To be honest: they completely ruin the experience on iPhone if you don't have adblocker. Constantly videos loading, pop-ups interfering, ... I hate it so much I only visit Brickset on pc these days."
Unfortunately they earn good money so have to remain. But, log in and they're gone.
Wow, I did not expect Brothers Brick to be ranked so low compared to other Lego sites.
I didn’t check Alexa for a while. Mecabricks comes at 94,697 as of today :-)
Thanks for sharing this data, it is really interesting!
Also thank you for this website, checking the homepage is now a regular part of my morning routine :D
Thank you everyone for your comments.