Who visited Brickset this year and what did they look at?
Posted by Huw,
Ahead of the publication of our annual traffic review of the year next week I thought you might find it interesting to discover who visited the site this year, what they viewed it with, where they came from, and what they looked at while they were here.
We last published this report in 2020 which was of course the pandemic year, so it will be interesting to see if things have changed now we are back to normal.
Where did visitors come from?
We received visitors from 237 countries/administrative regions this year. As is always the case, the majority of visitors came from the USA, but the percentage is up from 36% in 2020 to 40.7% this year.
The top 10 countries in the table below account for over 75% of visitors, and are mostly the same as in 2020, but with Sweden replacing Hong Kong in 10th place.
There are LEGO fans all over the world, it seems. Here are the countries with the fewest visitors. I suspect they stumbled across the site by accident when searching for something else!
What devices did visitors use?
Mobile usage has increased year-on-year and now almost two thirds of visitors use a phone to view the site, up from 55% in 2020. Desktop users have thus decreased, as have tablet users, down to just 3%.
Safari users now outnumber Chrome ones, which surprises me, although I guess it's due to the increase in mobile users.
How old are visitors?
It will come as no surprise to discover that over half of visitors are in the 25-44 age group, an age when LEGO is typically rediscovered in adulthood, perhaps prompted by having children (as was the case for me).
69% of visitors are male, and there has been no change in that figure since 2020.
How did people find the site?
It seems that most people find Brickset by searching for a LEGO or Brickset related term in Google, Bing, or whatever. However, a significant number come straight here from bookmarks or typing the URL directly into their browser.
We do not advertise or pay to be at the top of Google, so all traffic is 'organic', or natural. We are close to the top of Google for most search terms in the form 'LEGO {set number/theme}', other than for hotly contested ones like LEGO Star Wars.
More people than before are visiting from social media sites this year than in 2020, up by 2%.
What did people view once here?
Our set database is our greatest asset and views of the myriad pages within it account for over 46% of all page views, while views of all areas of the database and collection management features account for about 70%.
This is good: our traffic levels, and thus advertising revenues, are not reliant on us constantly pushing out transient content, as is the case for sites that are purely blogs/news sites.
Among the least viewed pages are the sitemap and FAQ. Sometimes I wonder why we bother...
Within the sets pages, the Star Wars theme and the 2022 set listings were the most viewed, but even so they only account for fewer than 1% of all the views each.
I'll publish a list of the most viewed/liked/commented news articles/reviews on the last day of the year.
How many people log in?
Perhaps surprisingly, only 5% of people who visit the site log in. The two percentages don't add up to 100%: that'll be because some people arrive not logged in and then subsequently do so.
However, those that do log in account for over 40% of all page views, up 2% on 2020.
Overall, there have been a few changes in behaviour and traffic sources compared to 2020 but nothing really significant. The overall visitor and page view numbers that I'll publish next week may tell a different story.
I hope you found that interesting. Did anything surprise you?
248 likes
73 comments on this article
hrmmm, Interesting, but nothing surprising...
okay wait... someone visited the site in Antarctica?!!!!
That was me from Antarctica, I searched for Arctic Lego sets for decorating my laboratory on the South Pole. :D
How are ages and genders extrapolated?
@moishe11 said:
"okay wait... someone visited the site in Antarctica?!!!!"
Two keen fans of Ice Planet 2002.
@bananaworld said:
"
@moishe11 said:
"okay wait... someone visited the site in Antarctica?!!!!"
Two keen fans of Ice Planet 2002."
I'm more interested to see if the Pope (Vatican City) was looking into Lego and why!
@Murdoch17 said:
"I'm more interested to see if the Pope (Vatican City) was looking into Lego and why!"
The man loves Clikits, and doesn't care who knows it.
@bananaworld said:
"
@Murdoch17 said:
"I'm more interested to see if the Pope (Vatican City) was looking into Lego and why!"
The man loves Clikits, and doesn't care who knows it.
"
Realistically, probably someone bored during mass. But yeah, more fun to convince ourselves Papa Franky himself is a dork like us.
Interesting, but not surprising.
Also, I've been logging in almost daily for 10 years!
Everybody's googling the island of Niue now. :-)
Perhaps the Sitemap and the FAQ would get more views if they were more prominently featured? E.g. they could be placed under the "Browse" menu. For myself, when I see a "More" menu, I think of it as a hodge-podge of miscellany that I am probably not going to be interested in, so I won't click it. Furthermore, Browse -> Sitemap seems to make logical sense to me.
@OneIsLit said:
"Perhaps the Sitemap and the FAQ would get more views if they were more prominently featured? "
I don't think they belong under browse which is all database-related links.
No matter where they are put people would still not read them!
@ickis said:
"How are ages and genders extrapolated?"
I was just to write this!
I find this type of research statistics enormously fascinating.
There should be a graph to show how many people have clicked on the site in the last two days hoping to find out what the new modular is.
I'm surprised about the non-English speaking European countries order in the list. Poland is much more prominent than France, Spain or Scandinavia! Those least represented nations seem to me as either tourists or sailors visiting those places for a brief time. @huw are we going to get some statistics about the comment section? For example, it would be interesting to see which countries have the most comments
On the topic of logging in vs not logging in… I'm really grateful that having a Brickset account allows members to not have to deal with a multitude of ads; it's simply the best!
@Huw said:
" @OneIsLit said:
"Perhaps the Sitemap and the FAQ would get more views if they were more prominently featured? "
I don't think they belong under browse which is all database-related links.
No matter where they are put people would still not read them!
"
Methinks you view your glass of eggnog as half empty but these comments might just push those poor neglected pages up a notch or two...! Also I would suggest that a lack of visitors to the Site Map and FAQ might just indicate that the site is very easily navigated and intuitive?
Seriously though, always interesting to see the webtraffic stats so thank you :-)
@ickis said:
"How are ages and genders extrapolated?"
Using whatever nefarious means Google Analytics has it its disposal...
Cheers from Moldova)
@Huw said:
" @ickis said:
"How are ages and genders extrapolated?"
Using whatever nefarious means Google Analytics has it its disposal..."
Aye. I don't know why I hadn't thought about that. I use them for analytics on a couple sites and have never paid attention to those reports apparently.
Very surprised more people don't log in. It just seems such a natural thing to do!
Hello! Is there any reason why I'm unable to see the total members from a country who own a certain set? This feature has been giving me an error for months
Thank you!
You're my favorite LEGO website, I come here everyday <3
I stay logged in, and visit every day, so I'm probably an outlier. I <3 Brickset!
@Huw, I am 15 years old personally, it would also be necessary to be able to add an age group for 18 years and under...
I think a lot of teenagers look this website !
I wasn't aware of the previous mobile usage and both the past and current numbers surprise me a little but. But I do get it's often useful to look up sets on the go, that I do as well.
My issue with mobile is that I cannot get the inventory table to show "Element in sets", "Design in sets", even if I switch to desktop view. I don't think it's that the mobile phone doesn't have enough width in pixels, because it still doesn't show when I have the phone sideways, which is more than enough available width. This is almost my top usecase when looking at sets and it's frustrating it doesn't work.
@Modeltrainman said:
"I stay logged in, and visit every day, so I'm probably an outlier. I <3 Brickset!"
That will make two of us then
I do love some nice charts.
Thanks, this was an interesting read
@Tms95 said:
"Hello! Is there any reason why I'm unable to see the total members from a country who own a certain set? This feature has been giving me an error for months
Thank you!"
It's fairly meaningless and was taking ages to calculate so I removed it.
@TheLegendaryBrick said:
" @Huw, I am 15 years old personally, it would also be necessary to be able to add an age group for 18 years and under...
I think a lot of teenagers look this website !"
Google does not (or so it would have us believe) collect data about minors so that age group is missing.
Thanks @Huw... for all of it. Fascinating as always.
surprisingly high traffic from the netherlands
Any chance you could reveal how many visitors from Mexico?
merci pour ces statistiques
Thank you Huw. I don't know many, if any, site owners who are willing to share their analytics with their audience/members. Seriously interesting stuff though. I'm surprised how many visitors are from the States compared to the UK. I guess I thought it'd be a bit more even. Still in awe of how Brickset's grown and become such an integral part of the hobby. Keep up the good work Chap, and well done. You deserve every success!
@Huw. All this is great for those of us who like to get nerdy with numbers...but does this type of info actually help you develop for / improve upon / maintain the site? Is it actually useful, or just fun to know?
@moishe11 said:
"okay wait... someone visited the site in Antarctica?!!!!"
Must have been that time Beyond The Brick went to the south pole!
@BetsABricks said:
"Any chance you could reveal how many visitors from Mexico? "
You can download all the data here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vpisAfC0E90R_OLavGgwGEtfrQ2wIDbconseJwmvfx4/edit?usp=sharing
@vidiont , mostly it's fun to know but could influence what we do with the site.
I @Huw, if it's any comfort, this article inspired me to read the FAQ! Not out of necessity (I've been here for more than twelve years, after all!), but just out of curiosity as to what was on there. Now that I think about it, the reason it's so low is probably because most of the visitors are old hands who don't need the FAQ.
fred157: Most of my site use on mobile these days is looking up CMFs while I'm shopping, so I can get a close look at pieces to feel for. Although I won't be able to do that for much longer...
Thanks! @Huw
I use this site all the time while shopping. It has saved me from buying things that I could get cheaper elsewhere, and has more than once saved me from buying a set I already owned (or that my kids own) that I forgot I bought!
@gsom7 said:
" @ickis said:
"How are ages and genders extrapolated?"
I was just to write this!"
The answer to that question is on the FAQs page!
A visits per capita list would also be illuminating.
Antarctica making the list! I’m surprised there aren’t more views from it. There’s not much to do when wintering there…always great seeing this data though! Great Job!
@VintageDude said:
"Yay, Go Sweden! Tenth place ain't bad,
but that could always improve.
I come here everyday to read about Random Set Of The Day and Vintage Set Of The Week.
I just have to read the comments from:
@sjr60
@AustinPowers
@TomKazutara
@StyleCounselor
without a particular order."
Back-atcha, Dude!
dang the pope must be a lego fan
I love your site. I am always logged in and visit almost every day at least 4 times per day. I read the articles and use the My Sets a lot, either to update my inventory, view my sets owned, or view my wanted list. I also enjoy looking up various sets-parts and reviews. Thank you Huw for such an amazing site.
@dbonyx said:
"A visits per capita list would also be illuminating."
We did that in last year's article, I don't suppose it's changed much, https://brickset.com/article/56566/who-visited-brickset-this-year-and-what-did-they-look-at
Vatican City! Perhaps some cardinals are AFOLs LOL
@VintageDude said:
"Yay, Go Sweden! Tenth place ain't bad,
but that could always improve.
I come here everyday to read about Random Set Of The Day and Vintage Set Of The Week.
I just have to read the comments from:
@sjr60
@AustinPowers
@TomKazutara
@StyleCounselor
without a particular order."
Sorry to have let you down this past year, since I have severely cut down on my commenting vs. years prior.
Might not seem that way to some, but trust me I know ;-)
This site has been very helpful.
I am 63, female and just came back buying Lego sets for my granddaugthers this year.
Now, I am deep into wanting various sets for myself.
Thanks for all the news and reviews.
By the way, I recently realized I can avoid the pop-ups when I am logged-in.
@Huw Why are the 2020 numbers in your tables completely different from the numbers in the 2020 report article?
"Safari users now outnumber Chrome ones, which surprises me, although I guess it's due to the increase in mobile users."
This is probably because on iOS, _all_ browsers are Safari under the hood. Apple does not allow alternative browser engines on their mobile devices, so even if you install Chrome or Firefox on your iphone, the site still renders the same and the useragents are near identical.
What source did you use for this data? Does that source happen to record OS?
@VintageDude said:
" @AustinPowers
You never let me down,
even if we don't always agree ;-)"
That's the beauty of it, one doesn't have to always agree in order to respect another poster's opinion and to enjoy reading their comments :-)
It's like with @PurpleDave too. We often have very different opinions, yet I still enjoy reading his comments immensely.
why do they take the time to figure this out?
@Tuzi said:
" @Huw Why are the 2020 numbers in your tables completely different from the numbers in the 2020 report article?"
To which numbers do you refer?
There was a time when visitors from China like me took the top 10 which I'm certain about but now it's nowhere to be seen. I guess this is due to the server change of whatever Brickset is currently using. Now if you want to get access to Brickset in China you are gonna have to use VPN otherwise it won't work which caused the drop of Chinese users.
@sunsetstreet said:
"This site has been very helpful.
I am 63, female and just came back buying Lego sets for my granddaugthers this year.
Now, I am deep into wanting various sets for myself.
Thanks for all the news and reviews.
By the way, I recently realized I can avoid the pop-ups when I am logged-in."
Isn't it the best! I remember when they first started putting ads up. I wasn't a member. Over time, the ads drove me to finally login and become one with Brickset. Then, I realized that Brickset was so much more than good writing, entertaining commentary, and a database. Plus, I was able to finally keep track of my collection.
"Where did visitors come from?"
Maybe you could take into the consideration the population of the country? That would probably mean that Antarctica, Vatican City and such would be on top!
Would be interesting to see the top 20 countries translated to relative of population for 2022 (2020 has it)
@TeriXeri said:
"Would be interesting to see the top 20 countries translated to relative of population for 2022 (2020 has it)"
I didn't bother this time as it's not likely to have changed significantly.
@VintageDude said:
"Yay, Go Sweden! Tenth place ain't bad,
but that could always improve.
I come here everyday to read about Random Set Of The Day and Vintage Set Of The Week.
I just have to read the comments from:
@sjr60
@AustinPowers
@TomKazutara
@StyleCounselor
without a particular order."
Thanks. Also great to see all your posts, and very glad that a certain individual didn't drive you away!
Considering the population of Germany is over three times that of Australia and we aren't that far behind in viewers, it's possible a fair few of those Australasian countries where just Aussie or New Zealanders on holidays!!! (Christmas Island is an Australian external territory so those 8 are really Aussies too lol)
Look on the bright side Huw, if people aren't looking at the sitemap and FAQ much, it's because you've designed such a great and easy to use site!!
Thanks for the interesting info :)
Clearly the American Samoan visitor was looking for "brisket" and mistyped it with chubby fingers!
@Norikins said:
"Clearly the American Samoan visitor was looking for "brisket" and mistyped it with chubby fingers!"
Never mind the American Samoan visitor. What about me! All this time I’ve been visiting the site in search of slow cooked beef recipes and only now do I realise it’s about a Danish construction toy! I thought the pastrami looked funny.
I am surprised at the numbers for Canada. Of the top 10, only Netherlands and Australia has less people - Poland as well but can easily be considered as similar. Lots of traffic from a few person.
Looking forward for the end of year numbers as always. Thanks @Huw and his team for the wonderful work and happy holidays to everyone who celebrates something in the coming weeks.
@Huw said:
" @Tuzi said:
" @Huw Why are the 2020 numbers in your tables completely different from the numbers in the 2020 report article?"
To which numbers do you refer?"
The rightmost column contains the numbers from 2020, and the left column in bold the numbers from 2022, right?
In this article US shows 3,672,970 (41.11%) in the 2020 column but when I look at the 2020 article, US is at 2,868,558 (36.21%).
If I'm understanding your table wrong, please consider adding headers for clarification.
@Tuzi said:
" @Huw said:
" @Tuzi said:
" @Huw Why are the 2020 numbers in your tables completely different from the numbers in the 2020 report article?"
To which numbers do you refer?"
The rightmost column contains the numbers from 2020, and the left column in bold the numbers from 2022, right?
In this article US shows 3,672,970 (41.11%) in the 2020 column but when I look at the 2020 article, US is at 2,868,558 (36.21%).
If I'm understanding your table wrong, please consider adding headers for clarification."
The first colum is users and the second new users, which doesn't really need to be shown at all. Sorry for the confusion.
Although Star Wars is less than 1% under "sets" it will also appear in the set pages with multiple themes like year 2021, so really need to ignore multiple theme pages and produce a pie chart just by set theme so we can see relative interest for Friends, Marvel etc. as missing from your extract.
More usually, I skip all the above and just type in the set number, so is it possible to add up over all the final set pages and group within a theme?
When I'm bored at work or at a store and need a reference, I use the Duck Duck Go browser on my iPhone; do you think that's represented in the Safari (in app) category?
I'm always logged in whether on my phone or my home desktop pc, where I do more Brickset browsing than on mobile.
@ambr said:
"Although Star Wars is less than 1% under "sets" it will also appear in the set pages with multiple themes like year 2021, so really need to ignore multiple theme pages and produce a pie chart just by set theme so we can see relative interest for Friends, Marvel etc. as missing from your extract.
More usually, I skip all the above and just type in the set number, so is it possible to add up over all the final set pages and group within a theme?
"
Actually, yes, it would be. It would need some hard work to do it but maybe if I'm bored over Christmas! Or I can send you the raw data to do it for us!
@thor96 said:
"I'm surprised about the non-English speaking European countries order in the list. Poland is much more prominent than France, Spain or Scandinavia! Those least represented nations seem to me as either tourists or sailors visiting those places for a brief time. @huw are we going to get some statistics about the comment section? For example, it would be interesting to see which countries have the most comments"
Sailors? I’ll look for some. Thank you very much.