• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 19, 2010

Automotive was the top-gaining site category in March, increasing 23% to more than 30 million visitors as potential buyers researched car purchases online, according to a new comScore report on top-growing Web properties.

General Motors led the segment with 7.6 million visitors, up 32% during the month, followed by Hyundai (5.4 million), Toyota (5.1 million), Ford Motor Company, (5 million), and Honda (3.6 million.) One has to wonder if Toyota’s site traffic has actually benefited from the recall debacle.

Online ad spending in the auto category dipped slightly last year from $2.8 billion to $2.5 billion, going from 12% to 11% of total Internet ad dollars in 2009, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.